We were in behind Saints island when it happened, drifting fast in a lively south-easterly with me on the oars. Anyone who fishes the Mask knows this is a great area for trout and on that day the fish were rising to a sporadic hatch of greendrakes. The wind wasn’t quite right, pushing the boatContinueContinue reading “Premature end to my season”
Category Archives: Fishing in Ireland
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”
Sqeezing in a session
This spring has been like no other that I can recall. This week we are again basking in high temperatures under cloudless skies and fanned by the lightest of zephers. These conditions are wonderful for so many outdoor persuits, unfortunately trout and salmon angling are not on that last. With ghillieing work consuming me fromContinueContinue reading “Sqeezing in a session”
Early May on Conn
It feels like life has just conspired against my attempts to go fishing for many months now. It’s been one thing after another, the house, the weather or my health (or all three on some occasions). Even as lately as this week my plans to fish on Thursday were scuppered and I spent the dayContinueContinue reading “Early May on Conn”
Uisce Éireann at it again
https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2025/0409/1506769-fisheries-sewage I want to highlight another serious water pollution incident was brought to court. Uisce Éireann polluted a small stream which eventually feeds into lough Sheelin last May. Raw sewage was discharged into the Pound River, a spawning tributary of the Mountnugent River resulting in a fish kill. The problem is this is not anContinueContinue reading “Uisce Éireann at it again”
R&M
R&M – repairs and maintenance. In my previous working life I was frequently in charge of engineering departments, so R&M was part of my everyday life. Some things never leave you I guess, and these days I seem to be always fixing stuff that is related to my angling which is either worn or brokenContinueContinue reading “R&M”
Shannonbridge
That hateful east wind has continued to blow all week. A miserable breeze as far as any angler in the west of Ireland is concerned, it seems to put the fish off the feed altogether. OK, so we have had a lot of dry, sunny and even warm weather of late, if only the windContinueContinue reading “Shannonbridge”
Badger hair
In a world where every day seems to pressure us buy yet another ‘must have’ synthetic material, I want to talk about an old material which I never see anyone else use now, the body har from a badger. I realise this is not an easy material to find and it has very limited uses,ContinueContinue reading “Badger hair”
Back to the Robe
For the past couple of months I have been thinking about fishing, preparing to go fishing but not actually managed to do any fishing. Apart from a solitary coarse session I have been confined to quarters, of my own volition I must say. There has just been so much going on that angling dropped downContinueContinue reading “Back to the Robe”
Claretbumbler 