I have been busy tying flies over the past few weeks, dabblers and bumbles pouring off the vice as boxes are filled and the overflow chucked into a receptacle a a sort of back up for next season. Of course, I don’t really need any more flies, thousands are already in my collections of troutContinueContinue reading “The importance of fly choice?”
Category Archives: dryfly
Another tough day on Carra
My plans to do a lot of fishing on Carra this season turned to dust, but I did manage to get out one last time last Sunday. It was the final competition for the club, a day which the forecasters had predicted would be one of gales and torrential rain. Strange as it may seem,ContinueContinue reading “Another tough day on Carra”
Tackling tough conditions
When dreaming of days on the big limestone loughs I am willing to wager us fly fishers imagine clouds driven across the sky by a brisk south westerly, the warm air still damp from recent rain and trout splashing as they intercept hatching flies. While we do get halcyon like that sometimes, more often theContinueContinue reading “Tackling tough conditions”
Carra competition
Those hardy souls who regularly follow this blog are no doubt fed up of hearing how much I dislike angling competitions and the fact that I have not fished them in twenty plus years. All this pontificating was never going to end well and sure enough, yesterday I found myself taking part in a fishingContinueContinue reading “Carra competition”
3 tough days
Three of the last four days have seen me out with a client on lough Corrib and tough days they were! The lough has been fishing well to the troll and buzzer in previous weeks but David was looking for some dry fly sport so we headed to Doorus first. I knew this was goingContinueContinue reading “3 tough days”
Hardys Favourite, with a twist
Apologies, I have been very slack when it comes to posting of late. Fishing has been out of the question for me and my fly tying has taken up a large chunk of what little remains of my free time. There has been a near constant drain on me by the book publishers as weContinueContinue reading “Hardys Favourite, with a twist”
32 – Episode 28, Tipperary
Swift and Suir Confession time, I love Excel. I have relied on it for years at work and all that ‘right click in the box’ has spilled over into my fishing, helping me to keep track of plans, trips and records of catches. Updating the 32 project master spreadsheet on my laptop one evening IContinueContinue reading “32 – Episode 28, Tipperary”
Blank
I used to virtually live on Lough Mask. Renting a small house in Ballinrobe, I kept my boat in Cushlough and when not at work I would be out on the water chasing the gorgeous brown trout that lived there. Slowly, and with numerous scrapes to hull and propeller, I learned a little about thisContinueContinue reading “Blank”
My favourite dry mayflies
As a young fella back in Scotland my passion was fishing the dry fly. Summer evening saw me wading the rivers Don or Urie, flicking size 16 dries at rising trout until the light faded. Just before it got too dark I would take off the dry fly and change to a cast of sedgesContinueContinue reading “My favourite dry mayflies”
My favourite mayflies.
I know it is only April but the merry month of May will soon be upon us so with that in mind here are a few of my favourite Mayfly patterns. My own fly boxes are full of old masters and new patterns and most of them will catch a fish or two. Finding consistentContinueContinue reading “My favourite mayflies.”
Claretbumbler 