Tag Archives: irish fly fishing

Fizzin!!!

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Bass lure anglers know that when you get a bit of fizz in the water a lot of good rock marks tend to produce fish.  Today was the first day in a while where the water seemed to have the little bit of life to it and I was feeling confident of some bass.

That fizz we were waiting for!

That fizz we were waiting for!

I was joined on a short lure fishing session by Ian who is new to some of the lure techniques I have been using but was keen to learn.  I had landed three nice bass of around 60cm when Ian arrived at the mark.

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However, it didn’t take him long to get in on the action and he picked up on the methods very quickly.  We had quite a few takes and landed some lovely fish in in the 55cm to 60cm range.

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Remember to practice catch and release on these slow growing fish and you could also consider taking part in Inland Fisheries Ireland scale sampling project.

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Streamer Screamer!

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Regular client Willie was in contact with me lately to do some fishing as he had bought a new Sage reel for a 5wt.  We have had a lot of rain recently and this has meant a rise in water levels and some colouring of the waters.

spate water

spate water

However as water clears this can be a great time to target large predatory browns.

clearing out

clearing out

The chosen method – streamers.  Remember that you need a specialist streamer line to fish these effectively.  Willie got his from Pat at Premier Angling Supplies in Nenagh.  Anyway, as is often the case when teaching an old Sage new tricks Willie was a bit skeptical about streamer fishing.  However when his new reel started to scream, he changed his views.  Another large brown for us this season . . . they just keep on coming

Screamer

Screamer

This one came from very slow deep water. Handle with care and release safely!

spotty fella

spotty fella

 

Savage Fishing

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The local reservoirs have been fishing well lately.  Today was another great example when Wayne who has returned to Ireland from Australia had a super session on Carrigavantry.  The fishing was quiet in the morning but fish were moving.  I suggested a few tactical changes and after lunch he was just slamming the resident bows on dries.

fish on

Fish on

These were not easy fish to fool but when they did hit the takes were just SAVAGE!

A quality bow.

A quality bow.

We even managed a few double hook ups which came as a surprise to Wayne as earlier in the day a lot of these fish were not interested in his offerings.

One each safely in the net

One each safely in the net

It was very pleasing to see that Wayne is a fan of catch and release.  He rarely ever keeps a trout.  One trout that we spooned was his bag limit for the day.

CPR (Catch Photo Release)

CPR (Catch Photo Release)

 

A Day on the Water with Ken Whelan

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I was privileged to spend a day on Carrigavantry Reservoir with renowned fisheries scientist Dr Ken Whelan. This was Ken’s first visit to the Waterford Reservoir but I doubt it will be his last. It was a very enjoyable and rewarding experience to spend some time with Ken who has such an in depth knowledge of fisheries related matters. Ken had his aquatic insect collecting kit with him and we tried several areas of the lake to see what food sources were available for the trout.

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Ken was very impressed with the rich diet of food available for the trout at this lake and it was no surprise to him that the fish are always in such excellent condition. We found olive nymphs, bloodworms, buzzers, various caddis, damsel nymphs, dragonflies, beetles, shrimps, water boatment etc in the lake.

Dragonfly Nymph

Dragonfly Nymph

Water Boatman (moulting)

Water Boatman (moulting)

After the “science bit” I took Ken out fishing on the lake for a while. We caught a few overwintered rainbows that were feeding subsurface.

Rainbow CV April 2014

I suggested to Ken we change tactics and try for some of the larger brown trout present in the fishery. Conditions were good and I was confident as to where the fish might be. After a little searching Ken hooked into into something very large. After a superb fight I netted a MONSTER brown trout for him. He measured the length (64cm) and girth (40cm) of the fish which we estimated at 7.5lbs to 8lbs weight. He then released the magnificent fish for some lucky angler to catch another day.

Brown 2 April 2014

The wind picked up and we tried one last drift before I had to leave and as it seemed to be our lucky day as Ken managed another fine brown trout of around 5.5lbs.

Brown 3 small April 2014

A fantastic end to a fantastic day. Once again the Waterford reservoirs lived up to their excellent reputation. Looking forward to some more fishing adventures with Ken later in the season.

Mighty Mike

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Mike from Clonmel joined the Waterford Fly Fishing Club for this year and while he had been catching some quality trout he was keen to learn the nuances of buzzer fishing, particularly with the large browns that were moving in the lakes already this season. So we arranged to meet up at Carrigavantry on a day with a nice light southerly wind. Conditions were looking good for some buzzer fishing and there was a reasonable amount of small buzzer hatching too. Once we were on the lake I was showing Mike how I fish buzzers on these lakes when WHAM! I was into a serious trout. It turned out to be a superb brownie. Just what we were after.

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After a quick photo the trout was released back into the lake. A great start but now to get Mike into them! It took a little while and a few missed takes and then Mike nailed one. It was as pretty a brown as you could hope to catch in the lake and it was really big too.

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Mike continued to catch and release a few more smaller fish.

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And he finished off his session with another large brown. Needless to say he was a happy angler at the end of the session.

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Successful Seatrout Patterns

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I am often asked about sea trout flies and which ones I find best.  Let me say immediately that each river tends to have its own favourites, but there are certainly a few patterns I always carry with me.

Teal Blue and Silver Variant

Teal Blue and Silver Variant

I divide my seatrout patterns into 3 main categories:

1. Small or standard patterns

For me key standard size patterns would include flies such as the teal blue and silver, black pennell, kill devil spider, butcher, dunkeld and peter ross.  I would generally have these in sizes 14 to 8 and a few “wee doubles”.

Peter Ross

Peter Ross

One of my personal favourites is the Gold Alexandra.  The variant I tie is pictured below.

Gold Alexandra Variant

Gold Alexandra Variant

2. Larger flies/tandems/surface lures

In the larger flies I fish mainly blue/silver patterns like the medicine fly, black silver patterns and orange and gold patterns.  I find it useful to have a selection of flies tied on low water singles, doubles, tandems and a few snake flies.

orange tandem

I tend to use two types of surface fly for night time fishing.  These would be foam type flies and also flies tied with deer hair (muddlers).  As a general rule the darker the night the bigger the surface fly I fish.

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To conclude, having fished for seatrout on my local rivers for the past thirty years, my approach would be to have a small selection of patterns but be  sure to have flies of various sizes, along with a few surface lures.

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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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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Salmon/sea trout snake flies

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Having recently experimented with trout snake flies  I had an idea for some salmon and sea trout ones.  These are not the traditional snakes tied with a long mylar body over braid and a hair wing.  Mine are tied with rabbit zonker strips.  A treble right in the tail and a salar double up front.  I have seen a few salmon flies tied with zonker strips out back as a sort of long flowing tail.  I could just see sea trout nipping at the tails of these with little or no hook ups.  Take a look at these!!

Red salmon snake

Red salmon snake

The treble right in the tail will sort out any short takers.

Cascade Salmon Snake

Cascade Salmon Snake

The hooks are connected by a uv straggle twisted into a rope which forms the body.

Silver & Blue Sea Trout Snake

Silver & Blue Sea Trout Snake

This facilitates lots of movement in the water.  Blue and silver is a great combination for sea trout.  The flies are finished off with some arctic fox and a little bling.  They have a super profile!!

Salmon/sea trout snakes

Salmon/sea trout snakes