Category Archives: Fishing in Ireland

The Iron Blue Dun

I want to discuss the Iron Blue Dun (it is too much hassle to write Iron Blue Dun all the time so I will refer to it as ‘IBD’ in this post). For such a tiny insect it has generated a huge amount of words in  angling literature, and rightly so. From the earliest historyContinueContinue reading “The Iron Blue Dun”

Scratching a dry itch

The fickle March weather has turned cold and wet again. The balmy few days we had last week have been swept away by mean winds that seek out every opening to send a chill through me as if to remind me of my advancing years. Looking back over the season so far the rod hasContinueContinue reading “Scratching a dry itch”

A couple of old spiders for this time of year

OK so there is nothing even remotely new about these two patterns but they are so effective that I think there is no harm in reminding you about them both. Let’s start with the Poult Bloa. Yellow tying silk with the faintest mist of water rat or mole’s fur dubbed on it form the bodyContinueContinue reading “A couple of old spiders for this time of year”

Messing around with the Hare’s Ear

A standard Gold Head GRHE nymph The GRHE gold head nymph is one of my standard patterns but I thought I would tie up a variation, so here it is: This is dressed on a curved grub hook and I added some chopped up fl. lime floss and red fur to the HE to formContinueContinue reading “Messing around with the Hare’s Ear”

As good as it gets

The bridge, good water below here 19th March. The bright and warm weather is unusual for this time of year and I decide to go fishing, hoping the good weather will have raised water temperatures and brought the trout on the feed. So with Bob Seger blasting out on the CD in the car IContinueContinue reading “As good as it gets”

Bibio’s

Bibios are so widely used that you may be forgiven for thinking that you know all about them. A great fly early in the season when you need something dark and a handy pattern if there are salmon around. What else is there to know? A hell of a lot is the answer! Let’s startContinueContinue reading “Bibio’s”

fr. Ronan

Despite the ecclesiastical name I don’t know of any particular connections with the church for this fly. It is a dabbler style pattern for use when fishing for sea trout and salmon but I can see no reason why it would not work for brownies too, especially around the time of the mayfly hatch. ItContinueContinue reading “fr. Ronan”

Who remembers the Bodie Special?

Not many is the answer! Who or what is a Bodie Special? Sounds like it could be a Glasgow cocktail based on fortified wine, but no, this is a trout fly with a small but ardent following in Scotland. Here is how it is dressed and, as always, I have a small variation to theContinueContinue reading “Who remembers the Bodie Special?”

A typical spring day on the river

16th of March. A Monday, blessed with an overcast sky and light winds from the North East. By 11.30am I have cleared the desk and can hit the river for a few hours. A west wind would be better but beggars can’t be choosers at this time of the year so any day that isContinueContinue reading “A typical spring day on the river”