Fly tying season

At this time of the year we fly tyers are as busy as beavers, crouched over the vice winding and snipping to our hearts content. After a couple of very quiet seasons I had little need to top up my fly boxes until the plan to fish all 32 counties was hatched. Now I hadContinue reading "Fly tying season"

Into the light

Let me say straight away that I am a dyed-in-the-wool game fisher. Brought up on river fishing with fly and spinner I missed out on coarse fishing completely all my life, up until now. I’m on solid ground when it comes to chasing trout and salmon and have a reasonably firm grasp of the basicsContinue reading "Into the light"

Winged PT

Here is a useful little fly that does not get the attention it deserves. I use it on the smaller loughs around here where it does well when the trout are taking midges. Most of you will be very familiar with patterns such as the PT nymph or the hackled Pheasant Tail. These staples ofContinue reading "Winged PT"

32 – Introduction

Having decided that I will tackle trying to catch a fish in each of Ireland’s 32 counties I now need to sit down a begin planning the whole thing. This is going to be a large part of the fun, just researching various places to fish a figuring out what I need to use, howContinue reading "32 – Introduction"

32

Ideas churn around in my mind as if stirred in some kind of witch’s cauldron. Most are flights of fancy which never get off the ground but sometimes, just occasionally, an idea grows roots and turns into actions. 32 is one of those few notions which is becoming a reality. I want to take aContinue reading "32"

All over

This morning we went and retrieved my boat from the lake, the last act of a forgettable season Early rain and high winds had subsided by the time we rolled up to the shore and we were greeted by a lone otter playing in the shallows. A nice start to the day. I baled outContinue reading "All over"

End of season boat lift

Today was a big day for the Glenisland Coop, we lifted all the boats out of the lake. As many members as we could muster gathered at 3pm and amid heavy showers we rowed the boats to the bank, dragged them to the shed or the space behind it and turned the boats over. Heavy,Continue reading "End of season boat lift"

Time for reflection

I went fishing this morning, nothing unusual about that I guess. The purpose of this session was not so much about catching fish (which is just as well as I blanked) as taking some time to reflect on how things are going for me now. As luck would have it the mirror flat calm ofContinue reading "Time for reflection"

Tip ring

So those of you who follow these scratchings of quill on keypad will be aware of my deep and abiding love for an old ABU spinning rod, the Atlantic 423. Well, late last season I managed to break the tip ring. As you can imagine this was not a happy moment for me and IContinue reading "Tip ring"

Dogfish traces

When I look at the literature about traces for dogfish I see only very basic rigs mentioned. A simple, plain ledger, either fixed or running is all that I ever read about but here in the West of Ireland we take our doggie traces much more seriously. In this post I will discuss the differentContinue reading "Dogfish traces"