Fish, despite their tiny brains, have the ability to frustrate us humans on a regular basis. Here is how yesterday’s trip to lough Talt exemplifies the unequal struggle of us mere mortals when trying to fool what should be easy prey. To set the scene – my mate Ben and I were going to spendContinueContinue reading “Another day on Talt”
Category Archives: fly tying
Yellow Stimi
It is here at last – the merry month of May. Everything is a bit late this season, but mayfly are now beginning to hatch out on the western loughs at it is high time we fishers were about our business. While we all love our dry fly fishing, the good old wets have theirContinueContinue reading “Yellow Stimi”
Changes they are a comin’
After what feels like an eternity, I am finally back driving again. By happy coincidence this dovetails neatly with the much delayed start to the trout fishing in these parts. The prolonged wet spell which has stretched from last October until now has pushed back the usual angling calendar by about a month or so.ContinueContinue reading “Changes they are a comin’”
Black Gnats
Our terrible weather continues again this bank holiday weekend with storm ‘Dave’ bringing intense rain and high winds to the west of Ireland. I can’t recall such a prolonged period of cold, wet weather even over here where we are no strangers to inclement conditions. The loughs and rivers remain stubbornly high and the fishingContinueContinue reading “Black Gnats”
Blood olive
The car has thrown a wobbly and has been off the road for more than a week and is still not fixed. What started out as a regular bearing problem escalated faster than Trumps botched invasion of Iran and it will be late next week before the ancient Toyota is back on the road. SourcingContinueContinue reading “Blood olive”
Circles
I want to go over an old dry fly pattern today but this takes us on a bit of circuitous journey, in many ways. Let me begin. Derek falls inhabits that strange land between client and friend. I met him years ago and he hired me to bring him out on lough Conn, initially forContinueContinue reading “Circles”
Cinnamon
No, not the spice. The colour, and more specifically, the use of cinnamon materials in fly tying. I first became aware of cinnamon as a young angler and fly tyer back in Aberdeen. Back in the ’70’s and 80’s, the east of Scotland rivers all supported huge runs of sea trout, wonderful hard fighting fishContinueContinue reading “Cinnamon”
The mini zonker
Apologies to all, there have not been many posts from me of late. My step son is home from Australia for 6 weeks, so there has been a bit of catching up to do, plus I nipped over to Aberdeen for my mother’s 91st birthday. With all that going on there has been no timeContinueContinue reading “The mini zonker”
Balling Buzzer
Today I am going to take a look at a simple fly which is used in very specific circumstances, the Balling Buzzer. Here in Ireland we see huge hatches of chironomids on our large loughs. Hundreds of individual species share these lakes, each with their own season and preferred habitat. Of course, these small creaturesContinueContinue reading “Balling Buzzer”
Badger Bibio
Who doesn’t love the Bibio? Many anglers here in Ireland swear by the original Bibio and use it almost to the exclusion of other black flies on their trout cast. Of course, such a popular pattern has spawned countless variations, many of which I have detailed in earlier posts. Here is one which can beContinueContinue reading “Badger Bibio”
Claretbumbler 