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’”
Category Archives: wetfly
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”
Dry day, dry net
The river Robe opened for trout fishing on Sunday but it was a yet another day of incessant rain. Monday was supposed to be a dry day but the cold wind brought in more rain from the south in the form of squally showers. I baulked at getting soaked and so delayed my first outingContinueContinue reading “Dry day, dry net”
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”
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”
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?”
Claretbumbler 