H APPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE. I HOPE YOUR new salmon season gets off to a flyer. For many, this will be in a week’s time when the Tay and Cumbrian Eden open (January 15) although some hardy souls I know will be heading further north to the Helmsdale and Thurso on January 11, and I am aware that in Ireland you may have been fishing since New Year’s Day (Leannan and Drowes et al). Wherever you begin, I hope you are among friends and have a wonderful time.

Further south, things will be very different for some fly-fishers. Near me, in the English Midlands, changes are afoot. Following the closure last year of two of the country’s finest stillwaters, Eyebrook Reservoir and Draycote Water, there is good and sad news for their loyal trout-fishers. Anglian Water (AW) is taking on the lease at Eyebrook – among the best-loved and prettiest of England’s smaller trout reservoirs – and intends to make it a coarse fishery. AW will also make Ravensthorpe, formerly a trout fishery in its portfolio, a carp-only syndicate. This is devastating news for local rods, but also for the thousands of visitors who for more than half a century have enjoyed these beautiful waters (Soapbox, p27).