Wish list

It’s all over for 2017 and I am stuck in another hotel room a long way from home, thinking about next season already. It is a nice hotel, comfortable and warm with an excellent menu in the restaurant downstairs. However, it is not home and so it pales when measured against my abode in theContinue reading "Wish list"

A Claret Shrimp

Storm Brian is blowing a hooley outside so it felt like a good afternoon to tie up a few flies. I was in Ballina earlier and the Moy is huge and brown, barrelling under the town's bridges in welter of foam and debris. The high water got me thinking about the colour of patterns IContinue reading "A Claret Shrimp"

Octopus variation for you to tie

Born here in the west of Ireland, the original Octopus has spawned a huge number of variations, some more effective than others. Very much in the camp of 'pulling' patterns, these bright concoctions do good work over deep water when the browns gather is loose shoals. That is not to say they don't catch troutContinue reading "Octopus variation for you to tie"

A wee wiggly thing from Sligo

We were in Sligo at the weekend and I purchased a couple of lures. One of them is a straight forward gold and silver spoon with a hammered finish on the gold side. It should work for salmon I guess. Called a 'Mozzi' and made up in Omagh. The other one is unlike anything IContinue reading "A wee wiggly thing from Sligo"

A look back in…………….disappointment

It’s over. The trout season that is and much of the salmon fishing too. The 2017 season coasted to its finale last weekend and, for me at least, it was a season to forget. Yesterday we fetched the boat in and over the next couple of weekends we will repeat the process with everyone else’sContinue reading "A look back in…………….disappointment"

Griesed lightening

Where has the season gone? Work has been frenetic and I’ve covered many hard miles criss-crossing the island between Mayo and Kildare since mid-August with little time left to pick up a rod. Now here we are near the end of September and the season is almost over. Looking back there have been scant opportunitiesContinue reading "Griesed lightening"

Gone for good

÷ It is never a good sound. Sometimes it is a loud, alarming crack, sometimes it’s a grating, snapping sound and then again it can be a deadly, barely audible ‘phut’. However it manifests itself the noise of your rod breaking is disturbing and emotional. We anglers grow so attached to those lengths of carbonContinue reading "Gone for good"

Difficult day

Do you want the good news or the bad news? The good news is that there are fresh salmon running into Lough Conn. The bad news is they resisted all efforts to winkle them out today! My excuse for the day is the wind, or should I say the almost total lack of it. OverheadContinue reading "Difficult day"

Baling out the boat

After a very dry spring and early summer the long-awaited rains arrived a few weeks ago and there have been periods of showers and heavier rain since then. Rivers have flowed again and water levels in the loughs have risen accordingly. This is good news for salmon and salmon fishers and catches have improved asContinue reading "Baling out the boat"

Happily married

Fashions change. Clothes which were de-rigour only a few short months ago now languish in a bin liner awaiting the next trip to the charity shop. This is not always a bad thing, those ridiculous flared trousers of my own youth are not mourned (and no, there is no photographic evidence of me so attired).Continue reading "Happily married"