At this time of the year, we all know that fly fishing can be tough. If you’ve read any of my previous entries, you’ll be well aware of the ‘excuses’ that are available to us during the summer months.

That said, fish still have to eat and as they also need to stay safe AND capitalise on any insect activity, this tends to happen mostly around dawn and dusk.

 

As most of us anglers prefer to do our fishing during ‘office hours’, we have to work extra hard during the day to overcome the additional challenges that summer fishing entails.

That might mean covering greater distances in search of the right water, changing rigs and flies more frequently and making sure that our final approach is even more stealthy than usual.

 

A couple of cooler days either side of the weekend gave me the opportunity to revisit the Derbyshire Wye. The full day session was completely devoid of any signs of life but it was still possible to find a few fish. In contrast during a brief 2 hour evening session, fish were rising freely to spent spinners and though they were still extra spooky, they were much easier to target.

 

The good news is that as the season progresses, our fishing habits and the fishes feeding habits become more closely aligned so things should get easier…if that’s what you really want?