Category Archives: coarse fishing

Lord only knows how often I have driven past Lough McNean. A lifetime of journeys to the north or onwards to a ferry bound for Scotland entailed crossing the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic at the bridge over the river which joins upper and lower Lough McNean. The road passes along the northContinueContinue reading “Missing bites on the border”

While I had a reasonably good session fishing for roach in one of the rivers which flow into one of the big loughs in my area, I had heard big bream swam into the same pools once we were into the month of May. Well, here we are in the merry month so it wasContinueContinue reading “Not yet!”

Naw, not Charlie being pals with Trump, just me making my first trip to the Royal canal this year. Like an itch that I just had to scratch, the Royal canal was calling me even though the local rivers are fishing really well right now. The day was promised bright, dry and warm but withContinueContinue reading “Royal visit”

My last session hunting for big roach has me fired up for more of the same, so I set an alarm for silly o’clock on Sunday morning and headed back to the same spot to try my luck again. I was ghillieing later in the day so this was going to be a bit ofContinueContinue reading “The early bird”

Brown trout are the staple species in the county Mayo. The huge salmon runs of yester year have gone, wiped out by the industrial fishing around the coasts, so anglers come here to fly fish for the lovely browns which live in just about all the local rivers and loughs. Go back a couple ofContinueContinue reading “Mayo roach”

The current update on my car woes is not good. Still struggling to find the parts for the Yaris and I might need to buy a brand new stub axle. At nearly €500 for a shiny new axle it is a judgement call if I should just ditch the old girl and buy something else.ContinueContinue reading “The wheels on the bus go round and round…..”

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”

Those of a certain vintage will recall a French singer called Sasha Distel and his hit ‘Raindrops keep falling on my head’. He was never off the telly when I was a kid. I thought of that ditty as I sat on the edge of a river today………………. The weather has been alternating between heavyContinueContinue reading “Raindrops keep falling……..”

My endless ranting on these pages about the lack of maggot sellers within 50 miles of me have altered that despicable situation not one jot. The shop in Claremorris tried selling maggots the year before last but gave it up as a bad job. ‘Too much hassle and not enough sales’ was the owners takeContinueContinue reading “Left overs”

We here in the West we have been very lucky so far this winter. Some sharp frosts, a couple of days of pretty light snow, but other than that we have not suffered the harsh winter weather which has hit other parts of Ireland and Britain. My relations in Aberdeen have been snowed in sinceContinueContinue reading “Marina”