After the disappointing end to the previous day at Gleninchaquini lake, not too far from Kenmare I decided to travel over to Macroom to have a look at the river Sullane. I have never fished on the Sullane so I was hoping the water level would be good and I may get some fishing done. The last time I checked out the Sullane it was in flood. On arrival at the river I was delighted to see it was in great condition and there was some fish rising. Time to get me a day ticket so I headed out to Masseytown to Mary Annes Bar. You can get your day tickets from the bar or phone Tom Sweeney on 026 41566. It is best to phone first as I found out the bar was closed when I got there. It seems it opens later these days. It was off to the Main Street to Macartys shop which also sell day tickets. I eventually got my day ticket and headed back to the river.
I had noticed when I first looked at the river there was some Large Dark Olives about so I set up the rod with an Olive Klinkhammer to fish dry. The first pool I checked out was just below the bridge and I could see some nice fish rising to take the Olives which were hatching. I cast my Klinkhammer upstream towards a rising fish but I soon found out there was a strong wind swirling under the bridge which messed up my casting. The weather again was mixed with sunshine, strong winds accompanied with heavy showers. I managed to catch some nice wild fish here before I had to take shelter from a very heavy shower. While sheltering I changed over to a team of wet flies consisting of a trial pattern (Yellow Jack) on the point another trial pattern in the middle (iron blue) and my old favourite the Waterhen Bloa on the top.
When the rain cleared I started to fish with the wet flies casting them down and across the river. On my third cast I was rewarded with a nice wild brown trout of about half pound weight which took the Yellow Jack. After about tens minutes I noticed plenty of flies coming off the water, Large Dark Olives along with Iron Blue Duns. It was not long before the flies drew the attention of the Sullane Trout. The river burst to life with fish rising all along the river. They were taking both the Dark Olives and the Iron Blues. I was having a fish on nearly ever cast and some casts produced a double hook up. I fished on for most of the afternoon and had fish after fish as I made my way down stream. I finished the day with over fifty wild brown trout caught and released, the best fish being a pound and a quarter. The Yellow Jack produced most of the fish on the day with the Iron Blue pattern second best.
Liam Stenson
