Pete Clark, from Perthshire in Scotland, was on a trip to Donegal recently to teach and play the fiddle as part of an exchange of musicians between Donegal and Scotland. Pete had visited Donegal on numerous occasions in the past but never brought a fishing rod along with his fiddle, so this time he made sure to pack one. As he was to be based in Letterkenny, we put him in touch with the Letterkenny Anglers’ Association for advice, and he ended up in a boat with their club secretary – we’ll let Pete tell the story:
I was on a short trip from Scotland with limited time for a cast, but the Letterkenny
Anglers’ Association secretary Gavin Duffy made sure that I made the most of it on lovely Lough Keel. Donegal is a week or so ahead of Scotland as regards the arrival of Spring, and it was a delight to hear the Willow Warblers in full song in the bankside alders and willows. The stiff breeze was changeable and made it difficult for us to get a decent drift, but Gavin spent as much time manoeuvring the boat to get the best drifts as he did fishing. There weren’t many fish showing on the surface, so I opted to fish a sink tip line. It was hard fishing, but we ended the day with 4 trout. The biggest, a beautiful 2-pounder, took a size 10 Peter Ross.
We stopped fishing at 6pm, but as we were finishing, we noticed a hatch of very small sedges beginning to happen at the north end of the loch. Maybe another hour might have produced a few more trout!
Pete enjoyed his time so much he plans to return later in the summer and add fly-caught pike and bass to his list of species landed in Ireland.
The Letterkenny Anglers’ Association manage the fishing on Lough Keel, Glen Lough, a portion of Gartan Lough and a number of other small lakes and river sections in the Letterkenny area. If you would like to go fishing on one of these waters, or learn more about the fishing in the Letterkenny area, you can contact club secretary Gavin Duffy on 086-3899810 or by email at [email protected].
