Blog Posts Across Western Fly Fishing

Clare River- Sunday 29th and Thursday 3rd July

Landed 4lb trout on Sunday 29th June. Got totally covered in cow s*#t as I slipped on my ass in a mucky cowdrink whilst netting him! Got one other 1lb trout which was the tastiest I've caught yet! Fished Clare river Thursday evening after catching a 4lb grilse in Cong on worm at lunchtime. River was brown but clear and dropping and also very very quiet. Caught a ton of sprat and slamon par and few half pounders all on Silver Invicta. No rise worth speaking of. Continue

Posted by Enda Scahill on 4 July 2008 at 6:18pm — 1 Comment

Ridge Pool and Galway Weir

Fished the Ridge Pool on June 4th. Bright day, warm. There were a few fish showing but nothing coming to fly for any of the anglers. High tide was a big one and was in at 5.30 so the slot 2pm-sunset was cut very short. Perhaps a novice mistake but certainly one to learn from as €100 for a few hours fishing was pretty steep and sore on the pocket. Caught a 5lb grilse on Galway weir saturday evening on prawn, sharing a rod (sortof!) with Shane Keane. High tide was at 8.45pm so fresh fish started s… Continue

Posted by Enda Scahill on 9 June 2008 at 10:06am — 4 Comments

Galway Salmon Weir, June 1st

Got a 6am to 1pm slot on Galway Weir on June 1st. Water is lovely and low and perfect for wading amateurs like myself. Only have a single handed rod and although I can cast a decent distance the strong current and long casting and hauling made it an exhausting business, especially as it was 20oC by 8am! Spent 2.5hrs fly fishing and then stopped for breakfast. Shane had the camper van so we had the full works in the sunshine! Switched to prawn and jumping jacks after the grub as the thought of ge… Continue

Posted by Enda Scahill on 2 June 2008 at 2:48pm — 1 Comment

Clare River 21st May

Clare River running extremely low. Went out to fish it yesterday purely to get out into the river and splash around. Brought the 11'3 rod in case there were any lying salmon. Tied on 6lb froghair (class tippet material) and 3 nymph droppers, pheasant tail, GRHE goldhead and a pulsating caddis that I bought froma US website. Went to a spot where there's a lot of cascading water when the river's low. There's a large overhang and the water swirls underneath it. I was really thinking I'd spend an ho… Continue

Posted by Enda Scahill on 22 May 2008 at 9:00am — 5 Comments

Rainbows on Ballinlough

Kiltimagh Fishing club had a day on ballinlough ,outside Westport last Sunday 04th may.we started about 12 and fished until 5 p.m that day.lots of fish caught.managed 2 2lb rainbows while my cousin paddy had the heaviest fish at 3 3/4 lbs and another 2 lb one also.found the right hand side as you look out from launch point to be the best and the fish seemed to congregate in shoals . fished with buzzers and they seemed to go for the red cheeked ones.very enjoyable day and would recommend it to an… Continue

Posted by Gary Smyth on 10 May 2008 at 4:47pm — No Comments

Clare River 27th April 08

Was working in Tyrone on Fri and Sat and didn't plan on fishing (sorry Paul!) but due to great driving (!) and little traffic I ended up on the Clare upstream of Claregalway at 1pm. The main purpose of the trip was to practice using my 11'3" Rod that I bought last year but never used. I'm fishing the ridge pool at the start of June so figured I better get used to the extra 2' before going. To this end I headed upstream, tied on 9' of maxima 12lb chameleon leader, 2 4lb drennan droppers, tied a s… Continue

Posted by Enda Scahill on 27 April 2008 at 8:32pm — 3 Comments

Galway Salmon weir (22nd April 2008)

There were five fish off the weir when I arrived to enquire about an evening ticket. The water level had dropped and the wind blew upstream, the sky was dull there was a feeling of a premature dusk. My Salmon fly box was nowhere to be found and the evening was saved when the anglers next to me offered me a Galway shrimp and a bright improvisation of a Cascade/Gary dog. I got a ticket at 15 euro and joined the queue of five fly fishers weirside. .After one run down the beat we were just two. Half… Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 23 April 2008 at 1:00am — No Comments

Clare river 21st April 2008

The Clare has dropped nicely to . 8 on the gauge at Claregalway. It was very mild this evening and this brought alot of fly out over the water. A few fish did move to what I thought were big Olives. I rose two fish, connecting with one on a tiny olive adams but missed both. Great to see them on top again. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 22 April 2008 at 4:46pm — No Comments

EMAA weekly report

There were five fish caught this week on the EMAA waters. Three of these fish came to fly. Water is very low now - .5 on the gauge at Ballylaghan. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 22 April 2008 at 4:43pm — No Comments

Lough Conn 20th April 2008

Fished the Foxford anglers competition on Sunday. The north easterly made conditions very cold with minimal hatches of duckfly. We saw the odd olive but the fish were well down and over course of the day we only saw one fish move. I caught a sea trout of about 1/2lb on a duckfly emerger (must have been the silver body) which fought above its size. Otherwise a barren day. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 22 April 2008 at 4:41pm — No Comments

River Moy (EMAA) 19th April 2008

The river had dropped alot this week to .55 on the gauge at Ballylaghan. I fished Ryan's pool for a few hours and caught a poor conditioned kelt on a size 10 Silver doctor. Again, for the first couple of seconds I thought it was a springer. There was an 8lb fish caught on the fly at the gub. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 22 April 2008 at 4:38pm — No Comments

Fishing on Corrib

Travelled up to Oughtarard last Monday 14th.it was a very bright day with little or no breeze so buzzer fishing was on the cards.we launched just after 10 and made our way down the lake.didn't stir anything for hours and saw some trout rising but not taking the olives that were recently hatching.we were just breaking for lunch when i got my first of the day a 1lb trout which I promptly returned to the lake.After lunch we had more of the same ,fish rising only to refuse olives and our buzzers not… Continue

Posted by Gary Smyth on 18 April 2008 at 6:28pm — No Comments

Galway weir (17-04-2008)

Fished the weir on an evening ticket this evening. There were 6 gates open with two fish caught on spinner during the day. Wading was difficult with the strong current and would have been impossible without a wading stick. The Easterly wind made casting difficult and the temperature low. Despite the conditions, I stayed on with the only other evening ticket right into dusk. At approx. 21.00 I got a pull from a fish. The fish shook rather than ran and so I was cautious not to mistake a kelt for a… Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 18 April 2008 at 12:30am — No Comments

Clare river (Claregalway)

The river ran at .9 on the gauge at Claregalway today. I caught a kelt around 6lb on a size 8 Ally's cascade. The fish fought well despite being in bad condition and bearing a number of scars on its side. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 16 April 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments

EMAA weekly catch

East Mayo Anglers Association Angling Return Week Ending Sunday 13th. April 2008 Monday, 0.70, 1, Caught by Fabrice Thanry from France weighing 6lbs. (Spinner) Tuesday, 0.70, 1, Caught by Benfamuim Thueu from France weighing 7lbs. (Spinner) Wednesday, 0.70, 1 Caught by Roveche Ludovic from France Weight 6lbs. (Spinner) Thursday, 0..70, 1 Caught by Seamus Commons from Bohola weighing 5lbs. (Fly Rod) (Released) Friday, 0.70, 1 Caught by Ian Guegan from Callow weighing 10lbs. (Spinner) (Rel… Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 15 April 2008 at 6:06pm — No Comments

Lough Corrib (13-04-2008)

Fished a competition at Greenfields with the Headford club on Sunday. We fished home bay for the day and had some good sport landing a good fish each with around 14 fish making contact with our flies between us over the day. On the first drift my partner landed a fish of 1 3/4 lb on a size 12 Peter Ross. I was fishing 3 small duckfly emergers with an intermediate line with no great movement on top of the water. Shortly after my partner landed his fish, I made brief contact with a good fish which… Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 15 April 2008 at 5:00pm — No Comments

Lough Conn

Fished Massbrook this evening. Caught one small fish on an emerging buzzer fished on intermediate line. Winds were squally and changeable. Not much sign of fly life or fish moving this evening. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 13 April 2008 at 12:08am — No Comments

River Moy (EMAA)

The river rose to .9m on the gauge at Ballylaghan today and was coloured. Reports of a 10lb fish caught and released yesterday. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 13 April 2008 at 12:07am — No Comments

River Moy (EMAA)

River at .8m this evening. Reports of a small fish caught and released on fly yesterday. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 12 April 2008 at 12:18am — No Comments

River Moy (EMAA)

The Moy dropped to .7m on the gauge today. Fished all day without a pull. Saw two fish and met another angler who had earlier missed one on the fly. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 10 April 2008 at 10:28pm — No Comments

Galway weir

The weir produced two springers in the last week. One to spinner and one to shrimp. The water level has dropped and the were anglers fly fishing today. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 9 April 2008 at 6:14pm — No Comments

Clare river (Claregalway)

The Clare ran at 1m on the gauge today. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 8 April 2008 at 11:53pm — No Comments

River Moy (Ballylaghan)

The river was at a steady .8 on the gauge today. Reports of a springer caught on spinner near Longbank. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 8 April 2008 at 11:52pm — No Comments

Totals for last week on east mayo water

East Mayo Anglers Association Angling Return Week Ending Sunday 6th. April 2008 Day/Date Water No. of Oldcastle The Gub to Ballylahan Comments Height (m) Fish to The Gub Ballylahan Bridge to Bridge Cloongee Monday 1.2 0 Tuesday 1.00 0 Wednesday 0.95 0 Thursday 0.90 1 Caught by Mr Martin Williams from Kilkelly 7.5lbs. (Worm) 1 Friday 0.80 0 Saturday 0.75 1 1 Caught and released by James Lynn from the USA using the Fly Rod 10lbs. Sunday 0.75 1 1 Caught by Mervin Kennehan fro… Continue

Posted by Gary Smyth on 8 April 2008 at 6:31pm — No Comments

River Moy (Ballylaghan bridge)

The gauge at Ballylaghan rose to .775 today and was at the same height this evening (21.00). The wind wasn't as strong as yesterday and the temperature a little warmer. The river is slow to drop with all the surface water still around. The land is very wet still. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 7 April 2008 at 11:34pm — No Comments

Clare river (Claregalway)

The Clare had risen to 1.1m on the gauge at Claregalway this evening. It seems to be running clear but very fast. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 7 April 2008 at 12:00am — No Comments

River Moy

The river ran at .75m on the gauge at Ballylaghan. Three of us fished in very blustery conditions using sink tips and intermediate lines. No luck but we saw two fish. There was word of a fish caught this morning near the gub. The river is dropping. Lovely water for the fly but the wind made it very difficult and quite cold. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 6 April 2008 at 11:59pm — No Comments

River Moy (Ballylaghan)

Reports that the river was at .7m on the gauge. 10lb springer caught on the fly on East Mayo today. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 5 April 2008 at 11:18pm — No Comments

Clare river (Claregalway)

The gauge at Claregalway bridge was at 1m today (18:00). I used a double handed rod with medium sinking line and a size 8 ally shrimp. The river was running pretty fast but was fishable with a heavy line. No luck and no sign of fish. Saw a few other anglers but didn't hear of any fish. I think the river is dropping now. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 5 April 2008 at 11:10pm — No Comments

Buzzer fishing on corrib

Spent yesterday fishing on the Corrib out of Oughtarard with my cousin Patrick De Lapp and Connor Walsh.Arrived in Oughtarard and Patrick said that due to the very light breeze that it would be a great day for buzzer fishing.we left the boat house in oughtarard at about 10 a.m and took a sharp left to bog bay where there was a flurry of seagull activity.There was a fairly sizeable hatch of duckfly and being a novice at this buzzer stlye Patrick set me up using two buzzer/pupae imitations on a 10… Continue

Posted by Gary Smyth on 4 April 2008 at 6:34pm — 2 Comments

Hatches - or lack of!!!

Out on the Corrib today, 4 of us in 2 boats fishing round Galcarrig Island and Lime island. Saw virtually no duckfly and one of us had heard tell that the duckfly had more or less finished despite none of us seeing more than a few from time to time. Also, there were quite a lot of olives hatching today and lots of gulls were hoovering them up - but virtually no sign of fish taking them. Does anyone know whats going on? Or were we just unlucky? Continue

Posted by Paul Sherington on 3 April 2008 at 8:13pm — 2 Comments

Salmon fishing on the moy

Had a day lesson recently with Paddy Mc donnell (0874123235) and learned a lot of new techniques ,like circle casting to load my intermediate line which was proving hard to get off the water .anyway couldn't recommend him enough and he brought me above the gob and we fished the first three pools you meet.that was good friday and the water was still quiet high.we then fished at the lower east mayo carpark where he showed me how to fish with shooting heads as the wind at this stage was strong to p… Continue

Posted by Gary Smyth on 1 April 2008 at 9:00pm — No Comments

Cong River March 30th

Cong River still running very high, about 12-18" above optimum summer levels. Recent rain won't be helping either. Got a date of June 4th to fish the Ridge Pool in Ballina so looking forward to that, it'll be a new challenge as I haven't fished for salmon on fly yet Continue

Posted by Enda Scahill on 1 April 2008 at 11:54am — 7 Comments

Lough Corrib (Greenfields) (30-03-2008)

Fished home bay,Inismacatreer and Ballinalty bay. Winds were SE and varied between a nice wave and almost flat calm. Temperature was a tad low. Saw fish moving for a brief period around 1400 at Shannawan pt. but no takes to duck fly emergers or epoxy nymphs. There was a fish of 6lb caught on an epoxy buzzer in Greenfields bay today. There were other good fish caught too with most coming to size 14 duckfly emergers and epoxy's. Duck fly were hatching all day but the trout weren't focused on the e… Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 30 March 2008 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Clare river ( 28-03-2008)

The Clare was running very high at 1.4 m today. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 28 March 2008 at 10:37pm — 1 Comment

Corrib. March 27th

Gave Portacarron bay, Mogans bay and The Fudges another shot today. A bright start with SW winds, clouding over by 2pm and blowing strong by 6pm. Fish moving to duck fly between 3pm and 4pm. Conor and I had a fish a piece to the rear off the Fudges on consecutive drifts during this period. Both around 1.5lbs. (Picture Posted) Both fell to Duckfly emergers, one with lure flash and one with an orange tag. Good quantities of fly now hatching. Reports of good catches taken on buzzers today from a pa… Continue

Posted by shane kennedy on 27 March 2008 at 10:30pm — 2 Comments

Lough Corrib (26-03-2008)

Fished out from Portacarron bay, Inis Cash, Mogans bay and The Fudges. Similar weather conditions today ( all four seasons in one day). I had three fish - 1 1/2lb, 1 lb and 3/4lb, all on a size 12 wet emerger ( black, white with lure flash rib). Duck fly could be seen in all areas fished today with one big hatch around 17:15. Fish moved all day although there were two periods in which there were alot of fish on top. During the second rise I had a drift in which I caught two, made contact with on… Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 26 March 2008 at 11:09pm — No Comments

Lough Corrib (25-03-2008)

Fished Bog bay in Oughterard this evening. Wind varied in strength from W to NW. Sun breaking through every so often provided short warm spells that brought the Duck fly on. Some fish moved to the fly with Shane having one come short to his artificial. Enough fish moving to suggest that they are looking at the duck fly now. A degree or two warmer and they could really come on. No fish between us with just that one rise. Tried epoxy nymphs in a temporary flat calm and ended up missing the hatch w… Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 26 March 2008 at 10:58pm — No Comments

New Season

Had a cracking start to the year trolling on the Corrib but not tried the rivers yet. Does anyone have any ideas of where I can fish on the Black River in Shrule. Do I have access to the river by the road bridge. I'm only used to river fishing in the UK where all river access is private land or controlled by the clubs so I can't gey my head round just helping myself to river fishing. Also where might be a good place on the Clare River to fish the fly preferably as near to Shrule as practical.… Continue

Posted by Paul Sherington on 25 March 2008 at 7:34pm — 4 Comments

Cong Canal

Drove to Cong on Monday March 24th. Canal banking and unfishably by fly. Continue

Posted by shane kennedy on 25 March 2008 at 11:53am — No Comments

The Black River

Fished the Black River on Monday March 24th above and below Owermore Bridge 5Km from Headford. The day was overcast with bright sunny intervals and temperstures of 9-11 degrees. The river was slightly high but running clear. Not much fly life at the moment but a few olives beginning to hatch. Caught a few Salmon Par and small brownies on the wet with an intermediate line. Most caught on olive buzzers and imitations. Continue

Posted by shane kennedy on 25 March 2008 at 11:51am — No Comments

First on Fly for 08

Fished the Gweeston near Swinford on Saturday. Plenty of water in the river which is usually very low in summer time. Was fishing with single black beadhead nymph cast across and drifted down. this was my first time fishing nymphs and I had read about watching for the slightest delay or twitch on the fly line. Eventually I struck into a nice 1/2lb trout based purely on a tiny twitch of the line, I had felt nothing through the rod. I missed a few where I felt the nibble but couldn't strike quickl… Continue

Posted by Enda Scahill on 23 March 2008 at 4:24pm — No Comments

Clare river (ClareGalway) 21-03-08

The Clare was running high (1.3 m) but clear to the sides. I fished two weighted nymphs upstream but the river was carrying them back to me too quickly. The N.W. wind was uncomfortable and very cold. If the rain holds off for a few more days it might be in order for fly. Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 21 March 2008 at 9:11pm — No Comments

Callow Lakes (March 2008)

The first casts of the 2008 were had on callow (upper lake) 15th and 16th March. Paul and I braved the cold and fished for three hours on the 15th. There was a N.E. wind blowing which was very cold. I had two rises to a bibio and a duckfly emerger. Paul caught two fish ( 3/4lb) on a bloody butcher. Very few fish moved on the surface but there were sporadic small hatches of duckfly. On the 16th the wind was very light and petered out to a flat calm in the evening. As a result, the temperature was… Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 18 March 2008 at 2:19pm — No Comments

Fly-Fishing for winter Pike

Although the scourge of many the game angler, Pike can provide the game angler with some exhilarating sport over the winter months. They offer both the experienced and inexperienced game angler the opportunity to fine-tune their technique of playing large fish d…

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Posted by shane kennedy on 8 November 2007 at 3:44pm — 1 Comment

End of Season Report - Shane Kennedy

End of Season Report (Game Fish).

Un…

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Posted by shane kennedy on 8 November 2007 at 3:10pm — 1 Comment

2007 End of Season Report

This was my second year fishing having taken it up in April 2006. Last year I had a €75 fly rod and reel combo. In January of this year I ordered a St Croix 9' #6-7 midflex rod from the US and used this with an Irish Trout Co reel and an expensive floating line. I took a day's flyfishing tuition with John Fahy of the Cong Angling Centre and this really helped sort out my overhead casting - my roll casting still needs a lot of work. My intial trips were to the Abbert River early in the season…

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Posted by Enda Scahill on 2 November 2007 at 3:32pm — No Comments

Clare river - Illegal net

I found this anchored to the bottom of the Clare, one mile upstream of the bridge at Claregalway. Twenty yards downstream of the net lay a dead pike (3lb) on the river bed. The fish was contorted and its gills were outstretched. Western fisheries board officers removed the net later that evening.
Here is video evidence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsY_0AZqZS4
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Posted by Conor Walsh on 16 October 2007 at 2:55am — No Comments

Check out this website: Very Funny!!

http://www.waywardflyfishing.com/articleCharacters.htm

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Posted by Enda Scahill on 9 October 2007 at 2:43pm — No Comments

Season End

Fished friday in Cregmore and Saturday and Sunday at Crusheen Bridge. Caught a 2.5lb trout in the dark on Friday evening and lots of small trout on Saturday on fly. Fished late into the evening on Sunday and lost a large salmon after a short fight. 5 mins later Shane 5.5lb salmon which I was on hand to leap recklessly into the river to net as Shane was high up on the bank. Exciting finish to season, looking forward to cleaning out the boot of the car and trying to get rid of the slight fishy sme… Continue

Posted by Enda Scahill on 1 October 2007 at 10:02am — No Comments

Claregalway (Sept 22nd)

A bit of a disappointing evenings fishing with no sign of rising fish. The wind increased as the evening progressed making upstream casting very difficult. I changed to wet flies and fished the stretch below the cattle drink without as much as a pluck. I decided to switch to an intermediate line instead of a floater and using the same team of a green peter and a black zulu i fished the same stretch and and caught a 1/2 lb brownie and 3 par! It seems that due to the recent tepmerature drop and ra… Continue

Posted by shane kennedy on 27 September 2007 at 2:17pm — No Comments

Clare River 18th and 19th Sept

Fished Fahy's Bridge on 2 evenings with limited success. Water is up about 6 inches and clear. Tuesday caught a 1.3lb trout on second cast and two casts later lost a bigger fish probably around 2lb who threw the hook straight away with a impressive splash. After this start we thought we were in for a bumper evening with lots of newly moved trout but Shane caught a 1lb trout further downstream and ,bar a few small fry, that was it. It was a bitterly cold evening and this may have influenced th…

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Posted by Enda Scahill on 20 September 2007 at 4:28pm — No Comments

Clare River - 11th Sept

Turned to the worm again last night after a few nights of very frustrating fly fishing. The trout had been holed up for a good while and seemed very wily in ignoring flies. Myself and "Frasier" went to Fahy's bridge and fished downstream with a tiny bell weight and swivel, a 10 hook and single worm. We ended up with a great haul of 4 trout and 1 salmon and a huge number of quarter and half pound fish. Shane had the best trout of the night with a 3lb beauty that put up a huge fight and moments la… Continue

Posted by Enda Scahill on 12 September 2007 at 9:55am — No Comments

Clare river (Claregalway) 7-9-07

Given the high humidity, unrelenting sun and light W to SW breeze, I figured that tonight could be the night for a trout feeding frenzy. Last summer these weather conditions were common and the trout duly took evening naturals like they were going out of fashion. Buoyed by some fantastic dry fly success in similar conditions last year and a recurring image of that monster trout circling the surface from the previous evening, we made our way to the cattle drink approx. one mile upstream of the br… Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 8 September 2007 at 2:39pm — No Comments

Clare river (Claregalway) 6-9-07

With a S to SW light breeze and temperature into the low twenties, three of us fished upstream of the bridge at Claregalway for the day. It was great to see the low water level with trout moving on the surface. I fished various dries without rise even though I was covering surface feeding fish most of the time. I suspected that the high sun and minimal breeze made my artificial look just that. Most of the fish moving were small but on occasion, bigger fish broke the surface. At approx. 16:00 I s… Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 8 September 2007 at 1:52pm — No Comments

6th Sept - Clare River

Fished Fahy's bridge this evening. Caught 1lb trout on black pennel before loosing the fly - I was trying out froghair tippet, it's incredibly light but breaks immediately on contact with electric fences and the like!! Went further down stream and caught 4 or 5 1/2lb trout on a hare's ear sedge emerger. Water is really low and slow and (dare I say it) needs a day's rain. No rise to speak of, don't think there was any big fish in the stretch I fished. Good to be back on fly though, casting coming… Continue

Posted by Enda Scahill on 6 September 2007 at 10:42pm — No Comments

Trout & Salmon (Claregalway Sept 4th)

Had another good day on the Clare. Fished yesterday evening for about 2 hours and bagged myself a nice 7lb Salmon and a 3lb trout just below the bridge in claregalway on a size 8 Zulu lognshank with lureflash. I fished the pool below the bridge twice from the left hand bank with no sucess but after crossing over and fishing the same stretch from the right bank, I had both fish landed within 45 minutes. Salmon took slow and stayed deep with only
…

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Posted by shane kennedy on 5 September 2007 at 8:20pm — No Comments

Streamer fly - help.....!

Anyone know anything about fishing streamer flies? or where I can get a mickey finn or similar patterns? Anyone fished a minnow muddler on the river with success?

I've landed 3 trout over 2lb and lost 2 large trout this season all on the black pennel fished as a streamer - i.e. with lots of little up and down rod actions and a jerky quick retrieval to simulate a small wounded or dazed fish. It's a fun way to fly fish as I find I don't have as much faith in drifting wets down the river.…

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Posted by Enda Scahill on 4 September 2007 at 2:21pm — 1 Comment

Clare River 3rd September

Another frustrating night. Water levels are perfect for fly if a little slow for wet fly in the deeper stretches. Fished a silver daddy, red arsed green peter and a loop winged sedge emerger. Rose a few fish and got one or two decent tugs but didn't hook anything. It's getting dark very early these days too. Loads of fly life a decent rise that was over by 9pm. Some large fish rising but very difficult to attract to a fly. Continue

Posted by Enda Scahill on 4 September 2007 at 11:14am — No Comments

Clare river (Corofin) 29-09-07

I continued my pursuit of some dry fly action again this evening. Once again, the Clare is carrying just a little too much water for all but the odd fish to look up. With a NW breeze making upstream casting impossible, I focused on the wet fly (beaded wet daddy and green peter). Over three hours I had one decent pull and maybe ten small trout and parr. I definitely got more action using the beaded daddy which brought the flies down in the water column. Dusk arrived and the wind abated so I posit… Continue

Posted by Conor Walsh on 30 August 2007 at 4:07pm — No Comments

Cong River salmon - August 29th

Landed in Cong at 5pm, very sunny weather and northerly wind. Was fishing prawn for about 30mins and saw 2 fish rising. I cast out and when the float had covered the spot where I saw the salmon rise I turned my head upstream for a moment, i felt a big tug and struck into a salmon. I played it out for about 5 minutes with no major drama, 2 good runs and 2 good leaps. The salmon turned over and I got his head up and started to bring him in, at this stage I unlocked the reel to allow back reeling f… Continue

Posted by Enda Scahill on 29 August 2007 at 9:16pm — No Comments

Clare River (Corrofin Aug 26th)

Went trout fishing for a couple of hours today but only managed a couple of small brownies and a few Salmon par all on a size 14 "white moth". After coming across a near perfect salmon lie i cheekly decided to tie on a size 10 munroe killer single and hooked into a fish almost immediately (20:00). After a good 20 minute battle I beached a nice 4.5 - 5lbs grilse. Saw one more salmon move and a nice trout of around 2 lbs+ (20:45) but it was more of an acrobatic display than a rise at a fly. Continue

Posted by shane kennedy on 27 August 2007 at 7:03pm — No Comments

Cong Canal (Aug 23rd)

I had my first fishing experience on the Cong Canal last night with conor. Amazing place with deep crystal clear, fast flowing water. We started fishing at 20:00 from the mouth of Lough Mask downstream for mile or so. Serious fly life with buzzers, spent mayflies, sedge and midge in abundance. We saw 2 brownies moving above the bridge and I only saw one further trout rise despite the good hatch. I fished a 6 weight intermediate line with a bibio and a white moth. I saw the smallest of rises and… Continue

Posted by shane kennedy on 24 August 2007 at 4:28pm — No Comments