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”
Category Archives: trout fishing
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”
Some more duckfly patterns
2026 is whizzing past at a frightening rate, meaning the opening of the trout season here in Ireland is not far away. Early in the season, the Irish fly fisher has four main options, namely pulling lures close to the bottom, traditional fly fishing with dark wets targeting fish feeding on hog louse and shrimp,ContinueContinue reading “Some more duckfly patterns”
Tying the Raymond Variant
This fly seems to strike fear into the heart of fly tyers so I thought you might like to see how I make the Raymond Variant. It is a good wee fly to have in the box for the mayfly and it catches fish when tied on the bob position and fished in a goodContinueContinue reading “Tying the Raymond Variant”
Resurrection
My failing memory was brought sharply in to view when I started to write this post. The story of my favourite fly rod began so long ago that it took me a while to figure out when and how it all started. As near as I can recall, I purchased the Hardy back in 1978ContinueContinue reading “Resurrection”
Silver Blue Bumble
I am risking life and limb here as I commit fly tying heresy. The ‘bumble’ patterns devised by the late, great Justice T.C. Kingsmill Moore were ahead of their time in many ways. His use of multiple different coloured hackles to impart ‘life’ into his flies were an inspiration and his prodigious catches of troutContinueContinue reading “Silver Blue Bumble”
The importance of fly choice?
I have been busy tying flies over the past few weeks, dabblers and bumbles pouring off the vice as boxes are filled and the overflow chucked into a receptacle a a sort of back up for next season. Of course, I don’t really need any more flies, thousands are already in my collections of troutContinueContinue reading “The importance of fly choice?”
Another tough day on Carra
My plans to do a lot of fishing on Carra this season turned to dust, but I did manage to get out one last time last Sunday. It was the final competition for the club, a day which the forecasters had predicted would be one of gales and torrential rain. Strange as it may seem,ContinueContinue reading “Another tough day on Carra”
Tackling tough conditions
When dreaming of days on the big limestone loughs I am willing to wager us fly fishers imagine clouds driven across the sky by a brisk south westerly, the warm air still damp from recent rain and trout splashing as they intercept hatching flies. While we do get halcyon like that sometimes, more often theContinueContinue reading “Tackling tough conditions”
Carra competition
Those hardy souls who regularly follow this blog are no doubt fed up of hearing how much I dislike angling competitions and the fact that I have not fished them in twenty plus years. All this pontificating was never going to end well and sure enough, yesterday I found myself taking part in a fishingContinueContinue reading “Carra competition”
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