I can hear her words today just as clearly as when she said them to me. Mrs Collier was my teacher at primary school, a lovely woman who doted on her charges but stood for no nonsense. What with eight year old me being a bit of a tearaway there were frequent clashes between meContinueContinue reading “Thinking small”
Category Archives: Fishing in Ireland
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”
Customising an old chest pack
This little project was driven by sheer frustration. I always have a small zinger clipped on my fishing jackets and waistcoats so I have a pair of clippers or scissors at hand but lately I have developed a nasty habit of pinging them off at every opportunity. I don’t know if this is just yetContinueContinue reading “Customising an old chest pack”
End of June
It has been a very hard few days, a lot of ‘stuff’ has been going on, things which have drained me to the point of exhaustion. I needed some time to myself so I made the effort to take my old boat out for a couple of hours on lough Conn. Heavy rain over theContinueContinue reading “End of June”
Change of scene
For the past few weeks I have been out chasing trout on the big lakes, either fishing myself or boating other anglers. Today I decided it was time for a change of scene. After sorting out a couple of tasks at home I headed off for lovely Leitrim to try my luck on a smallContinueContinue reading “Change of scene”
Mixing dubbing
Disclaimer – I am not an expert on mixing dubbing materials. I do occasionally use dubbings straight out of the packet but to be honest that is pretty rare. Instead, I almost always add something else to the fur. In my head this adds ‘life’ to otherwise flat colours. Whether the fish appreciate my effortsContinueContinue reading “Mixing dubbing”
32 – Episode 27, Kerry
6th June, D-day. I was stood up to my knees in Lough Bofinna in county Cork trying to decide what to do when it occurred to me that Kerry was not so terribly far away. There is a stocked lough called Barfinnihy which lies high up in the hills on the ring of Kerry, veryContinueContinue reading “32 – Episode 27, Kerry”
32 – Episode 26, Cork
Lough Bofinna. I have no rational explanation why this secluded little lake sang to me but as soon as I read about it I decided I simply had to fish it. Cork is a big county with countless opportunities to fish so quite how my brain fixed on this far off lough will for everContinueContinue reading “32 – Episode 26, Cork”
The war on waste
This post will no doubt confirm your worst suspicions about me, that I am obsessed with waste. Fly tying, by its very nature is a wasteful process, we spend hours clipping and cutting then disposing of the waste in the bin. Some of this is necessary but we can reuse some of the bits weContinueContinue reading “The war on waste”
Black goldhead
The rib has been ravaged by the trouts teeth but this one caught it’s fair share I realise most of you already have this fly or something very similar in your box but for the sake of completeness here is the one I use. It has a lot going for it, easy and quick toContinueContinue reading “Black goldhead”
Claretbumbler 