dry fly patterns – Claretbumbler

Crossboyne

I want to focus on a specific stretch of the River Robe in this post. There are two reasons for this; firstly one of my followers tells me he fishes in the area and has struggled to catch much. Secondly I want to run through some basic techniques which have been successful for me inContinueContinue reading “Crossboyne”

Keeping it simple: a good midge pattern

Check out the excellent video from T. Flagler which I found on Chi Wulff’s blog. This style of midge works exceptionally well in Ireland when tiny black flies are on the water in May and June. http://chiwulff.com/2016/11/18/tie-one-on-matts-midge-from-tightline/ He ties this fly on a size 22 but I find it works all the way up toContinueContinue reading “Keeping it simple: a good midge pattern”

Quiet day on Conn

Out for a few hours on Conn today but the lake was extremely quiet. No signs of any salmon and very few trout moving to a small hatch of mayfly. I trolled for a bit to start with as there was very little wind. One fish gave the rod a heafty thump but didn’t hangContinueContinue reading “Quiet day on Conn”

Conn tricks – catching trout on sandwiches

The word on the street was that there were salmon being caught in Lough Conn so I decided to head out today and give it an auld lash. My boat is on Cullin so it meant driving it across Cullin, under the bridge at Pontoon and motoring half way up lough Conn. The journey wasContinueContinue reading “Conn tricks – catching trout on sandwiches”

The Iron Blue Dun

I want to discuss the Iron Blue Dun (it is too much hassle to write Iron Blue Dun all the time so I will refer to it as ‘IBD’ in this post). For such a tiny insect it has generated a huge amount of words in angling literature, and rightly so. From the earliest historyContinueContinue reading “The Iron Blue Dun”

Scratching a dry itch

The fickle March weather has turned cold and wet again. The balmy few days we had last week have been swept away by mean winds that seek out every opening to send a chill through me as if to remind me of my advancing years. Looking back over the season so far the rod hasContinueContinue reading “Scratching a dry itch”