The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed I was very quiet last week. This was because I had a full week ghillieing, and had no free time to put quill to vellum. My client, a regular who I have been guiding for many years, has his own boat and engine, so the week was slightly different to my normal work. Here then is an abridged version of how the week went.
Sunday. DW arrived in the west about lunchtime and collected his boat from where it was stored since his last visit. He had a new engine with him, a fine 15hp four stroke so the first order of the day was to get it on to the boat, fill the engine oil and check everything was in order for the next day. Those tasks completed we headed for the pub and a catch up over pints of porter. We talked about plans for the upcoming week and settled on a couple of days on Lough Mask for a start, possibly a day on Conn then one more day on Mask. Friday was left open for now.
Monday. Weather – overcast, light showers, moderate to fresh southerly wind. Word on the street was there were trout being caught in the deeps all over the lake, so we launched from Tourmakeady and motored out, taking care not to over-rev the engine and continually varying the speed (as per the instruction manual that came with the engine). As we were out in open water I set up a rod to fish as well and we drifted quickly over the deep water in the company of three other boats. Long, uninterrupted drifts proved fruitless and we stopped for a bit of lunch around 1pm. I changed the flies, more for something to do than in the belief this would make a huge difference. Fishing the deeps at this time of the year is very much a case of finding the small, tight shoals of trout rather selecting the correct patterns. We went back out again and headed further north, to the water well out from College Bay. Around 3pm my client bent into 2 trout hooked at the same time. One fell off, but the other came to the net, a fine fish of about a pound-and-a-half which had gone for a claret octopus. An hour later he repeated the exact same feat, hooking tow trout at the same time and once again one of them fell off. The one I did net for him was roughly the same size as the first. That would turn out to be all the action for the day and we returned to the slipway in reasonable spirits as at least we did not blank.
Tuesday. Weather – similar the the pervious day but a bit brighter in the afternoon. Same place, same tactics (after all that had worked on Monday). On my fourth cast I hooked a nice fish and safely netted it. Any thoughts this was a good omen for a hectic day of sport were crushed as we fished hard but didn’t turn another fish despite fishing in very good conditions.
Wednesday. Weather – flat calm all day. No wind and bright sunshine. As planned, we headed for lough Conn, launching in Brown’s Bay. Neither of us was optimistic in such dreadful conditions. Victoria Bay, Brachwansha and Wilson’s Rocks were fished hard with me on the oars all the time to keep the boat moving over the shallows. Wet flies, dry flies, he chucked everything at them without so much as a pull. I thought our only hope was Chain Island where you can sometimes find the odd trout moving close in. Again, I steered and rowed the boat over lovely water but without seeing so much as a rise in the distance. Ruby red and deflated, we motored across the mirror like surface of the slumbering lake to finish early and head for a couple of well earned pints of Guinness.
Thursday. Weather – in total contrast to the previous day we had a day of very strong southerly wind whipping up a 4 to 5 foot wave on Lough Mask, accompanied by near constant heavy rain. A second rod joined us for the day, so I was only required to handle the boat and not fish. Launching out of Gurtmore, I drove down the lake against the wind, the nineteen footer bucking like rodeo horse and the onboard bilge pump working flat out to keep the water level in check. Drift after drift, both rods battled the wind. Tangles aplenty added to my workload. Lunch was a sodden affair taken on an island but at least we were out of worst of the rain for an hour or so. Back out into the teeth of the gale we went and if anything the wind had picked up when we were trying to enjoy our squishy sandwiches under the dripping willow tree. More tangles, no offers from the fish and a sense we were fighting a losing battle. The banshee howl of the wind grew louder and by 4pm there was a unanimous agreement enough was enough, so I fired up the Yamaha, pointed the boat for home and powered down wind to the safety of the slipway. All three of us were soaked to the skin and I needed a hot shower when I got home to get some feeling back in my hands and feet. It had been a tough shift, but Mask throws you days like that from time to time.
Friday. Weather – a great fishing day, steady wind from the south west, alternating clouds and sunshine. After the battering we received on Thursday we decided to give Conn one last try today. This time we launched from Pike Bay, doing one drift off the front of the bay and around the lone pin where the salmon used to lie. Nothing doing, so I motored across the lake and fished the gorgeous shallows around Wilson’s Rocks. A fine wave pushed us into the shore while I pulled on the oars to guide us between the pins marking dangerous rocks just under the surface. Rowing upwind, as close as I could to the shore, we covered more excellent water, planting the cast of flies around the pale rocks and expecting a sharp pull at any moment. Twice there were swirls at the Octopus on the bob but no firm takes and the afternoon slipped past amid the strenuous pulling on the oars and constant short casts. It was all to no avail though, so we finished the day with another blank.
It is sad to say that the above would constitute a fairly typical week’s fishing on the western loughs these days. While the weather contributed to failures on two days (one flat clam, the other a gale and heavy rain), the other three days were lovely fishing days. We did not see a single natural rise, nor any fly life of any kind on the water. My client is a hugely experienced angler who knows the loughs well and has fished them most of his life. I fished on and off for the first two days and all I could do was catch one trout. The week was a microcosm of the 2026 trout season here, very little return for a lot of effort. Indeed, when we landed back in pike Bay on Friday evening we got talking to a fellow angler who fished Conn very often. That chap had only landed two trout for the whole season!
Quite where we go from here is not clear. Yes, the very hot and dry summer was a problem and the trout went off the feed and presumably hid in the deeps to find some cooler water during July and August. But, the near total lack of fly life, the algae bloom on all the loughs, the lack of juvenile trout and the huge increase in coarse fish must surely be contributing factors to the shocking decline in our angling for trout. This disaster is having very real economic consequences. Anglers are voting with their feet, meaning hotels, bars and restaurants are seeing far fewer anglers from abroad. For me personally, I just want the people I bring out on the lough to enjoy the experience, but ultimately that means at least the chance of catching a few trout. Those chances are getting slimmer with every passing season.
