Peter Driver of Piscari Fly is back with his weekly roundup of the fishing scene

How’s The Fishing?

Duckfly on Lough Corrib

Mark ventured to the West last week for some Duckfly Buzzer action, as the weather conditions seemed to be ideal, with higher temperatures & moderate winds. Arriving early, but due to some engine issues delaying our start I finally got going. I had a good afternoon of mixed action. 5 fish hooked and 3 landed to the boat, all on buzzers, before the winds affected the hatches. Few marks planned to fish but unable due to engine. So stayed in the bay where we launched and enjoyed our fishing. Fish hit hard in their takes. With some aerobatics from some of them leading to two getting off. All to do again next week as we travel back across.

I was on a 4 fly setup on a Piscari fly 6wt floating line. Frog hair fluorocarbon 6.6lb which is a top favourite of many buzzer anglers on Corrib. Fishing in 10 to 16foot of water. So choose a 4 fly set up. With 7 foot to first fly then 4 foot apart down to the point fly. Keeper dropper around 6 inchs long. Started off with size 12 duckfly buzzers on the droppers and a size 10 on the point to help anchor the cast in the drift. To set the flys best. As wind picked up during fishing. I added a 2nd size 10 to the 2 fly down. Meaning I had a size 12 on top dropper then 10, 12 and 10 on point. This helped greatly and straight away meeting fish again after things slowed up. Buzzers hatching on the water looked big when hatching more like size 10 buzzers. But shucks appeared size 12 when not hatching. The fish met on the day all took the size 10s. Which was similar in size to the hatching fly. Something noticed on the day.

Make sure your set up for duckfly & upcoming Campto buzzer fishing with us at www.piscari-fly.com

A report from the midlands by Johannes Bulfin

Johannes is going to be giving us regular reports on fishing the midlands. Make sure and check outhttps://watershedflyfishing.ie/ for his fly fishing guiding service operating in the Midlands of Ireland on the River Shannon system.

Having returned safely home from an unforgettable week of fishing in Ethiopia, I was keen to get the trout season underway.

I headed to a lower section of the Little Brosna and reminded myself how I had sworn I would enjoy cold water and numb fingers after the almost 50°c baking the previous week. There was plenty of water for the fish to swim in but fishing a familiar area, it didn’t take long to pin them down. Heavy 3.5mm tungsten beads delivered the flies to the correct depth and the trout came easily after that. The best being 13inches and about a 1lb in weight.

On Friday I had booked off an entire day for myself to explore some new water on the Shannon. Here the spawn had started already at the end of February and a quick previous foray had shown no signs of fish in the spawning areas. Therefore I was happy to go back at the pike with a clear conscious. The feeding was sporadic and sometimes hectic, lots of fly changes and varying of retrieves produced 20 fish for the day with the largest just shy of 10lbs. Towards the end of the day a massive fish chased down a hooked pike on my line, crashing into the air right beside the boat. These are the moments we remember.

On Sunday I had a brief window of opportunity and headed to the Little Brosna again, the river was in perfect condition. Some very pretty little brown trout preceded spotting an absolute monster of a rainbow, obviously a fish farm escapee but heart stopping nonetheless. I was able to sight fish to the rainbow, on the second cast he ate the nymph and chaos ensued!! We estimated the fish at around 7lbs as it thrashed on the surface before burying itself in underwater roots, I leapt in to untangle it but only returned with a broken off leader. We laughed it off as “mad craic” but it would have been nice to land the fish!

Watershed Fly Fishing is a full time professional guiding service specialising in pike fly fishing operating from Banagher, Co. Offaly. In season we also guide for trout on the Shannon tributaries. Get in touch to make your own memories at 085 7386944 or www.watershedflyfishing.ie

Salt water, Bass & Seatrout

First saltwater flyfishing trip of the year. Peter and Mark headed off early Sunday morning down to south wexford estusaries. Searching for whatever was around, having a look as it is early season and not knowing what to expect. Peter met a couple of seatrout and lost one to the net. Mark had a couple of pulls before they moved further up the estuaries on a beautiful morning. Mark picked up this lovely bass feeding in and around some kelp and weed. Just using 10ft 7weights with fast intermediates and pulling a couple of flatwing patterns, Blue and white and yellow and white were the best 2 combination of colours for attracting the fish. Beautiful morning to be out, the next couple of weeks we will be trying to get out as much as we can on the estuaries, It can be a good really time of the year at the start of a really good weather spell to get out and get some interesting fishing. You never know what’s going to pop up.

East Clare Trout

Jamie Conway was on the Scariff River in County Clare recently and caught a couple of really nice trout. Fishing a beautiful river running through East Clare. It’s a river I often meant to get out on myself because my wife is from O’Callaghans Mills not too far from Scariff and I’ve seen the river. It looks like a great river and I am sure it has plenty of good fishing on it. Definitely must get over to explore it one of the days I am over in County Clare visiting the mother in law. Well done Jamie, nice one to knock of the list.

What’s Coming?

North West Angling Fair 2025

Peter is up in Strabane this weekend at the North West Angling Fair to do demonstrations on euro nymphing and modern nymphing techniques. If you are in the area make sure you pop in and say hello.

“Whether you’re an experienced angler or just getting started, this exciting event has something for everyone. Explore a wide range of exhibitors showcasing the latest gear, techniques, and innovations in angling. With expert advice, live demonstrations, interactive workshops for all ages, the North West Angling Fair is the perfect place to connect with fellow enthusiasts and enhance your fishing skills.”

It takes place on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th March 2025 at Melvin Sports Complex in Strabane. Hope to see you there.

For all information on the Fair check out the link below.

​https://www.derrystrabane.com/subsites/angling-fair​

Irish Youths Flyfishing Team

TAFI Irish Youth Team is heading to the USA for the World Championships this summer. They are currently holding a fundraiser and all help is greatly appreciated to aid these 6 youths to a dream trip representing their Country in Idaho. We are delighted to be sponsoring one of the prizes for this great raffle. If you can give the lads a hand and want to purchase a ticket contact Frank Dempsey on 0872351830. Some cracking prizes in this Fundraiser.

Why you should attend:

Learn from the Best—Gain tips and insights from some of the top names in Irish angling

Great for Families & Kids—Fun activities to get young anglers hooked on fishing

Try & Buy—Get hands-on experience with top-quality gear, flies, and accessories

You can find out more and buy tickets online now at https://irishspringanglingfair.com/​

Spread the word and get ready for an incredible weekend of angling! See you at the Irish Spring Angling Fair 2025!

https://irishspringanglingfair.com/

 

Piscari-fly Club

Back Live this Saturday night at 8.30pm. Tying some more top patterns and sharing top tips so make sure you check it out on Piscari-fly club.

A lot of videos coming now from the rivers and seas so stay tuned.

Also if you are in the market for some new fishing gear for this coming season we have great discounts for our club members on all fly tying and fly fishing gear.

Check it out at https://club.piscari-fly.com/​

About us

Based on the River Nore just outside Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, Ireland. Piscari-Fly is a growing Fly Tying and Fly-Fishing business with a vast amount of experience and knowledge. If there is ever anything I can do to make my service better for you please feel free to suggest it to me and I’ll gladly try my best to accommodate your requests. Thanks again. Peter Driver.

As a small business we depend on the satisfaction of our customers and their word of mouth reference, google reviews are important to our online presence and we sure would appreciate your review. Just head over to this link and give us a quick review.

Thanks for the support, its greatly appreciated.

Peter Driver.

Piscari-Fly, Woolengrange, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, R95 Y860, Ireland, 0879787040