The first named storm of the year batters away outside. Leaves are shaken from bending trees, rainwater splatters against the windows and the sky is the colour of a nasty bruise. One year ago, when I was working, Friday afternoons saw me driving home after being away all week, often in miserable weather like todays.ContinueContinue reading “Storm Amy”
Category Archives: fly tying
Back at the vice
After a l-o-n-g hiatus, I have returned to the vice and started to do a bit of fly tying. 2025 will go down for me as the year when I hardly fished, did almost no ghillieing and tied virtually no flies. The good news is that most of the big non-fishing jobs required of meContinueContinue reading “Back at the vice”
Ullsock
Here is another old post which was gathering dust in a forgotten folder deep inside my website. Not a fly most of you will be familiar with, but I like the look of this one as a possible salmon and sea trout pattern for the west of Ireland. I was intrigued when I first sawContinueContinue reading “Ullsock”
Cock Robin Palmer
Christmas Day here in Castlebar and I have completed my first list of chores. With a little time on my hands before we launch into full blown Christmas dinner mode, I have been poking about the back alleys of my website and come across a few posts which somehow never saw the light of day.ContinueContinue reading “Cock Robin Palmer”
Jointed Mayfly
Another one for all you hard working fly tyers out there. This is a rather unusual wee fly which is not one I see in use too often. One of the materials is peculiarly Irish, PTFE tape. This is referred to here as simply ‘Plumber’s tape’ as is is used by those professionals when makingContinueContinue reading “Jointed Mayfly”
Claret Gosling
A nice simple one for you fly tyers out there, but one which does well on all Irish loughs. Hook: I use a wide range of hooks for this pattern. Tie it on your bog standard heavy wet fly in sizes 8 to 12 or long shanks in the same range Tying silk: I preferContinueContinue reading “Claret Gosling”
Mulranny Pig
This wee fly intrigues me. Mulranny is a scenic wee village on the northern shore of Clew Bay, a few miles from where we live. There is a golf course, a nice hotel that does a roaring trade during the summer and the usual scatter of touristy shops. The views across the bay to theContinueContinue reading “Mulranny Pig”
Leggy Dunkeld
The Dunkeld, in various guises, has always been one of my favourite flies. A long time ago, when I was a kid just starting out on my angling career, I bought a small cellophane packet of cock hackles which were dyed orange for the princely sum of fifteen pence from Somers tackle shop which wasContinueContinue reading “Leggy Dunkeld”
Grey Mayfly Nymph
I guess we are now at the beginning of the fly tying season so I will post a few flies every now and then. I’ll start today with a fly I often turn to when the mayfly fishing is difficult due to calm conditions. This is a very easy nymph to tie but getting theContinueContinue reading “Grey Mayfly Nymph”
Cheap fly tying material
A very quick post for you fly tyers out there. It feels like everything in our lives just gets more and more expensive with every passing day so any way of reducing costs in our pastimes has to be a good thing. For fly tyers the cost of some synthetics can be quite high, soContinueContinue reading “Cheap fly tying material”
Claretbumbler 