Information on fly fishing in the west of Ireland

All Blog Posts (127)

East Mayo 16 Sept.

I fished from below howley's down to ryan's this evening. Despite the favourable height (.6) and clear water I saw no fish until I hit one at the top of Ryans. I was fishing a size 12 shrimp on the point and a bloody butcher on the dropper. I was suprised to see that the fish had taken the butcher rather than the shrimp fly and I managed to land a red fish of about 6lb which I released. I didn't see or hear of any other fish nor did I get any sea trout. The water is perfect for fly now. Continue

Added by Conor Walsh on September 16, 2009 at 9:59pm — 1 Comment

Finally

It only took 6 weeks and about 200 hours of fishing but the Clare River finally gave up a grilse. 5lb on the trusty garden olive. River quiet high and brown, not suitable for fly just yet. Wet and windy rain which we have now won't help the cause. Continue

Added by Enda Scahill on July 26, 2009 at 7:09pm — No Comments

East Mayo admission

I'm coming clean. Last night I threw the worm out and caught a 2.75lb grilse. It was good fun but the fight reminded me why I fly fish for Salmon. I caught the fish 15 minutes after starting. I've spent over 100 hours fly fishing for Salmon on the Moy and hooked four fish. Of these, I landed only one. Despite this, I'm going back to the fly tomorrow and conditions should be perfect - .55 on the gauge this evening. Continue

Added by Conor Walsh on July 18, 2009 at 1:39am — 1 Comment

Clare RIVER 13th July 09

Annoying, frustrating, irritating, agitating, confusing and confounding. Where are the fish? A bit run went up in the very low water at the end of June but hardly a fish to be found since. A good day on the water is urgently needed or I may have to take up needle work Continue

Added by Enda Scahill on July 14, 2009 at 9:03pm — 4 Comments

East Mayo

The river is nearly clean now and should be perfect tomorrow. Plenty of grilse seen today with some caught too. Reports of people foul hooking fish in Ballina today there were so many going through. I had no luck this evening in East Mayo but saw two fish. Continue

Added by Conor Walsh on July 7, 2009 at 11:57pm — No Comments

East Mayo 7th July

The Moy went into a good flood yesterday. The Gweesteen is very swollen and water came down from Sligo making the river very dirty. It was at .8 yesterday afternoon. Some anglers told me of fish seen coming through Ballina and I heard that Ballisodare has alot of grilse in. There might be good fishing today (Tues.) if it has come down. Continue

Added by Conor Walsh on July 7, 2009 at 12:33am — No Comments

CLARE RIVER 20th June 09

Fished two sections of the Clare this morning between 6am and 2pm. River has dropped a lot again after the rain during the week. No sign of any salmon. Big rise of fish at 7am but all small fish. Eventually landed a 3lb trout in bright sunshine at around 1.30pm. With a settled weather forecast the next week I can't see a run of fish happening for a while. Continue

Added by Enda Scahill on June 20, 2009 at 3:36pm — No Comments

Clare River - June 11th

Fished upstream of Claregalway for 2 hours today in glaring sunshine. A few small fish rising but not showing any interest to my dries. I switched to a beaded hares-ear and within an hour had bagged 8-10 trout on the same stretch, most between 1/2 - 1lb. No monsters but i briefly hooked and lost a fish closer to 3lbs. Continue

Added by shane kennedy on June 12, 2009 at 5:46pm — No Comments

Galway Salmon Fishery 8th June

Fished the weir in Galway from 1.30-8.30pm on Monday June 8th. Caught a 5lb grilse on the shrimp at around 3.30pm. Did one run down the weir on fly but no touches. A friend, Peter Gaffey caught his first salmon, a 6lb grilse also on shrimp. Not a whole pile of salmon to be seen around, main grilse run just starting. God help me but BRING ON THE RAIN!! Continue

Added by Enda Scahill on June 12, 2009 at 4:30pm — 1 Comment

Carra 30th May

I waited for the buzzers this evening. Conditions were favourable and sure enough, the buzzers came out at dusk although not as dense as I've seen before. Not a single fish moved to them. Does anyone have any idea's why this is? Last year an evening like this would have had the lake moving. Is it too early? Too late? Continue

Added by Conor Walsh on June 1, 2009 at 3:33pm — No Comments

East Mayo 23rd May

I fished East Mayo tonight from Howley's to Ryan's. Conditions were perfect with cloud, a mild temperature and the river dropping from .75 on the Ballylaghan gauge. I was confident tonight and within a half hour i hooked a fish. The Salmon took a size 8 Bann special and was a stubborn fighter without making any significant runs. I had no net to land the fish and couldn't see anywhere to beach it. I broke the golden rule and tried to tail it with my hand. A harsh lesson was learned when the fish… Continue

Added by Conor Walsh on June 1, 2009 at 3:31pm — No Comments

Rising Trout Cong Canal

Below is a link to some video footage of a large 3lbs+ trout surface feeding on Midge in the canal - Cut and paste into browser. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AvjqOf-6x4 Continue

Added by shane kennedy on May 23, 2009 at 12:09am — 2 Comments

Moy 21st May

I fished on East Mayo for the first time this year tonight. The river is at .7 and is dropping. Conditions are perfect at the moment and there are alot of fish in the river.There were reports that 20 fish were caught on Monday. I had no luck but saw an angler take a 10lb fish on a flying c. Should be perfect tomorrow with the river dropping further. Continue

Added by Conor Walsh on May 21, 2009 at 11:41pm — No Comments

Robe River 20 May 2009

Had a few hours to spare but the weather wasn't great so I went to the Robe River at Crossboyne near Claremorris which was in an article in last months Trout & Salmon magazine. In just a couple of hours at least 25 fish took my dry fly and I missed nearly all of them - I think I must be a bit rusty. They were only very small fish but it was highly enjoyable. My fears that the fishing would be ruined by the very high water were unfounded. Time for the Clare River next I think. Continue

Added by Paul Sherington on May 20, 2009 at 6:18pm — No Comments

East Mayo report 18th May 2009

There were 57 fish taken last week on East Mayo. Included were fine fish of 14.5lb and a whopper of 18lb. Not many were taken on the fly with the water high for most of the week. Nearly half of the catch was taken above Ballylaghan bridge. Continue

Added by Conor Walsh on May 20, 2009 at 11:59am — No Comments

Lough Carra 13th May 2009

Spent Wednesday on Carra, went out from Brownstown, very few Mayfly about spotted a few hatching in the very shallow water..the fish appeared to be feeding on olives and fished wets most of the day with my fishing partner who hooked most of the fish it has to be said..he kept one af about 1.25lb which was the best of the day taken on a dry wuff...conditions were cool enough and I was a little dissapointed on the lack of flylife and fish... Continue

Added by Phil Donoghue on May 14, 2009 at 7:51pm — No Comments

East Mayo report 12th May

There were good catches on East Mayo last week totaling 37 fish. 13 of these were taken on the fly. 13 of the fish were caught above Balylaghan with one caught at oldcastle. Continue

Added by Conor Walsh on May 13, 2009 at 12:36am — No Comments

Salmon in the Cong canal 12th May 2009

It would have been remarkable enough to catch a Salmon on a size 12 olive nymph but to do it in the cong canal is one of those experiences I'm glad I have the pictures to prove. At around 21.00 I changed from two weighted nymphs to a single dark olive nymph which I tried swinging around in the current. Gary had just hooked and broke in a very good fish on the same style nymph fishing down and across the flow. As my line swung around it slowly drew tight. I lifted into a fish and I knew by the sh… Continue

Added by Conor Walsh on May 13, 2009 at 12:09am — 4 Comments

Lough Corrib

Fished birch hall 11th may from 8pm to 11.30. Nice breeze from the east, headed up wind in the kayak a good mile and half and put my drouge out for a nice slow walking pace drift. Started off with mayfly wets but no good. Sun went down and the wind dropped and the buzzers came out, so i quickly made the change and with in 10mins I hit a big fish only for it to come off. About ten mins later I had another good hit but missed that one too..was gutted, but was great fun..til next time. Continue

Added by Jon Smith on May 12, 2009 at 9:01am — No Comments

Lough Corrib May 10th

I fished a competition from greenfields today. The day was mostly warm with little breeze. Buzzer hatching everywhere for most of the day. However, buzzer pupa fishing was frowned upon (though allowed) in this competition. Needless to say we caught nothing while the epoxy fishers cleaned up. Lots of fish moving with olives and the odd mayfly on top too. Continue

Added by Conor Walsh on May 11, 2009 at 12:18pm — No Comments