Dan O’Neill, fishery Manager at Mount Juliet, reports from the River Nore:
With the season now well underway the water level on the River Nore is just touching the level where I like it to be. This week I had quite a few clients out which I mostly set up for wet fly fishing, nymphing rigs and streamers. There are two pools that fish quite well during higher water levels, so away we went. The leader set up I prefer to use for wet flies is overall 10ft. I use a 6ft butt section of 6x tapered leader, which is connected using a blood knot to blood knot connection to 4ft of .12 Stroft ABR. I then tie on my point fly. coming up 2ft from my point fly I put on a dropper, usually about 6-8inches of line in case I decide to change the dropper during the trip. If there are brighter conditions or lower water levels I will keep 2 flies but add 5ft of Stroft to my tapered butt section instead of 4ft.
As the anglers spread themselves out I alternated between helping them understand more about the technique and what they were replicating with their wet fly. On the first few swings we decided to slow the fly down a little by adding some upstream mends into the line. This proved to be the right move as a nice trout hit our dropper fly. Very exciting times as this angler’s first trout came to hand. It was some weight off my shoulders, but not all as I had two more anglers that needed their first brown trout also. Making my way to the other anglers I repeated the advice and told them a little about what they were doing. I find it is very important for beginners of any age to know what’s happening and get a visual image of what their fly is doing in the water as it swings, slows and dangles. Luckily today the trout played their part and it wasn’t too long before there was more excitement as our line tightened, rod bowed down followed by some frantic searching for the reel handle, all part of the first time fly fishing.
After saying goodbye to my guests I decided to get my young apprentice and head for a few casts along the Nore, going through set ups and watching closely as Anthony tied on the flies. He knew where he was heading and I’ve taken to asking Anthony why he chose the spots he fishes, to which I get some surprising answers with a couple of smart ones also (Because that’s where the fish are). A nice few trout we had for the evening mostly on Greenwells Glory. Soon enough the chill came in the air and the fish switched off which was our queue to hit the road.
For information on day tickets or memberships please call Dan on 0857652751 or email [email protected]
Dan O’Neill
Mount Juliet Estate.
Go fishing…
Mount Juliet House is set on a large estate, which offers private fishing on 2.5 miles of the middle to lower reaches of the River Nore. Mount Juliet Estate offers fishing of the highest quality, just a short stroll away from the Manor House. There is a fishing room on site in the Manor House for your convenience i.e. for storage and drying of fishing equipment. Mount Juliet Estate can also provide the necessary equipment on site if needed.
https://www.mountjuliet.ie/fishing-on-the-estate.html
