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”
Tag Archives: fly fishing in Ireland
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”
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”
All quiet on the western lakes
Sunday was a fishing day. Thick clouds scurried across the sky, driven by a strong south-westerly. The air was warm and moist. There had been rain last week and the ground was still damp. Yes, Sunday was most definitely a fishing day. The only trouble is that nobody had explained this to the fish. ContinueContinue reading “All quiet on the western lakes”
Sea trout flies for Beltra
Work 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 fallenContinueContinue reading “Sea trout flies for Beltra”
An easy mayfly pattern
May came and went with unreasonable haste. I hardly wet a line during the merry month, a combination of work commitments and Mediterranean weather kept me occupied and the fish unmolested. Reports suggest the mayfly was late but is still hatching in good numbers as I write in the first week of June and asContinueContinue reading “An easy mayfly pattern”
The Soldier Palmer
I like old patterns. Something nostalgic is awakened when you tie on one of the classic flies from the last century or the century before. That link with the past offers reassurance and knowledge if a fly has been around for this long it must catch fish. So my fly boxes bulge with old-stagersContinueContinue reading “The Soldier Palmer”
The lost dry flies, mystery solved
I bet you were all worried. Did you lost sleep over the mystery of the missing fly box full of dry spinners. Was there an act of criminality? The revenge of a fellow angler, envious of my deadly spinners? Or perhaps something altogether darker. Was Big Brother at work, taking these subversive patterns for theContinueContinue reading “The lost dry flies, mystery solved”
Trout in the freezer without wetting a line
I know I should have been fishing today. The weather was good, the fish are a bit more active than they were a few weeks ago and I had an open invite to fish Lough Conn. Instead, I pottered around in an inconclusive muddle, half finishing odd jobs and doing bits around the house. ByContinueContinue reading “Trout in the freezer without wetting a line”
Claretbumbler 