Tracy&James | Thursday, 17 November 2016
Today is Tracy’s birthday, we had hoped to spend this fishing on the River Dee in North Wales however, at the time of writing, the weather forecast for the area is pretty dire, so we may have to delay that a day or so. The Dee is an excellent grayling fishery and we’re hoping to be euro nymphing for them with perhaps a spot of dry-fly work if there is any sort of hatch.
The Dee is quite a tricky river to wade, the bed is strewn with boulders, it’s deep in places and the water has a peaty colourto it that limits visibility. If you talk to those who fish there regularly most have a story to tell about falling in, to the extent that it’s not a case of ‘if’, just ‘when’ it will happen.I’m a pretty clumsy wader and I’ve been close to taking a dip on a number of occasions even though I haven’t fished there that often, so it’s odds-on I’ll be getting wet at some point. But at least this won’t be as a result of leaking waders. Perhaps I’m in a minority but my number one consideration in whether a pair of waders are any good or not is ‘do the let in water’? I don’t care if they look good, fit well, have the right label etc. - if they leak then they’re not fit for purpose in my book.
As such, Tracy’s birthday present was some PVC chest waders with attached wellies – an over-the-top romantic gesture I know. This is perhaps the culmination of our disillusionment with fishing clothing, waders and boots especially. We’ve got to the point where we just want to keep the river/lake out and don’t care if they’re not breathable or are heavy and hot (to be fair nothing is ‘breathable’ once you’re stood in the water). Reliably keeping dry is where we are at. Hopefully they will last more than 5 trips.