Have had massive interest in the fly I caught that superb double figure brown trout on at Ardaire last Saturday.  So what is the Tarantula Fly – it is a mixture of egg laying blob, worm, and booby!  I’m sure someone somewhere out there has something similar tied already but this is my Black Tarantula pattern!!!

Tarantula Blob

Talk about trigger points.  This pattern has a Glo Brite tag for starters.  Another key feature is the use of the Oval Rainbow Bead for the egg laying element rather than the usual round beads.  The finish on this particular plastic bead is fantastic.  The body has UV Blob Material.  We all know by now that UV can make the difference at times.

Then there are the straggly “worm” legs.  Worms are great at this fishery.  Finally this version is a booby and has those cool eyes too.  Will it continue to work as well as it did on its first outing?  I don’t know.  The latest version is the Turbo Tarantula but I did not yet get to see how this behaves in the water:

Black Turbo Tarantula

I have a few more tied up in various body colours . . . Orange

Orange Tarantula

Pink/Red

Pink Tarantula

Hot Coral/Yellow

Hot Coral/Yellow Tarantula

So watch this space . . . . . .

It was late Friday evening when I noticed a message from Kuba asking if I would accompany him to Ardaire Springs.  No problem, and as the forecast was for cold calm conditions I reckoned there was a chance of a BIG fish.  As usual I set up 2 Hardy rods, one with a floating and one with sinking line.  Two of Kuba’s friends were there and Mick, Martin and Dave arrived shortly after.  Kuba and I started off with bloodworms and his friends opted for lures.  They were first into the fish . . .

. . . .but then Kuba hooked up on the worm.

I was into a bow at the same time!

There were a few fish moving subsurface but not a lot was being caught.  I decided to switch to the sinker supplied to me recently by Waterford Angling & Outdoor and added a dropper.  I put a Tarantula blob on the dropper and a mini booby on the point.   A cast or two later and I was into something serious on the Tarantula.  Ned was beside me and caught sight of the beast.  He and Martin quickly removed their lines from the water and Ned offered to land the fish for me.  After a good battle a superb double figure brown was in the net . . . CRACKER!!!

A few photos and Martin measured the fish at around 75cm (and it wasn’t even straight!).  It was time to release the fin perfect beauty.  What a start to 2024!!!

After that I didn’t fish too hard, trying a few new flies and tactics for the future.  Kuba and the boys had a few on lures and Martin had some nice fish on his secret buzzer.  The odd trout was taken on buzzers and worms fished deep and really slow.  Quite a few anglers fished the lake and I doubt anyone had more than 8 trout which is exceptionally low for this fishery but although quantity was down on this occasion the quality certainly made up for it.

As the day seemed fairly pleasant I took Luke fishing over at Ardaire Springs for a few hours.  There were one or two rods fishing when we arrived but nobody seemed to be catching much.  I set up Luke’s 7ft rod with a bloodworm and my own 10ft Hardy 6wt with a buzzer.  First cast and Luke was into a fish!!!

A few pointers on this technique and within minutes he was in again . . . a bigger fish too!

He was getting too good at this technique for my liking . . . I couldn’t get a cast in and he was nabbing all the quality fish!

A few more fish and cunningly, I suggested he might like some soup and sambos!!  After the food I finally managed to get a few casts in with the buzzer and nailed a few fish.  I think Luke was better at catching than cameraman though.

I fished Ardaire Springs yesterday.  The morning started off reasonably OK weather-wise and I had quite a few good rainbow trout on black worm and buzzers.  There were some good fish moving.  Then the weather started to seriously deteriorate and the fishing got tougher. I had a few more on the buzzer including this cracker pictured below.

One on a buzzer with the 4wt

The fishing got tougher as the weather turned really nasty with strong very cold winds and pouring rain. No one was catching much so I switched to dabblers on a Di3.  It was tough going but I managed a few more fish including this Big Fry Feeder.  It spat up a fry when I landed it.

Check out the stickleback I laid on the side of this fish!

The awful weather continued until late in the evening when it eventually cleared.  A few fish started moving around the lake and everyone seemed to be hooking a fish or two.  I decided to try a DI5 and a Minkie for the fry feeders in the hope of landing one more of the big trout.  I had quite a few takes and follows bringing my total for the day to around 30 bows and just one brown.  I finished off with this Belter just before the light faded away.

Last but not least.

Overall it was really good fishing considering the conditions that were, at times, fairly brutal.  It was very enjoyable to also catch a few large fish during the day.  Unfortunately I did not chance taking the digital camera with me in the pouring rain so was only able to get the images above on my mobile phone.

Due to demand for the Stillwater Fly Fishing Course we have added a second date.  This course will take place at the excellent facilities of Ardaire Springs Angling Centre on Sunday March 9th 2014 at 9.30am.

At a very affordable price of just €60 per person this course will cover:

• Dry Fly
• Wet Fly
• Lures
• Nymphs/Buzzers

All aspects of these techniques will be covered including tackle choice, leader set up, fly selection and presentation.  The course tuition will last for approximately 4 hours and course participants can fish on at Ardaire for the rest of the day. We will be available to provide further advice if needed.  Course participants will also be provided with a set of course notes.

If you want to learn about stillwater fly fishing or just improve upon your current knowledge book a place by contacting Ned at 086 812 8937 or myself at 087 2965712.  Places are limited.  A booking deposit of €30 applies.

A quality Ardaire Rainbow.

Tied up a few big doubles for the early season although they would likely also work well in the autumn in a dropping spate.  Again, continuing on with the team of utilizing some modern flashy materials and some tying variations.

Salmon Doubles

This one has some dyed tippets under the arctic fox wing and in the throat along with a flash front third.

Orange tippet

This pattern has more flash in the wing and has a dyed orange grizzle over.

Grizzle Orange

Red lagartun in the body of this fly and dyed yellow JC for the eyes.