Having been an all round angler since the age of about 10, in 2005 I decided to dedicate my summer angling time to fly fishing, as this is by far the best angling possible in the height of the summer. I work full time as a Director on four companies, often long hours, and if I am not at work I am usually busy on one of my properties, therefore being able to spend any time on the bank is a premium pleasure.

 

Living in North Dorset does seem to have it's disadvantages when it comes to availability of day ticket fly fishing venues. I usually end up travelling about 45 minutes to fish my "local" fly fishery. A gorgeous group of small lakes set into a valley. Many a fine summers afternoon/evening have been spent quietly hidden on the bank offering various dry flies on a floating line to the many rising rainbow and brown trout.

 

It was early in 2006 that I decided it was time to do something about it, a friend and I began asking some of the local farmers if they had land they did not use and if they would be interested in having a lake dug and a fishery managed on it for a financial return. We had 3 interested farmers within a matter of weeks and put together lakes designs and fishery proposals for each of them. Unfortunately the cost of lake construction outweighed the immediate financial return and the plans were shelved. A couple of months went by and I recieved a phone call from a farm manager from a neighbouring farm to one of the original proposed sites. The lake was already in existance and they wanted to try and make use of it.