The summer always presents a challenge to fly fishermen and guides alike. Currently, several of the rivers I frequent are unfishable due to either drought or flood conditions. The most spectacular of these is the Goyt which has been in the news recently as it is could possibly receive the contents of Toddbrook reservoir should the the combined efforts of the U.K.’s Armed Forces fail to stop the breech of its dam wall.

 

The worse case scenario would be a tsunami that would flatten all in its path (including flyfishermen) and would almost certainly put the fish down.

As a precaution, the fishing club has suspended all fishing on this river, its tributaries and all surrounding lakes, streams and garden ponds.

 

After weighing up the facts I decided to avoid the media circus, the Chinook helicopters, and the threat of death and headed instead for the relative tranquility of the river Dee.

I arrived to the sun high in the sky and a strong upstream wind and whilst this made the fishing quite challenging, at least I wasn’t concerned about being swept downstream and out into the Irish Sea.

 

Again, it was a case of searching for the right water to locate a few active fish but the searching was fun; the weather, glorious; the scenery, spectacular and the fishing…well, it was fishing!