I hope you are enjoying this series of posts about the flies I recommend for Lough Conn. Today I will take a look at patterns which fish well from May onwards, an exciting period for us fishers in Western Ireland. The Lake Olives will still be hatching and the Mayfly will start to appear anyContinueContinue reading “Flies for Lough Conn, part 3”
Category Archives: fly tying
Clousers
The weather started off fine this morning but shortly after Nessie and I had completed our walk in the woods our latest weather system hit Mayo with a vengence. ‘Frank’ is now blowing a hoolie and depositing an impressive quantity of rain on us, so I took to the vice in the afternoon and tiedContinueContinue reading “Clousers”
Flies for Lough Conn, part 1
Every year hundreds of anglers from every corner of the world travel to County Mayo to fish Lough Conn. I used to be one of the hoard and can remember the intense excitement preparing for the trips, that deep rooted anticipation of each detail of how the fishing would be. Perhaps the greatest thrill wasContinueContinue reading “Flies for Lough Conn, part 1”
Invicta variants
Possibly one of the most effective all-round wet flies every concocted, the Invicta will catch trout from the first day of the season to the last. Invented in the mid nineteenth century by a chap called Ogden, it has spawned a wide range of variations and I want to share a couple of those withContinueContinue reading “Invicta variants”
Golden Olive Shrimp
A confession first – this is not one of my own patterns. It was devised by my boat partner and top salmon angler Ben Baynes a few seasons ago. Since then, it has become a firm favourite with anglers on loughs such as Beltra and Carrowmor. As shrimp flies go it is pretty simple toContinueContinue reading “Golden Olive Shrimp”
Connemara Black Dabbler
I admit to absolutely loving this fly. Over the years it has given me so many trout in all sorts of conditions that I reach for it when I have no real idea what else to try. I place huge faith in it and it very rarely let me down. The dressing is almost theContinueContinue reading “Connemara Black Dabbler”
Fly tying season
Now the angling is over for another year I will start to post some fly patterns and tying instructions on this blog. Here in Ireland we are quite conservative when it comes to different styles of fly but I use a wide range of different flies to meet the conditions so don’t expect just DabblersContinueContinue reading “Fly tying season”
The Crunchie Shrimp
I first tied this fly more years ago than I care to remember. I had read somewhere about using sweet wrappers to form the bodies on flies and experimented with a couple of ideas. This was pre-multi-coloured holo tinsel days and a box of Cadbury’s chocolates provided some pink, blue and red shiny wrappers. NoneContinueContinue reading “The Crunchie Shrimp”
Gone for a Burton
There was a small tin box in my fly tying cabinet which caught my eye today. I don’t remember where it came from or why it was lodged under some squirrel tails, it just seemed to appear there. I must have used it ages ago and forgotten about it but today I opening it upContinueContinue reading “Gone for a Burton”
Spate river tactics, part 2
OK, so in the first part of this post I discussed my views on the basics of rod, reel and line for fishing small spate rivers here in Ireland. Today I want to talk about what we tie on the business end of our lines – the flies to use and how to fish themContinueContinue reading “Spate river tactics, part 2”
Claretbumbler 