Dan O’Neill reports on the trout fishing on the Nore at the weekend…

What a glorious weekend we had. Some early starts showed good results. I also gave some casting tuition this weekend which is always fun and its great to see people progress. When learning a new cast the following paragraph may be of assistance to you, I wrote it some time ago and found it very useful.

Slow motion can be your best friend

Moving along I began to need new casts. I would watch these casts at fairs and think “I will never use that”. How wrong can one be. There have been many times I would need a roll cast for example. I would need to pick up a sink tip to recast, raising a sinking line and it is important to perfect the roll cast before moving onto the Spey cast family.

Making muscles remember

When beginning a cast I would look at the tracking of the rod and perform the move with just the rod, no line. This helps to build muscle memory, when you start out slow and gradually build up the speed the cast will require. I found this to be very useful especially with Spey casts. The slow movement allows you to scribe the D-loop perfectly, get the lift, sweep, hand position and rod track correct. Do this in 20 minute slots, 10 minutes with no line in slow motion then with line in slow motion. I tend to think of it like making a track in the snow. If I jump on a sled and start sliding I could go anywhere or any direction. However, if I slowly push the sled to make a track in the snow, the sled will follow that track. If I keep going over this track and adding a little pressure to it I will create a slightly deeper track. Now if I jump on my sled it will stay on the track and follow its direction. So let’s start the cast by slowly doing the motion forming our rod track, gradually speeding up to indent the rod track into our muscle memory. I found this the easiest way for me to learn and build strong precise muscle memory.

Now for the fishing

Ricky from Colorado on the Nore
Ricky from Colorado on the Nore

After giving tuition I was on the River with Ricky all the way from Colorado. Ricky had done quite a bit of fly-fishing back home, so it was great to hear his stories and watch his approach to the glides. We done a lot of moving about looking for fish and would pick some up in each run we visited. The water is still energetic, so we didn’t wade too far and even tried not to at all if possible. We used a wool indicator and a 3mm tungsten bead nymph. I have a list of patterns in my diary that work early season so had plenty tied up. Today’s was an olive thread body, flash collar, Coq de Leon tail and a gold rib. Simplicity at its best. The nymph worked very well but had to be tight to the riverbed. As the morning moved on there was a hatch of olives and the fish responded along the seams and tail end of the flat water. We had about 15 trout, nothing big, mostly around 20-25cm, great fun and a great day. Looking forward to getting on the river again soon now that levels are dropping a bit.

Salmon parr/smolts

These little fish are on their travels and you will no doubt come across them when trout fishing. Ricky and I met a few and I explained the importance of wetting our hands and keeping contact to an absolute minimum. Which is what we do with any of the fish we come in contact with. It only takes a second to wet your hands.

Smolts running – remember to handle with care

Ardaire Springs Angling fair

It’s finally here, this weekend all roads lead to Ardaire springs. The line-up is superb. Looking forward to meeting everyone and having a chat about our wonderful sport. Make sure an bring the kids along for some fly tying and fishing at the kids’ corner.

Irish Spring Angling Fair 4th and 5th of May

Go fishing…

South East Casting

Address Thomastown Kilkenny Ireland Mobile Phone: +353857652751