Lough Talt From my notes of 6th August 2020 Those of you who followed my blog will know that I have a madcap plan to catch a fish in every county on the island of Ireland. Covid-19 blew a huge great hole in that venture but I made a start to this odyssey today by […]
Read More 32 – Episode 1, County SligoBank holiday Sunday came around again so quickly. This year is flying by, each successive month whizzing past faster than the last one. The decision where to fish yesterday was taken on the back of reports there were salmon sneaking up the river Moy and that the first of the grilse were being caught alongside […]
Read More Bank holiday bluesI will leave the photos to tell the tale of an evening spent on Lough Beltra in the company of Ben and Pat. The fish did not cooperate but it was great just to be afloat on a pleasant Spring evening. We all want to catch fish when we head out to the lough or […]
Read More An evening on BeltraCarrowmore. Just the name sets the pulse racing of salmon fishers. Today we would try our luck on this shallow lake set in the bogs of Bangor Erris. This is very different fishing to the ‘classic’ beats of the Scottish east coast rivers. Modern Skaggit heads and tube flies have no place here. Instead we […]
Read More Salmon at the doubleWork has bottled me up for much of the year so far and there is no sign of that changing in the near future. To be honest the recent warm, dry spell all but shut down salmon angling around here with the rivers reduced to mere trickles between the stones. Some thundery rain has fallen […]
Read More Sea trout flies for BeltraSunday. The weather is promised to get fine again later in the day so I decided to try my luck on Lough Conn for a few hours. The word on the street is that a small number of salmon and grilse has been running the Moy and a few have been landed all the way […]
Read More More news from nowhereAfter 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 […]
Read More Fly patterns for Lough BeltraNot 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 […]
Read More Photos of BeltraI am a big fan of deer hair. It is versatile and hard-wearing and of course it is buoyant. I first became aware of it when I was given the first three volumes of Tom Stewart’s ‘Fifty popular flies’ by my uncle for Christmas one year. I consumed the contents avidly and can still remember […]
Read More Deer Deer – muddled thoughtsSince I tie lots of flies and use a small proportion of them when actually fishing so it seems only sensible for me to show you all the patterns that I and my fishin’ buddies use. Let’s start with the Claret Bumble since that is where the name for this blog comes from. I use […]
Read More Fly patterns – the Claret Bumble
Claretbumbler 