Good Friday

How did you spend Good Friday? I had a busy day on and around the water here in Mayo and this is a short summary of a typical day for me when I am not working. Ben called in this morning and asked for help launching his boat on Lough Beltra. We agreed that the […]

The small loughs

Most people associate lough fishing in this area with the big waters like Conn and Mask. While most of the angling effort is expended on these impressive fisheries there are ample opportunities for the angler who enjoys less dramatic sport on a range of smaller loughs around Castlebar. Let me me tell you about three […]

Apres fishing

Angling in Ireland has many facets, some challenging but most pleasant and convivial. I want to talk about one of these additional joyous addendums to our sport today, the Irish pub. I expect most (if not all) of you have visited a so called Irish pub close to you. They have, after all, polluted the […]

Moving a boat on Beltra

Mid September and recent heavy rain has pushed water levels up. Small numbers of fish are running but Lough Beltra is pretty much finished for another season so I decided to take advantage of a quiet day to take a boat off the lake. All too often this task is attempted in high winds and […]

Random photos

My computer is full of photos taken when fishing, most of which will never see the light of day, so here are a few random pics for you to enjoy. This one has obviously been idle for some time! The weather is settled and dry so salmon fishing is dead slow here. Trout angling is […]

Fly patterns for Lough Beltra

After my posting some photos of Lough Beltra I thought I’d better give you some patterns to try if you are fishing there. Elsewhere in this blog you can find details of the Beltra Badger, Claret Bumble, Bibio, Goat’s Toe and Black Doctor. Those 5 alone would make a good selection for the lough, but […]

Photos of Beltra

Not a post really, just some photos I took when fishing Lough Beltra yesterday. It was the annual Glenisland Co-op competition and although we did not meet any fish it was a great day out for all. The new harbour beside the Boathouse is a great facility. The committee has worked tirelessly to improve the […]

Beltra boat launch

It is that time of year again and the call went out for all hands to help to launch the boats on Lough Beltra. The Glenisland Co-op now have 10 boats , so it takes a bit of effort to get them all in the water ahead of the opening day on 20th March. The […]