Tag Archives: fly fishing

Monsters on the Move

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The MONSTER Waterford browns have been active in the last two weeks. We have had some cracking sessions on both Carrigavantry and Knockaderry. With the warmer weather hatches have increased resulting in good surface activity on the calmer days. Expect to see black and grey buzzers hatching on the mild calm days and lake olives on the less pleasant days. The first of the damsel nymphs are also making an appearance on the trouts diet. On my last trip to Knockaderry I had some fine brown trout on both wet fly and on buzzer.

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Carrigavantry also fished very well to light buzzers and dries. I had two days there recently taking Kuba and Martin out on different occassions. Kuba managed some lovely browns on his trip.

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Martin and I landed a mixture of rainbows and browns on dry flies when I took him out.

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Waterford Lakes

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The Waterford lakes have been fishing well of late.  When the temperature is up and the winds light there has been a great midge hatch.  Emergers have been working well for the large browns averaging 5lbs.

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Dabblers and bumbles are always good at this time of year.  Be sure to use strong tippet for the hard hitting Knockaderry bows.  Some of these are 4lbs plus!

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When conditions are suitable Carrigavantry is a super buzzer lake.  If the midge are hatching keep an eye out for rising trout sheltered areas.

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The big bows put up an awesome scrap on a 5wt.

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These lakes are well worth a try in the coming weeks. Details on permits etc are available on the club website. Www.waterfordflyfishing.com

River Drowes Salmon Fly Fishing Weekend Course

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Venue: Drowes Salmon Fishery (http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com/)

River Drowes

River Drowes

Date:  Saturday April 5th & Sunday April 6th 2014 (includes overnight stay on Saturday night!)

Price: Only €180 per person which includes accomodation at the Drowes Salmon Fishery on Saturday night. (Special course rate of €160 per person for groups of 3 or more!) Deposit of €80 per person applies.

Course Details:

Salmon fly fishing tuition on Saturday with pro guides – casting, demos and instruction.   Fly tying demos and advice from a pro team tyer.  Overnight stay on Saturday night included in the course fee.  Free fishing for all course participants on Sunday.  Places are limited so book early.

Course Instructors:

Jason O’Riordan (Pro Guide, IFFF Casting Instructor).

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Jason O’Riordan

Jason is a pro guide with Premier Angling Supplies and guides on the Munster Blackwater and River Suir for salmon.  He is a qualified IFFF Casting instructor and regularly gives talks on salmon fishing at Ireland’s leading angling shows.   His website is: https://gamefishingireland.ie/

Maurice Cahill (Mackenzie Pro Team)

Maurice Cahill

Maurice Cahill

Maurice is a well respected guide on the Munster Blackwater River where he guides at the Ballyduff Bridge Fishery.  This year Maurice was appointed to the Mackenzie Pro Team for Ireland.  Maurice will have several Mackenzie demo outfits with him for the weekend including shooting head and switch rods.

Denis O’Toole ( Fly Tying Ace)

Denis O Toole with some of his templedog style salmon tubes

Denis O Toole

Denis recently joined the AM Angling “Ace” Team of pro tyers.  He is a superb tyer and is well known for his excellent salmon tube flies.  You may have seen Denis tying on the Drowes stand at various angling shows in Ireland such as the Irish Fly Fair (Galway) and Ireland Angling Expo (Dublin).

Contact/Booking:

Shane (Drowes Fishery)

Mail: drowesfishery@gmail.com

Tel: +353 (0) 71 98 41055
Mob: +353 (0) 87 80 50806

Drainer Disc Flies

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Have put drainer discs on a few of the tube flies I tied recently.  I really like the look of these and the idea is that water can pass through the disc and add extra movement to the wing of the fly.  If the rivers ever drop to fly fishing level I am keen to give them a try.  There are available in lots of colours including metallic finish (which I am waiting to get my hands on).  Below is my Mojo tube fly with a pink drainer added to the front.

Mojo Tube

Mojo Tube

Here is a black drainer on an early season tube fly.

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The ONE!

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Received two new outfits to try out from Pat at Premier Angling Supplies.  So it was over to Ardaire Springs yesterday to see how they would go.  I was joined by my pals Mick and Kuba.  The rods were 10ft Sage One in 5wt and 7wt.  I set up the 5wt with a full floater and some buzzers and the 7wt with a lure.  I started in front of the hut with the 5wt.  It is a seriously impressive item of tackle and almost immediately I was into a nice rainbow.

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I really liked this rod as a buzzer/dry fly rod.  Catching a few more bows on it helped too.

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I was chatting with Kuba about his switch rod when Mick hit into a nice fish on lures.  It put up a great battle.

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It was a decent rainbow, typical of this fishery.

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I decided to try the 7wt sage one with a DI 5 sinking line.  This was awesome for casting big flies big distances.  It had lots of power and I was really able to control the fish I hooked.

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The fishing wasn’t easy but we did pull a share of nice trout and Kuba finished off the day with one on a bloodworm.

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I think Sage got the name of this rod just right, the 7wt is the One for lure fishing and the 5wt is the One for dries/buzzers.

River Trout Fly Fishing Course

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This course will take place at the fantastic Ballyduff Bridge Fishery (River Blackwater) on Sunday April 13th 2014 at 9.30am.  At a very affordable price of just €60 per person the course will incorporate:

  • Dry Fly
  • Wet Fly
  • Dry/dropper (New Zealand Style)
  • Nymph Fishing
  • Streamers
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A nice trout caught New Zealand style.

All aspects of these techniques will be explained including tackle choice, leader set up, fly selection and presentation.  The course tuition will last for approximately 4 hours and course participants can fish the beat for trout (catch and release) for the evening. We will be available to provide further advice if needed.

I am delighted to be able to announce that I will be joined on the day by Mackenzie Pro Team Guide Maurice Cahill.  Don’t miss out on this opportunity to spend time with both a myself and a Mackenzie Pro at such an affordable price.

MacKenzie Pro Guide Maurice Cahill

All course participants will be provided with a detailed set of course notes. If you want to learn about river trout fly fishing or improve upon your current knowledge book a place by contacting me by phone 087 2965712 or e-mail: gamefishingireland@gmail.com.  Places are limited.  A booking deposit of €30 applies.

 

Duckfly Preparations

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As a new trout season approaches it is time for me to prepare for an annual trip to Lough Corrib in late March.  All this stormy weather every weekend means there is little else to do but tie flies and dream of some proper wild lough trout fishing! Last season it was absolutely freezing for the time of year and no flies hatched.  Our most successful method was a team of wet flies fished on a fast intermediate line.

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We also picked up a fish or two in sheltered bays on epoxy buzzers and shrimp patterns.  BUT this year, hopefully, things will be better.  Milder weather, a hatch of fly etc.  So I have already started tying up a few flies to try.  Some wets, dabblers and these small bumbles:

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I wouldn’t be happy lake fishing without a selection of buzzers.  It is worth having some light ones to fish on the top dropper and heavier ones for the point:

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I may also need some emergers and dries if fish are moving at the surface.

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Lough Bumbles

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Tied up a few new bumbles to try on Lough Corrib this March.  The bumble is a great top dropper fly in a wave.

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For these flies I have decided to use black, claret and reds.  A few trigger points with fluorescent tags, holographic tails and jungle cock cheeks will hopefully draw the fish.

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The most likely fly to hatch in late March is the duckfly (a black midge) so these bumbles are tied on standard wet fly hooks in size 12 and 14.  You don’t have to tie all your bumbles really bushy.  You can tie some a little sparser for calmer conditions

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Looking forward to giving some of these a try.

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Snakes but No Ladders!

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Dave from Waterford Angling is going to fishing in New Zealand later this season so asked me to tie up a few snake flies for him to try on his trip.  The first pattern I opted for was a Black Sculpin Helmet.  The Helmet should add weight and black is a great colour for browns.

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The next pattern will hopefully work for him on the lakes there.  It uses White Barred Rabbit, bright braid and has bead chain eyes.

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I couldn’t send him off to do any streamer fishing without flies in brown and olive.  These are always great colours. I decided not to add weight on these ones so Dave can let his streamer line pull them down.  I did add realistic eyes though.

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While I had the materials out I got to thinking about these flies and that the big attraction of them to trout has got to be their movement in the water.  However, when fishing on stocked lakes these flies can work well fished slowly. In this case what I wanted though was a bit more body to the fly and a splash of colour without taking away any movement.  So I came up with this variation.  Trials start soon  . . . .so watch this space!

Snake Mk II

Snake Mk II

Brewin’ up a Storm!

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A storm raged across Ireland last night and today’s forecast was for gusts of wind to 150kph.  Fly fishing – surely not!  BUT, Shane and I were committed to fishing Ardaire springs – and opted to brave the elements!  When we arrived at Ardaire the wind was howling.  There was a little shelter on one side of the lake, and a lot of waves on the other.  Shane opted for buzzers on an intermediate line and I decided to fish a bloodworm on a floater.  I was first to get amongst the fish.

A nice bow on a bloodworm

A nice bow on a bloodworm

This method caught 15 trout for me in the morning which was superb fishing.

Another one falls to the bloodworm

Another one falls to the bloodworm

In the meantime Shane had been hitting some very nice fish on his buzzers and seemed happy to be breaking in his new Greys rod.

A nice fish on the new Greys GR50 10ft rod

A nice fish on the new Greys GR50 10ft rod

l moved around the lake trying any likely looking spots and landed a few more really good fish including the belter pictured below.

A super Ardaire Bow

A super Ardaire Bow

After lunch the fishing continued to be good but did slow a little.  I switched to buzzers and had a few more bows and the odd small brown.

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As the wind died down and the temperature dropped the fish went deeper and we both switched to mini-lures on sinking lines to try and tempt a few more fish.

Shane into one.

Shane into one.

Safely landed

Safely landed

As the light began to fade I managed a few more bows before it was time to tackle down and head home.

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Overall it was a great days fishing and worth the trip.