Blackrock

Is it just me or has this year been uncommonly windy? It feels like every day there is a gale blowing. The weather forecast, never overly accurate at the best of times, seems to be totally out of touch with what actually happens this season. Here we are in July and the weather remains coldContinue reading "Blackrock"

Triple shot

An unremarkable trio of short outings over the past few days least got me out in the fresh air if nothing else. I seem to be stuck in some sort of glitch in the fishing matrix these days, my only solace being the all my fishing acquaintances are similarly struggling to make decent catches. 1.Continue reading "Triple shot"

A day of two halves

With the game fishing around here still in the doldrums I decided to get out the coarse rods again and try a couple of venues in south county Sligo. Firstly I planned to give Finlough one more go, mainly on the back of word from a fellow angler that there were tench in that weeContinue reading "A day of two halves"

Finlough

Yesterday was supposed to be spent ghillieing on Lough Conn, but the client had to postpone at the last minute so instead I had an afternoon to myself. Half a tub of maggots were still in the bait fridge so it made sense to use them up, the question was where? As you drive northContinue reading "Finlough"

Corgar

As promised, I headed off for a spot of coarse fishing today. The trout fishing on the western loughs is poor to say the least so I figured I would get back into the float and feeder game again. Anyone with any sense would have picked a venue close at hand for their first sessionContinue reading "Corgar"

Change of tack

Nearly 6 solid weeks of ghillieing had left both me and my gear in a mess. Today was spent addressing the resultant carnage and planning my next move. My right shoulder aches after days of pulling hard on the oars. I usually try to turn the boat so anglers take turns fishing from each side,Continue reading "Change of tack"

A trying few weeks

While I have not been fishing myself, I have been out on the western loughs most days since the beginning of May. As a ghillie I have been able to observe first hand the decline in our stillwater fisheries and a pretty bleak picture has emerged for the much vaunted mayfly season. It would beContinue reading "A trying few weeks"

Tackling the weeds

This is an old post from a few months ago which I had forgotten to put up! (To my shame this is not uncommon, there are currently about 30 posts which I started but didn't get around to finishing and sticking up on this blog. I scribble my doggerel easily enough, it is the postingContinue reading "Tackling the weeds"

That’s better!

After three very tough days on the Corrib I had a relaxing day with a mate planned for today. We would fish lough Cullin together, a lake he has been doing well on recently. 10am was the agreed time to meet up on the shore and before then I had a hectic couple of hoursContinue reading "That’s better!"

3 tough days

Three of the last four days have seen me out with a client on lough Corrib and tough days they were! The lough has been fishing well to the troll and buzzer in previous weeks but David was looking for some dry fly sport so we headed to Doorus first. I knew this was goingContinue reading "3 tough days"