Sweeney Todd Dabbler

This was a fly I dreamt up a couple of seasons ago but due to the pandemic it has not been tried. It should work but I am taking no responsibility if it is a lemon. I wanted a black dabbler for early season work on lough Conn, something with a bit of bling inContinue reading "Sweeney Todd Dabbler"

Beltra drifts

As the winter gives way to springtime us fishermen turn our thoughts to the early season fisheries and prime amongst the Irish loughs is Beltra. There are more prolific loughs and rivers but for sheer beauty it is hard to beat lovely lough Beltra. Since it is one of my local waters and one whichContinue reading "Beltra drifts"

Spate rivers

I know I have written about salmon fishing on spate rivers before but with this season already slipping away I am planning on fishing a couple of small local rivers this summer. I have avoided them recently as the stocks were being hammered by poachers in small boats at the mouth of the rivers andContinue reading "Spate rivers"

Streamers for wild trout

I hold up my hands here and confess I am no expert when it comes to tossing streamers for wild brownies on rivers. I have used them a few times and caught fish but compared to some of the masters of the method my knowledge is very limited. I wanted to touch on them todayContinue reading "Streamers for wild trout"

The good doctor

We got some snow here over the past few days. Not a lot of snow, maybe an inch or two but enough to make the roads treacherous and to push gas bills into the stratosphere by keeping the heating on all day. It’s February so we should expect some inclement weather I suppose. I amContinue reading "The good doctor"

11th February

OK, so the obvious schoolboy error here is I am a full 24 hours late in posting this! I was wrapped up at work all day then busy with household stuff when I got home yesterday so it is only now I have a spare minute or two and can post this to you all.Continue reading "11th February"

Float repairs

When I started out coarse fishing a couple of years ago the only floats I owned were a few large Avons which had given sterling service when trotting for grayling on the mighty river Tay back in the eighties. These large cock bodied floats were required over there to handle the heavy flows on thatContinue reading "Float repairs"

Mixture of patterns

After struggling through a tough week at work I am sitting here at the vice here making flies this weekend. For the past few days I have been battling with a computer which kept crashing, ‘Word’ that froze and ‘Excel’ which corrupted all my spreadsheets as I pulled together the documentation for a ISO45001 audit.Continue reading "Mixture of patterns"

Holidays to come

With time on my hands I have been thinking a lot about my fishing. Of course I am missing getting out with rod and line something terrible. I snuck out once in December but apart from that I have not fished for 3 months now. With lockdown set to continue well into the spring thisContinue reading "Holidays to come"

To wing or not to wing

I am busy topping up my river fly boxes and it has got me thinking about why I habitually tie wings on some patterns and not on others. Do a couple of slips from a starling really make all that difference to a fly? Do the fish even notice if the neatly paired wings areContinue reading "To wing or not to wing"