Category Archives: Fishing in Ireland

Difficult day

Do you want the good news or the bad news? The good news is that there are fresh salmon running into Lough Conn. The bad news is they resisted all efforts to winkle them out today! My excuse for the day is the wind, or should I say the almost total lack of it. OverheadContinueContinue reading “Difficult day”

Baling out the boat

After a very dry spring and early summer the long-awaited rains arrived a few weeks ago and there have been periods of showers and heavier rain since then. Rivers have flowed again and water levels in the loughs have risen accordingly. This is good news for salmon and salmon fishers and catches have improved asContinueContinue reading “Baling out the boat”

Happily married

Fashions change. Clothes which were de-rigour only a few short months ago now languish in a bin liner awaiting the next trip to the charity shop. This is not always a bad thing, those ridiculous flared trousers of my own youth are not mourned (and no, there is no photographic evidence of me so attired).ContinueContinue reading “Happily married”

That Black Sedge I was on about…..

I mentioned this fly in passing in my last post so I figured you might like the dressing. I know it annoys me when people allude to specific flies then don’t tell you how they are made! I make a couple of different versions, one wet and one floater, to cope with different conditions. LetContinueContinue reading “That Black Sedge I was on about…..”

Old school on the Keel

Sunday morning: No wind. Not even a faint zephyr. Glassy surfaces on the loughs meaning every cast causes fish scaring ripples. The thought of a day spent chasing corduroy ripples across the vastness of Lough Conn did not appeal so I demurred on my planned visit to the Massbrook shoreline. I needed a plan ‘B’ContinueContinue reading “Old school on the Keel”

A quiet day on Conn

Saturday, 21.30 hrs: The modern version of jungle drums were beating a few minutes ago when I received a text to let me know that 7 or 8 salmon had been seen jumping on Lough Conn earlier today. That makes sense as I know there have been fresh fish running the river Moy for theContinueContinue reading “A quiet day on Conn”

update from Mayo

Still suffering a serious lack of water here but some showers over the last few days have brought some salmon in at last. Beltra has produced a few- https://www.facebook.com/Lough-Beltra-380982678740593/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf The river Moy is seeing some action too with the Ridge and Cathedral beats fishing well and beats right up as far as the East MayoContinueContinue reading “update from Mayo”

alive and kicking

So today I finally made time to take a look at the sick Evinrude outboard which let me down so badly last weekend. When it failed to start on the lake I rowed ashore and whipped out the spark plugs, thinking the mixture may have been too rich and she had oiled the plugs. BothContinueContinue reading “alive and kicking”

Mixed fortunes on Lough Conn

The big southerly wind we were promised on the forecast didn’t really materialise after all. A steady force 5 brought mild, damp air up over Ireland and a good day for fishing. I had semi-packed the gear the night before so it was just some last minute additions that had to be slung into theContinueContinue reading “Mixed fortunes on Lough Conn”