Niall Ó hEarcáin contacted us to tell us about his recent trip to Lough Owel in the midlands. Niall and his boat partner, Pat Foley, fished from the early afternoon into the evening without stirring a thing. Then, just on 6pm, a good hatch of fly began to come off the water in the southern end of the lough. Niall ditched his intermediate line and stuck on a floater armed with a size 8 Cormorant from his own vice. The change was the right one and before long he was into a fish – a lovely 60cm, hard-fighting, Owel trout. Niall reckons the fish pulled him in all directions for what seemed like an age, with deep dives under the boat followed by big leaps in a bid for freedom.
After an epic tussle, the fish was calmly netted by Pat before being unhooked, measured and released again to fight another day. Niall is a member of the Dublin Trout Anglers and he thanks their excellent fly tying group for the inspiration that brought the Cormorant fly that caught the trout!
He gave us the ingredients for the fly (black thread, peacock herl body, rainbow pearl over red holo rib, black marabou wing, size 8 long lure hook) and the link to the video where other fly tiers can learn to tie up their own!
