Tag Archives: fishing ireland

2023 – The 2nd Half!

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In my last blog post (June), I reported on how the first half of the season had gone. In summary, Mullet fly fiah had been fantastic with salmon fishing really poor. Bass fishing had been OK and trout fishing mixed on the rivers but good on the loughs in the right conditions.

The remainder of June fished well for mullet. We had some nice golden greys and a few decent size thick lips while the warm weather continued.

A nice golden grey.

In June, I also launched my YOUTUBE channel to share some of my top fly patterns. This is still in the development stage, and I hope to add lots more fly tying and fly fishing content in the future. If you use YOUTUBE and like fly tying, check it out and consider hitting the subscribe button.

A successful mullet fly pattern.

The local reservoirs continued to fish well in June and July with hard fighting rainbows and browns taking nymphs and dries.

A cracking brown on a dry fly.

In early July, the fishing was mixed. With a break in the weather, streamer fishing for trout in the rivers and streams worked well. The rain brought a few salmon into the Munster Blackwater, and we managed a nice fish on the fly in a falling spate. Given the low numbers of fish these days, the angler released the fish after a quick photo. While nymphing, we also had a few grilse and Seatrout on our 3wt NX1 outfits.

I took a few days off and went to Spain. While there, I did a half days saltwater fishing with my son, which was great sport. We caught several new species, including fantastic looking triggerfish.

A nice triggerfish.

July continued in a similar fashion with mullet and school bass, the main target species. These fish are great sport on light 5wt or 6wt outfits.

A wee school bass.

Towards the end of August, Dave and I had another trip to Lough Corrib with boatman Tom Sullivan. We targeted fry feeders on this trio and managed some nice trout. If conditions are favourable, we hope to get 1 more day out on the lough fishing dry terrestrial patterns.

Lough Corrib fry feeder.

In early September, the bigger bass made an appearance, and we had an evening with top-notch conditions, a big evening tide with high pressure and little wind. I headed to a mark with a big bass on fly in mind. The conditions gave me confidence, but after a few small schoolies, doubts crept in. Just then, as darkness approached and the tide started to turn, I had a strong take. YESSSS, it was big. I landed the fish after a tough battle, which measured 68cm (almost 8lbs). I took a quick photo and released the fish to fight another day.

68cm on fly on the Fx1 salt 9wt

Looking forward to the remainder of the season, it appears that salmon fishing will not be great. The reservoirs are fishing hard, but if the water cools down more fishing might improve in October. Our rivers will close for trout and salmon at the end of September, so days will be limited. I would like another day on lough corrib, but it will really depend on conditions. Mullet fishing has slowed down locally, but bass fishing has picked up. Bass should continue to fish well with some big fish about until early November.

Until then, tight lines to everyone.

Saltwater Fly Fishing

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One of the most common queries I get is around my approach to saltwater fly fishing. So here is a quick introduction.

I use 2 set-ups for most of my saltwater fly fishing. A 9ft 5wt with full floating line. This is my go-to kit when fishing over very shallow clean ground in clear water. One reason for this is the lighter outfit is less likely to spook fish. Another is that the flies I typically use here are small, similar to the size of most trout flies. Another plus is that this outfit doubles up as a mullet rod so I can target both species at the same time.

A nice 62cm fish taken over clean ground on a shrimp pattern.

The other outfit I use is a 9ft 9wt. My personal favourite is the Mackenzie FX1 Salt rod. I have a few different lines that I use on this rod. Mostly I use a Rio Outbound Short coldwater line in intermediate and I also carry the full float in the same line (for surface flies). Another line I use is an OPST shooting head with various density tips. I find this line great for really big flies.

A fine bass taken on a baitfish pattern using the 9wt over rough ground.

The majority of the time I am using the 9wt is for casting larger flies and or fishing over rougher ground. I also use it in estuaries in channels with a strong current.

Corrib and Mask March 2022

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This was the earliest in the season I have ever fished Loughs Corrib and Mask. At this time of year there is normally no hatch of fly and the trout will be feeding on hoglouse, shrimp, and fry. The best tactics are to fish fry imitations slowly on fast intermediate or sinking lines.

A selection of Dinkies for early season.

Hoglouse and shrimp patterns can be fished slowly on long leaders using a floating line. A good retrieve is a slow figure of eight with the occasional long draw of the line. Concentrate on the margins and shoreline as this is where fish are likely to be.

The forecast last week predicted dry weather for the weekend with a moderate wind. When we arrived at Clonbur last weekend the wind vanished and we were faced with bright sunshine and doldrums! This required a tactical approach if we were to winkle out some wily wild trout.

Not typical for early March
The dreaded flat calm

It was a real team effort for my boat partner Dave and I and our renowned local boatman Tom Doc Sullivan. A good boatman is essential in these conditions and Tom is one of the best.

Dave with his first Mask trout

Dave and I set up two rods each. A 7wt with fast intermediate lines for pulling wets and a 6wt with a slow intermediate or full float for hoglouse patterns. I was using my 10ft Mackenzie FX1 rods and Dave was using his NX1 rods.

The Mackenzie FX1 10ft #7 is my go to rod for wets

By adapting to suit the conditions we managed to catch.

A nice Mask trout

For a while on Sunday the breeze picked up slightly and even this light wind made a difference. The fishing improved for a while and we had lots of plucks and some positive hits that turned into boated fish. In the circumstances we were very pleased.

Typically some early season trout will still be lean but others will be in better condition.

For us it was a positive start to the lough season and we are already looking forward to returning later in the year.

Go Deep or go Home!

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I had heard a few times that the western Lough’s can fish well at the end of the season to daphnia feeding fish in the deeps. There can also be a chance of dry fly fishing with sedges and daddies.

With this in mind I contacted my pal and Corrib boatman Tom Doc Sullivan to see if a trip would be worthwhile. Tom really knows his stuff and he told me to make the journey. However I wouldn’t be fishing any of the drifts I had fished on previous trips. It seemed like – go deep or go home!

I was joined by my mate Dave who has also fished the lake before but never at this time of year. Preparation had gone well and I was armed with a Mackenzie FX1 10ft #6 and #7wt. Tom had recommended tying up some bright daphnia patterns to pull on an Airflo Fast Intermediate line. As usual he was spot on.

We didn’t know what to expect but followed Tom’s advice and with good conditions we had great sport catching beautiful wild Irish trout in a fantastic location. 24 trout landed in 2.5days fishing is awesome.

We learned a lot about fishing the lake at this time of year and it was brilliant to have several nice trout take our dry flies.

There is still a month left and the great thing was there wasn’t as many boats out compared to mayfly time. The weather was much milder than some of our early season duckfly and olive fishing trips too.

We will definitely be contacting Tom around this time next year and if prospects are good we will be back.

Blackwater salmon

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Recent guided sessions produced some nice spring salmon from the Munster Blackwater river. This season the water levels have been quite high on our local rivers and fly fishing opportunities have been fairly limited. Luckily the weather has been improving and the rivers reached a better if not ideal fly fishing height, particularly in the upper stretches. As a consequence we managed a few very nice salmon.

My guests were using two outfits, one was a 13’7 Mackenzie Atlas rod matched with a Mackenzie Phased Density Shooting Head in Float/Sink 2 and a short leader to a White Francis fly.

The other client used a 15ft Mackenzie FX1 GRAPHENE Rod matched with a Mackenzie Float/S1 shooting head and attached to the business end was a local shrimp fly pattern called Hick’s Bug. The guys were blown away by this kit and when good fish came the were even more impressed.

So some very happy anglers and a nice tackle test was a great result. The river is coming into good order again after the latest flood so fingers crossed for some more action. Tight lines!

Lough Corrib 2018

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This year a pal and I delayed our visit to Lough Corrib until late April due to the abnormally cold spring. It proved to be a good move as the weather was horrible all March. We knew we had missed the duckfly hatch but were hoping for Olives and large buzzer. Once again we stayed at Grasshopper cottage Cornamona near Clonbur.

We hired a boat and engine from our good pal and top guide Tom Doc Sullivan. Unfortunately we were too early for Olives this time. Our approach was to fish the conditions as there was no significant hatch. On the morning s the Lough was calm and the sun was high although it was cool enough with a Northeast wind.

In these conditions we fished buzzers. I was really impressed with my Mackenzie FX1 10ft 6wt for this method. Luckily we managed to boat some nice trout with the largest 58cm and in prime condition.

In the mid afternoon the wind picked up and we tried pulling traditional wet flies and dabblers on intermediate lines. This was productive especially around shallow areas. We had a mixture of small trout with some better fish to just over 2lbs and quite a few missed takes also.

Overall we had a great weekend and are really looking forward to next year already.

Trout n About

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I’ve been very busy lately with casting tuition and guiding. There is a good run of salmon at the moment but most of my guiding has been for wild river trout and a day or two on stillwaters. The reservoirs have been fishing really well.

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The hard fighting rainbows give a great battle.

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Still there is something about wild river browns that makes them special regardless of size.

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Although when you hook up into a good one the heart races.   One of my clients from Atlanta lost an 18inch brown at the net on the River Blackwater the other day.  His face said it all!!

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There is a lot more trout food in that river than some people realise.

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I have been hearing a lot of talk lately about getting more youth involved in fishing and fly fishing.  I know my local club has a youth day coming up and despite a hectic guiding schedule that weekend I will be there to help out. But there is no point talking about it, you have to get out there and do it!

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This weekend I’m one of the experts at the Northwest Angling Fair in Strabane. I’m looking forward to it a lot.  I’m demonstrating and giving casting advice on the Suir next weekend and on a stillwater the weekend after. And Ken Whelan and I have Seatrout fishing courses coming up in July and August. I think the August one will be a cracker so watch this space!!

Fishing Update

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Been too busy lately to blog but here’s a quick update on how the fishing has been. We have had a few salmon on the Munster Blackwater from the Ballyduff Bridge Beats with Brendan O Dwyer having 4 grilse on fly yesterday at Ballincurrig and Tony Murtagh having another at Ballyduff Bridge.  Most of my guiding in the past week has been for bass and things are improving here with some nice fish from these tides.  Tight lines!

Cracker for Mark from Dublin

Cracker for Mark from Dublin

One on fly from the boat for Kuba

One from the boat for Kuba