For a review of some recent guided days and casting tuition click on the link below.
Tag Archives: Ireland
Waterford Lakes
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.
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!
When conditions are suitable Carrigavantry is a super buzzer lake. If the midge are hatching keep an eye out for rising trout sheltered areas.
The big bows put up an awesome scrap on a 5wt.
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
Venue: Drowes Salmon Fishery (http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com/)
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).
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 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
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
Snakes but No Ladders!
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.
The next pattern will hopefully work for him on the lakes there. It uses White Barred Rabbit, bright braid and has bead chain eyes.
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.
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
Spring Salmon Flies
Here are a few salmon flies for the Spring. Some Irish rivers will be open very soon and of course the Munster Blackwater will open on February 1st. Experience says the best fishing will be between Ballyduff and Fermoy. Some cold weather with low clear water would be ideal.
Black & Green Double
Black and green can be a good combination in the spring. It is worth noting that when the water is low and clear you don’t always have to fish really big heavy flies. I also like flies with some yellow in them in the spring.
Yellow&Orange
Of course any combination of yellow, orange and black is great for salmon. The profile of flies tied with arctic fox always looks good.
Arctic Fox Profile
If you are faced with high coloured water then some big bright tube flies are worth a go.
So if the river is good order it will surely be worth a try. However, always be mindful of kelts and baggots at this time of year!
2013 A Review – Part III
September
Normally reliable this past season fishing was tough due to high temperatures, drought conditions and algal blooms. But we still managed to catch some nice fish!
Night fishing for seatrout with Conor and the lads
Maury from Tyrone after landing a nice autumn fish on the Blackwater
Gurnard on soft plastics with Kuba
Casting tuition on Lough Derg
October
In October the bass fishing picked up a bit!
Darren with his first ever sea bass.
And the water in the lakes started to clear up.
Tom “Doc” with a Knockaderry Bow
November
With the rivers closed it was more saltwater fishing and of course the Waterford lakes fished well.
A quality Vantry trout
And a trip to the Irish Fly Fair in Galway which was fantastic. I really enjoyed giving a talk there on winter tactics for stillwater trout.
At the Irish Fly Fair in Galway
Denis O Toole with some of his templedog style salmon tubes
December
The year comes to a close. And a chance to catch up on some fly tying.
Dabbler
But with all the mild weather there are still some seabass caught along the copper coast when conditions are good and the lakes continue to fish well.
Mick catches at Ardaire
A cracking Ardaire bow
With only a few days left in the year and with winds estimated at 150kph Shane and I managed to fit in one more days fishing.
A super Ardaire Bow
Bassing it up this weekend
Went bass fishing with Mike yesterday and we had a great session. We started off with weighted soft plastics in about 25ft of water. I had a few on a worm in a deep channel on the coming tide.
We moved about a bit at high tide and Mike had a few beauties on a Feed Shallow plug and I smashed a few on a IMA Hound.
Just before we finished up Mike had another on the Feed and I nailed a smaller but pretty fish on an IMA Sasuke.
Game Fishing Ireland 