My mobile rang on Saturday afternoon as I was tidying up in the kitchen. Frank was on the other end, asking if I fancied some trolling on lough Conn the next day. After some deliberation, and checking herself had no plans for the Sabbath, we agreed it was worth a lash. It looked like itContinueContinue reading “My fathers old rod”
Author Archives: Claretbumbler
Dry day, dry net
The river Robe opened for trout fishing on Sunday but it was a yet another day of incessant rain. Monday was supposed to be a dry day but the cold wind brought in more rain from the south in the form of squally showers. I baulked at getting soaked and so delayed my first outingContinueContinue reading “Dry day, dry net”
Cinnamon
No, not the spice. The colour, and more specifically, the use of cinnamon materials in fly tying. I first became aware of cinnamon as a young angler and fly tyer back in Aberdeen. Back in the ’70’s and 80’s, the east of Scotland rivers all supported huge runs of sea trout, wonderful hard fighting fishContinueContinue reading “Cinnamon”
The mini zonker
Apologies to all, there have not been many posts from me of late. My step son is home from Australia for 6 weeks, so there has been a bit of catching up to do, plus I nipped over to Aberdeen for my mother’s 91st birthday. With all that going on there has been no timeContinueContinue reading “The mini zonker”
Balling Buzzer
Today I am going to take a look at a simple fly which is used in very specific circumstances, the Balling Buzzer. Here in Ireland we see huge hatches of chironomids on our large loughs. Hundreds of individual species share these lakes, each with their own season and preferred habitat. Of course, these small creaturesContinueContinue reading “Balling Buzzer”
Badger Bibio
Who doesn’t love the Bibio? Many anglers here in Ireland swear by the original Bibio and use it almost to the exclusion of other black flies on their trout cast. Of course, such a popular pattern has spawned countless variations, many of which I have detailed in earlier posts. Here is one which can beContinueContinue reading “Badger Bibio”
Some more duckfly patterns
2026 is whizzing past at a frightening rate, meaning the opening of the trout season here in Ireland is not far away. Early in the season, the Irish fly fisher has four main options, namely pulling lures close to the bottom, traditional fly fishing with dark wets targeting fish feeding on hog louse and shrimp,ContinueContinue reading “Some more duckfly patterns”
Tying the Raymond Variant
This fly seems to strike fear into the heart of fly tyers so I thought you might like to see how I make the Raymond Variant. It is a good wee fly to have in the box for the mayfly and it catches fish when tied on the bob position and fished in a goodContinueContinue reading “Tying the Raymond Variant”
Low Key session
Having dried out all my gear after the last outing in the rain, I decided to risk getting it all wet again by trying for some roach on Lough Key. Famous for producing the Irish record pike back in the early nineties, (a good fish of just short of forty pounds), it also holds goodContinueContinue reading “Low Key session”
Resurrection
My failing memory was brought sharply in to view when I started to write this post. The story of my favourite fly rod began so long ago that it took me a while to figure out when and how it all started. As near as I can recall, I purchased the Hardy back in 1978ContinueContinue reading “Resurrection”
Claretbumbler 