Safety notice – those of a nervous disposition should be aware my ugly mug is plastered all over the following post. The simple act of writing posts for this blog has many advantages for me. I enjoy mangling the English language in an attempt to tell wee stories of my fishing trips, it stretches myContinueContinue reading “Late summer in south county Galway”
Author Archives: Claretbumbler
River Erne
For the past two or three years I have been meaning to fish the Erne, either the upper lough, the lower lough or the river. It is such a huge fishery I found it a bit daunting, and because it is a bit of a journey up there I wouldn’t have the opportunity to makeContinueContinue reading “River Erne”
Another day on Talt
Fish, despite their tiny brains, have the ability to frustrate us humans on a regular basis. Here is how yesterday’s trip to lough Talt exemplifies the unequal struggle of us mere mortals when trying to fool what should be easy prey. To set the scene – my mate Ben and I were going to spendContinueContinue reading “Another day on Talt”
Be prepared (or not)
Let me start this tale of piscatorial ineptitude last Tuesday evening. While sifting through the coarse fishing gear I found that my box of pre-tied hook lengths was very low on certain sizes, namely my much favoured 14’s and 16’s. While Helen watched something on telly I busied myself making up new hook lengths toContinueContinue reading “Be prepared (or not)”
Still struggling
My near total inability to catch tench this year is rankling me. Whenever I contemplate a bit of fishing the need to catch a tench is right at the very top of my list. The longer my tinca drought goes on the more it vexes me, like I am trapped in some sort of red-eyedContinueContinue reading “Still struggling”
Sunday, parts 1 and 2
There are a lot of them around here. Nameless bodies of water which pepper the pancake flat boglands of east Mayo and across the border into Roscommon. They probably do have ancient Irish names but these are long forgotten or only spoken of softly by the old people of the immediate locale. Nobody in theirContinueContinue reading “Sunday, parts 1 and 2”
Clare Lake
I have written elsewhere about the fish kill on Clare Lake in Claremorris and the devastating effect it had on the fishing. It was already a fishery under pressure due to poaching, but the effluent spill finished it off and the five angling stands have been deserted ever since the foul waste water entered theContinueContinue reading “Clare Lake”
Mucking about in Sligo
A tough day ghillieing on a very quiet lough Conn on Wednesday left me wondering where I could fish on Friday. My hopes of doing a bit of trout fishing were dashed so I needed a plan B and plumped for a spot of coarse angling in county Sligo. Ruggedly beautiful Sligo may not beContinueContinue reading “Mucking about in Sligo”
A morning on Finlough
Not the famous salmon fishery in the west of Ireland, this is instead a coarse lake near to Strokestown in the county Roscommon. I had planned to fish on Monday but the Mayo victory against Kerry the previous day scuppered that as celebratory drinks got completely out of hand. An alcohol fuelled late night renderedContinueContinue reading “A morning on Finlough”
Lazy Sunday morning
With a full week of ghillieing ahead of me, I made loose plans to fish on Sunday morning. An early start made sense so I had the gear all looked out the night before and set an alarm for 5am. Let’s just skip over that alarm (because I did) and move on to eight o’clockContinueContinue reading “Lazy Sunday morning”
Claretbumbler 