the hills of Galway in the distance

A calm morning on the quay at Westport.

a salmon boils close to the boat

evening on the lough

View across Ballinlough near Westport Co.Mayo

Used to see a few Puffins around the coast at this time of year but haven’t seen any this summer

21 years ago I left Scotland for good on the Seacat from Stranraer. Doesn’t seem that long!

low water on the Ridge Pool today. The lady angler landed a grilse within minutes of this snap being taken

Clan Kate

Teal

Ben at the helm, Bog Bay, Carrowmore

Rigs on winders

new braid on the old Penn reel

Foxford

time to get the sea fishing gear looked out

Silver March Brown

A heron on the banks of the Castlebar river

reports suggest lough Mask is fishing well right now

Silver Invicta, size 12

two at once

Claret Bumble / Clan Chief with a muddler head

Lough Furnace

a nice gold Toby which came in an original box

red muddler raymond

Two anglers drift the shallows on Conn

A pair of mallards sitting on a sunken boat – the Garavogue river, Sligo

light and shade on Beltra

nearly time to start fishing on this spate river

Nelson, our one-eyed cat

Sutherland specials

A treble hook that is for the bin!

At the Burnley vs Leicester game

getting ready for some trolling

An elderly Reflex minnow. These were heavy and useful when you needed to get down near the bottom of deep pools

neck of a pool on the river Robe

the Stenna ferry at Cairnryan

an old photo of a Roach caught on the fly

Gorse in full bloom at last

collection of dry flies

Sometimes it all gets too much……….

A Green Dabbler, fresh off the vice today!

giving the old girl a clean up

Painting some ruby devons today. Lots more coats required to build up the right depth of colour

Still missing this girl. Photo was taken on our last walk together. seems so unreal that she has gone for good. RIP Nessie

X-rap Rapala

Dabblers on the bench

It’s that time of year again!

every angler has a wee box of odds and ends like this in their bag

River Griese, County Kildare

The summer sun slowly setting over the county Mayo countryside

Rain heading our way, Lough Conn August 2017

Heading downstream. Far from all troubles and woes, fishing allows you to ground yourself

green stimulator

a pair of sea reels

old footbridge at Hollymount

For those of us who are not completely enslaved by the online world, Charlie Byrne’s book shop is a haven in Galway city

Small X-rap jerk bait from Rapala. Good for Perch, trout, small pike and grilse

Coloured water on the River Robe yesterday

5th March 2017, The Robe at Hollymount bridge. Too high and coloured to fish today

Magenta Bumble. one for a bright day on the lough

Alexandras in my fly box. I’m playing around with some new ideas for variations of this old classic

midges

Plover and hare’s lug, a great looking spider pattern

contents of my shore fishing box (looking unusually tidy)

LE William Butler Yeats off Achill Island today

hair wing Green Peter

A Hairy Mary tied on a big double

The Moy in Ballina on a lovely dry winter’s day

Mayo sky

Galway

spools of tippet material

The Corrib river flowing through Galway city

Flapper rigs. planning a trip to the Belmullet peninsular in the morning

Macks

feathering for mackerel

Eany Tailfire, a great fly for a summer spate

A bedraggled BWO.

Zebra mussel, millions of them are now colonising the Irish loughs

Spoons (none of this lot worked yesterday!)

A Connemara Black Dabbler still in the vice.

Sculpture beside Lough Owel

Bridge over the Cong River. A popular salmon river, the Cong is also an important spawning stream for Ferox trout.

Buzzers in the fly box

Soldier Palmers

Goldheads

A couple of Clousers

In my fly box

My GOB variant

In my wetfly box

Castlebar, my adopted home