I attended the Irish Fly Fair in Galway over the weekend and have to say it was, in my opinion, the best year yet for this show.  In that regard, massive credit has to go to Stevie Munn and his team for their efforts.

I arrived up in Salthill late on Friday evening and the hotel was a hive of activity. Immediately from the moment of checking in I was meeting up with exhibitors and old friends from angling shows over the years. A special mention here for Justin at Wildebeest Clothing who had some polo shirts and caps ready for me with the gamefishingireland.ie logo embroidered on them.

Pat and Sean on the impressive Premier Angling stand

So it was time for a bit of lunch and an early night as I wanted to have a look along fly tiers row before making my presentation on “Winter Tactics for Stillwater Trout” at 12am.  There were flies of all types being tied along the row by some of the worlds best fly dressers.  The first fly dresser I met was Chris Sandford who you might recognise from TV and vintage tackle shows.

Chris Sandford on fly tiers row.

There were some new tying materials on display and one that really caught my eye was some articulated shanks for tying baitfish imitations.  Dougie Loughridge was tying with these and had had some super pike and bass flies on display.

Dougie Loughridge with some cool flies on display

There were simply too many awesome tyers on display to mention them all.  So it was off to the seminar room to give my talk.  A great bunch of interested anglers came along and everything went well.  After lunch I browsed all the stands and made a few (too many) purchases.  I met and spoke with lots and lots of people about all things fishing and more.

There was an unbelievable range of tying materials on display. The Clonanav/Fortwilliam stand had lots of tackle and clothing from all the leading brands including the new Hardy Jets which are simply awesome.  In the next room there were more fly tyers and fishing organisations including our very own Waterford Fly Fishing and the Drowes stand where my good friend Denis was busy tying tube flies.

Denis O Toole with some of his templedog style salmon tubes

After purchasing bags of materials it was time for a bite to eat and watch Ireland beat Samoa in the Rugby followed by a few pints with some friends.  It was nice to have a little lie in on Sunday morning before heading back to the show to give another seminar.  On the way past I think I saw Shane Rodgers still counting the takings from Saturday!!!

Shane on the Rodgers Fishing Stand

Once again I had a good turnout for my talk and it was particularly nice of Dr. Ken Whelan to take the time to attend and also contribute a lot in terms of entomology.  A massive massive thanks to everyone who came along on both days and commented positively on the seminar and took business cards and made inquiries about my guiding and casting tuition service.

Getting prepared in the seminar room.

So that was my part finished for the fair and I had a spot of lunch and just had time to see the seminar on the Western Lakes by my good friend Tom “Doc” Sullivan before setting off for the 3.5hour journey home.  Overall I had a super time and can’t fault the show one bit.  Well done to Stevie and the team and I hope to be back next year.  The next show in Ireland will be the Ireland Angling Expo in Swords in February.  Hope to see you all there!

Ahead of my talk at the Irish Fly Fair in Galway on November 9th/10th on Winter tactics for Stillwater Trout I thought it might be interesting to show  some of the aquatic insects the Trout in the Waterford Lakes tend to feed on during the year.  Now I’m no entomologist but here are a few photos of what I have spooned from the fish nonetheless.

Buzzers

Buzzer

Hoglouse

Snails

Water snails

Water snail

Corixa or Water Boatman

Corixa

Olives

Olive

Caddis/Beetle Larvae

Gammarus or Freshwater Shrimp

Damsel Nymphs

Dragonfly Larva

Dragonfly larva

What the trout are feeding on should have a major bearing on what flies to use at this time of year and how to fish them?  This approach has helped me to catch consistently on the Waterford Reservoirs and to catch overwintered browns like this in January????

January Brown

If you are interested in this approach to fly selection come along to my talk at the Irish Fly Fair and see the flies I will be using this winter and how I am fishing them.  The talk will cover both imitative flies and flies that just work when the fish are feeding on certain “bugs” during the winter and indeed the spring.  For more information on the Irish Fly Fair click here, and on the Waterford Reservoirs click here.

The Waterford lakes are fishing super of late.  Carrigavantry is fishing well to all methods with the unusually mild weather.  If you are fishing on the surface a dry daddy is still taking a few fish.

A nice bow in the net.

Wets fished really well for Dave Burke from Cork last weekend.  Dave had a great day on the lake and says he will be back!

Although the day permit bag limit is 4 trout all anglers are asked to keep two trout and return the rest.

Knockaderry has not cleared out as well as Carrigavantry so far but in spite of the water still showing the effects of algal bloom the lake is fishing well.  Fish are rising early morning and late evening when the lake is calm.  Fish can caught at various depths so it is worth trying an intermediate line and a few dabblers as well as nymphs and Diawl Bachs.

Tom “Doc” Sullivan from Galway with a cracking Knockaderry Bow

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On Saturday I travelled up to Lough Derg to give some casting tuition to a local fishing club.  The weather was absolutely brilliant and they were a super group of people.  In the morning we did some roll casting and then moved on to the overhead cast.  After a hearty lunch (they even had barbecues!) we moved on to shooting line and gaining extra distance using “drift back”.  Before I left I answered some queries about casting faults and fishing techniques.  I must say the people there seem to have a great club going and it was one of the most stunning locations I have visited.

Over the past few weeks I have been (quietly) targeting seatrout on fly at night with some of my clients. Here’s a cracking photo of a few seatrout in the river during the day, taken by my friend Kuba.

Seatrout in the clear water.

Conditions were ideal from the point of view of low water and warm humid nights.  Although the nights have turned cooler of late the smashing fishing has continued with clients catching 10 or more seatrout to their rod at night and losing many more.  In fact one night last week I had 2 clients from Clonmel hook over 30 seatrout in a few hours.

A nice seatrout caught by Mike from Clonmel.

Admittedly most of the fish were not big by usual standards here but the guys were simply raving about the sport they had on light weight 7ft and 8ft rods.  They were very sporting and only kept 3 fish for the table releasing all the rest.  Successful flies recently have been Butcher, Peter Ross and J’s Wake Lure.

Breakfast for the Clonmel lads.