Bloody weather! I had hoped to make a flying start to 2025 but the snow, ice, wind, rain etc have conspired against me. While not actually getting out to do any fishing for many weeks, I have been busy repairing, cleaning and organising my gear in preparation for the coming season. Fly boxes are fillingContinueContinue reading “2025………”
Tag Archives: fishing in mayo
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,ContinueContinue reading “Change of tack”
Reversed Zulu
Before I get on to this fly I want to apologise for the near total lack of posts here on my blog. For some time now angling has slipped down my list of priorities and that meant writing about my fishing suffered the same near terminal decline. Yes, I have been tying flies, but allContinueContinue reading “Reversed Zulu”
Never heard of this one!
As regular readers know, I have a habit of buying up joblots of old fishing tackle and then spending hours of my free time sifting through the detritus looking for bits I can use or salvage. This harmless idiosyncrasy keeps my amused and on the odd occasion turns up little gems of old gear. AsContinueContinue reading “Never heard of this one!”
End of June
It has been a very hard few days, a lot of ‘stuff’ has been going on, things which have drained me to the point of exhaustion. I needed some time to myself so I made the effort to take my old boat out for a couple of hours on lough Conn. Heavy rain over theContinueContinue reading “End of June”
The International Dabbler
A very popular fly over here, this variation on the dabbler theme has been working well of late on lough Mask. You can find the pattern easily online but here is my take on the fly. Apologies for the flies in the accompanying photos, they have been well chewed by the trout and I haveContinueContinue reading “The International Dabbler”
On the oars
It’s a strange game which lacks even a definitive name. Boatman, ghillie or guide, take your pick. All those titles are in common usage across Ireland. I do a bit of it, helping anglers here in the west of Ireland to try and catch a few fish, handling a boat for them on the bigContinueContinue reading “On the oars”
Holiday Monday
I had hoped to fish on Sunday but in truth I was exhausted so took some time out to rest and gather my strength. Ghillieing on Saturday followed by a couple of drinks that night proved to be too much for my covid damaged body and so I made flies and drank coffee while listeningContinueContinue reading “Holiday Monday”
PC fishing
In this case ‘PC’ stands for ‘post Covid’. I contracted the dreaded lurgy last week. Thursday was the day it played its hand and I became quite ill that night, forcing the cancellation of two days on the loughs which I had been so looking forward to. Sleep was impossible, uncontrollable shakes were followed byContinueContinue reading “PC fishing”
Hold your horses
The trend these days is for more and more synthetics in fly tying. While I use a wide range of these wonders of the chemical industry I still fall back on more natural materials for most of my tying. Let’s take a look at a very old material which has fallen out of favour, hairContinueContinue reading “Hold your horses”
Claretbumbler 