Slap bang in the middle of Ulster lies the old kingdom of Tir O’ne, modern day Tyrone, the largest of the Northern Ireland counties. The O’Neill clan ruled these lands until the flight of the Earls in 1607, marking the end of Gaelic lordship in Ireland. This is archetypal Northern Ireland countryside with neat, well-tendedContinueContinue reading “32 – Episode 25, Tyrone”
Category Archives: coarse fishing
Raindrops keep falling on my head
The fire is warming the room and more importantly is starting to dry my sodden clothes which are unceremoniously draped over a pair of drying racks arranged around it. I fished for an hour today and got soaked, the first day of real rain we have had for ages and I had to be outContinueContinue reading “Raindrops keep falling on my head”
Messing about
‘When the weather is fine, you know it’s a sign, for messing about on the river’ (Josh MacRea) Is it just me or do most of us find ways to spend more money? A recent set of events which on the face of it saved me money have in fact led me down the roadContinueContinue reading “Messing about”
Cloondroon
The last couple of days has seen a change in the weather with hard frosts at night but lovely bright days with light winds. I had initially planned to go trout fishing on the river Robe but the cold meant it would be unlikely the early stoneflies would hatch in any numbers so I headedContinueContinue reading “Cloondroon”
Join the club
On a windy day last weekend I tried fishing lough Aclaureen near Tuam. I failed to register even a single bite there and so headed off to try my luck elsewhere, eventually spending a couple of desperately cold and windswept hours on one of the Castlereagh lakes near Irishtown. On the way there I checkedContinueContinue reading “Join the club”
Winters tale
For the first time in two years I was in a pub last night, partaking of pints of Guinness, first in Johnnie HcHale’s and then Paddy Moran’s. Very pleasant it was too at the time but this morning it was a bit of a struggle to get out of the bed. I eventually sorted myselfContinueContinue reading “Winters tale”
Float repairs
Messing about again When I started out coarse fishing a couple of years ago the only floats I owned were a few large Avons which had given sterling service when trotting for grayling on the mighty river Tay back in the eighties. These large cock bodied floats were required over there to handle the heavyContinueContinue reading “Float repairs”
New rod
I don’t get those ‘unboxing’ videos which are all over the place. I am obviously missing something here as they are incredibly popular but I will spare you the unboxing of my new purchase. When I looked at this 14 foot Shakespeare feeder rod in the shop it seemed to be an awful lot ofContinueContinue reading “New rod”
Sunday morning
The trip to Kildare the other weekend lit a fire inside me. It smoldered through the week, a glowing ember inside which I could not extinguish. All my angling senses told me that this is January and there very few fish to be caught but still that orange glow grew stronger and by Saturday nightContinueContinue reading “Sunday morning”
32 – Episode 19, Kildare
To the south and east of Dublin stretches the wide flat plains of the Pale. I am no Irish history buff but the term ‘the pale’ seems to date from the middle ages and signified the area under English control. The borders of the pale fluctuated wildly over the years but Kildare was pretty muchContinueContinue reading “32 – Episode 19, Kildare”
Claretbumbler 