Tag Archives: wet fly fishing

A quiet day on Conn

Saturday, 21.30 hrs: The modern version of jungle drums were beating a few minutes ago when I received a text to let me know that 7 or 8 salmon had been seen jumping on Lough Conn earlier today. That makes sense as I know there have been fresh fish running the river Moy for theContinueContinue reading “A quiet day on Conn”

Fishing on the Robe picks up

  We went to our favourite restaurant last night, my better half and I. Luckily I had booked a table as the place was packed with others similarly engaged in eating and drinking. The food as superb (the spinach gnocchi with clams and prawns was to die for) and we washed the meal down withContinueContinue reading “Fishing on the Robe picks up”

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”

Half Stoned

One of the great benefits of living and fishing in these parts is the lack of pressure to catch something. There is a strong and highly organised competitive angling scene in Ireland but I am not competitive in life and certainly not when it comes to angling. For me the simple joys of a fewContinueContinue reading “Half Stoned”

New beginnings

  I am hopeful that tomorrow I will escape the drudgery of paid employment for a few hours to enjoy a few casts and mark the start of my 2016 season. Before then I need to sort out my tackle and make some final repairs. I am planning a short trip to the River RobeContinueContinue reading “New beginnings”

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 threeContinueContinue reading “The small loughs”

Small river fly fishing

Tackling small streams can prove a challenge for anglers who are more used to wide open spaces and plenty of elbow room for casting. Here in the west of Ireland we have a number of small streams, most of which are never fished, yet contain a reasonable head of wild Brown Trout. Rivers like theContinueContinue reading “Small river fly fishing”

Three flys from my table

I was trying (unsuccessfully I might add) to tidy up the mess of feathers, hooks and other assorted odds and end which have accumulated on my fly tying bench. In amongst the detritus I found some flies so I thought I would share them with you. First up is a Grey Winged Salmon Gosling. Goslings areContinueContinue reading “Three flys from my table”

Hail, drains and trees

The weather is all over the place. After a couple of days of unseasonably warm, dry weather the rains came back yesterday evening. Temperatures dropped overnight and today dawned cool and breezy. Showers, some of them of hail, added to the feeling that winter was sneaking back again and I had to push myself toContinueContinue reading “Hail, drains and trees”