A change is as good as a rest

It has been a terrible season so far on the rivers and loughs for me. I have yet to catch a decent tout and only a single salmon has fallen for my flies. Time to change things around and do some salt water angling. I have agreed to fish as part of a team in […]

Cure for a slipping drag

You know what I am like with reels. Of all my fishing gear it is the fly reels that I love the most. I own far too many and most of them see little use but I am still a sucker for a bargain reel. That’s why I bought a second hand System 2 a […]

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 tied […]

Pass my hammer, it is getting cold

It’s mid-November and the year is showing its age. Leaves clog the drains around the house now and the heating boiler had to be coaxed into life again with some deft hammer blows to the pump housing and a liberal stream of expletives. We were blessed with an unusually calm period of high pressure during […]

Saltwater fly patterns

There is still time to enjoy a few casts in the sea before the winter gales arrive in earnest, so here are some of my favourite fly patterns for chucking into the briney. I don’t tend to go in for very complex patterns and even my range of colours is limited, but all the flies […]