Badger hair

In a world where every day seems to pressure us buy yet another 'must have' synthetic material, I want to talk about an old material which I never see anyone else use now, the body har from a badger. I realise this is not an easy material to find and it has very limited uses,Continue reading "Badger hair"

Back to the Robe

For the past couple of months I have been thinking about fishing, preparing to go fishing but not actually managed to do any fishing. Apart from a solitary coarse session I have been confined to quarters, of my own volition I must say. There has just been so much going on that angling dropped downContinue reading "Back to the Robe"

comms

All, A couple of people have been in touch to say they are having trouble calling me on my mobile number. Apologies if this has happened to you. If you are struggling to get through to me please drop me an email at colinmclean2005@hotmail.com and I'll respond asap. Oh, and just to say that bookingsContinue reading "comms"

Rogue

I have been refining my coarse fishing over the past three seasons, trying out different methods, venues and tackle in an attempt to get better and more repeatable results. Along the way I have ditched some gear which I found either not good or not fitting my styles of fishing. At the same time, newContinue reading "Rogue"

Tying small jigs

Athlone, situated pretty much slap-bang in the middle of Ireland has pretentions to be a 'city'. I am sure this has a lot to do with how they could access government funding but I have doubts that a town with about 25,000 residents can be classed as a city. I have visited Athlone frequently, especiallyContinue reading "Tying small jigs"

Fog on the Shannon

With another storm due to hit us on Friday, I decided to sneak out once again with the rods before the weather deteriorated. It's been cold and foggy for the past couple of days and Wednesday was promised the same, maybe not ideal conditions but not the worst either. Roach would again be the targetContinue reading "Fog on the Shannon"

Paltry fine handed down for Mayo fish kill

https://www.fisheriesireland.ie/news/press-releases/ifi-secures-conviction-against-uisce-eireann-for-sewage-pollution-that-killed Uisce Éireann have been handed a tiny fine for killing nearly a thousand fish in Clare lake in April last year. The case was brought before the court by the IFI. This will just be a few Euro on the balance sheet and has no real meaning to anyone in power. The Clare LakeContinue reading "Paltry fine handed down for Mayo fish kill"

First outing of 2025

In the words of D:Ream - things can only get better. The first outing of the year is always a tricky one, isn't it? Where to go, what to fish for, what day to pick, get any of the variable wrong and your season is off to a bad start. I had put off fishingContinue reading "First outing of 2025"

2025………

Bloody weather! I had hoped to make a flying start to 2025 but the snow, ice, wind, rain etc have conspired against me. While not actually getting out to do any fishing for many weeks, I have been busy repairing, cleaning and organising my gear in preparation for the coming season. Fly boxes are fillingContinue reading "2025………"

Ullsock

Here is another old post which was gathering dust in a forgotten folder deep inside my website. Not a fly most of you will be familiar with, but I like the look of this one as a possible salmon and sea trout pattern for the west of Ireland. I was intrigued when I first sawContinue reading "Ullsock"