Robert Connor was fishing with his good friend and longtime Lough Ree fly-fisherman Donal Hegarty near the Portlick area of the lake last Tuesday. There was a nice fall of spent that particular evening and some really big fish started to rise. Donal had a fish over 4lbs that he sportingly returned. Late in the evening (approaching 10pm) Robert had his own fish on a spent gnat mayfly – a beauty of over 6lb.
Robert reports that not many other fish caught, and any other fishermen they met hadn’t done any good.
Also on the lake last week was Robert Downey. The trout was caught with a Green Drake at about 3pm on Saturday 23rd May and weighed 6lb. Conditions were dry, breezy and overcast. Robert was fishing with my friend Joe McCormack from Boher Co. Westmeath. Robert tells us that this was his first excursion for the “mayfly” in a number of years and he was absolutely shaking after the battle. Normally a salmon angler on his native river Feale in Listowel, Kerry, he was quick to acknowledge the fantastic fight this fish put up.
There are still lots of mayfly hatching on the lake but fishing conditions have been really difficult with the wind and cold evenings. The best hope for catching some of these big Lough Ree trout would seem to be late in the evening fishing dry flies. As the weather forecast is set to improve in the coming days, so should chances of catching a fish…
