After 10 days on holiday I was keen to get back to the river. The gauge at Halfway Bridge was reading 0.03m and the weather looked good. When I got to Keeper’s Bridge the river was at a good height but was too coloured so I decided to visit Lower Figgs instead.

At the lake the wind was quite strong and swirling around in gusts. The clouds gave some respite from the sun. There were a lot of Damsel flies and Dragon flies in the air but nothing hatching. The Trout were cruising around quite close to the surface, most of the fish were obviously distressed and not feeding, the water was too warm. Amongst the wobbly fish there were some faster moving Trout, they were feeding on something below the surface, probably buzzers.

It would be dry fly only. I chose an Adams variant with a hackle stretching half-way down the body. There were some large fish showing, some over 3lb. I waited until a bigger fish came within range and put the fly down gently but the fish cruised past without a glance. That continued for a while. A couple of fish rose and swirled at the fly but I was so surprised I missed ! I found a feeding fish close to the bank and flicked the fly into the Trout’s path. It surged forwards, grabbed the fly and thrashed about on a short line for a few moments.

I used the clumps of rushes to hide and the fish came quite close to me. A Trout was swimming straight towards me and was quite active, looking for food. I plopped the fly down and as soon as the fish heard the fly land, it accelerated towards the fly and took it confidently. The fight was feeble and the fish was obviously suffering from the heat. I decided to pack up and leave. Targeting the fish was fun but it was unsporting to catch them. We need some rain and chilly nights.