For the first edition of the APGAI Ireland monthly newsletter, Dan O Neill speaks about his early memories on the Kings River. We hear from Joe Stitt about Spring Olives as he tells us a wonderful story. Jimmy Tyrell breaks down the tying of the olive hare’s ear. Ray McKeeman gives us some casting tips that may come in very useful this season.
The Kings River
The Kings River flows through a little village called Ennisnag, which is in my home county of Kilkenny. The river has always held a special place in my memories as it was here that my guiding career took off. My old fisheries manager, Mr. Matt Bolger, would drop me at the joining’s, which is where the Kings meets the mighty R.Nore, and tell me he would pick me up at the black gates in 2hrs, which was around 1km upstream. Matt would give me a Cara matchbox which contained a small blob of Brylcreem or flotant as he called it, 3 or 4 duck- arse duns now known as a CDC dun, some tippet material wrapped around a piece of cardboard and an old gold star 9ft something weight fly rod. It was on the Kings that I learned many things, not just fishing related but things about myself. Fishing has a way of showing you the simple things in life are the most valuable. Many a problem was overcome by sitting under a tree watching the river with an unintentionally melted cheese sandwich, warm yoghurt and bottle of Cadet Cola, which was kept cold by leaving in a little rock pool. Some of the most fantastic memories I have cost me nothing. I revisit my journey along the Kings from time to time and take the same lunch with me apart from the Cadet Cola, which has now been replaced by a small flask of tea. It’s funny how sometimes I enjoy the tea break more than the fishing. Fishing has given me ways in, as well as ways out. When I joined APGAI –IRE, it gave me a chance to share with people how they, too, could make the same memories.
Spring Olives
Mr. Joe Stitt is an extremely renowned angler and has coached some of today’s top casting instructors and fly tyers. Joe is a mine of information and has some very useful tips on the spring olive for us this month.
In the early 1950s, I fished the River Lagan near Donacloney for brown trout. At that time, the Large Dark Olive or Spring Olive was quite prolific between 12 noon and 2:00pm. I also fished the River Enler near Comber as well as the Ballynahinch River. These rivers were local haunts of mine and at that time, I used a split cane rod and silk line which was a heavy outfit! I did this most weekends and was quite successful in the pursuit of brown trout.
My go-to fly was Thomas Clegg’s Spring Olive pattern. March 1st was the start of our fishing season, and the warmest part of the day was between 12 noon and 2:00 PM. I remember the Large Dark Olives sailing downstream like small yachts! I remember the excitement of seeing them, even if I was unable to catch all the trout that were feeding on them. The nymph of the Spring Olive was categorized as an agile darter from a group of 14 species. In these times, I did not bother to fish upstream nymph since both hatches and rising fish were prolific, and it gave me so much pleasure to cover rising fish.
All three rivers were much the same in terms of fly hatches and fish rises. In later years, I expanded my horizons to include the Moyola, the Six Mile Water, the Upper Bann, the Ballinderry, and the Colebrooke Rivers, and I found they were all similar in the context of hatches.
In the past, I have always fished the Spring Olive hatches through the month of March into early April until March Browns appeared on The Colebrooke and the Bush Rivers; these are now critically endangered, unfortunately. In the 1950s, we were lucky to be in the Greater Belfast area as we had quite a few angling clubs running outings every weekend, usually on Saturdays. This meant that a bus trip to some of the unreachable rivers became possible so I could get to fish the River Fane at Cullaville, which was highly rated as a trout and salmon River. We also got to fish the Ballinderry River near Cookstown and these were destinations we could not travel to by public transport. My favourite destination was Cootehill in Co. Monaghan on the River Annalee; all these destinations had super hatches of Spring Olives, and it was like heaven to young anglers!
While nymph fishing was possible if for any reason the fly did not appear, the worst case was that the river was in flood and coloured. No purist me, I carried a spinning reel and bait fished – I had no choice because the bus did not come back until a designated time! When I got a car then I had a lot more options so I could move on to find fly water.
Thinking about the nymph of the Spring Olive: when the adult laid eggs, and they hatched into nymphs, these spent almost a year below the surface growing in stages. These stages are known as “instars”
As the nymph sheds its skin and grows a bigger skin to accommodate its growth. In its time as a nymph, there are seven instar periods before the nymph emerges as an adult.
Mr Jimmy Tyrell is one of Ireland’s best fly tyers and is always at various shows and events; Jimmy ties for us this month a favourite pattern of mine for the R. Nore but is also superb on most rivers.
Hares ear olive nymph.
This is probably one of my favourite flies on the river; I fish this right through the season. I vary the colors from natural hares’ fur to different shades of olive. I prefer the olive early in the season and have had more success with it than any other color. Hare’s fur dyed olive from the mask mixed together with fibres from the ear is really a fantastic material that gives the fly that bit more life. Synthetic materials are all right but are just a bit flat for me. At the start of the season, I normally add a small amount of lead wire under the thorax if the water is high but not too much as you want to fish the fly in mid water. Giving the line a slight twitch with your finger gives the fly that bit of life as if it were trying to get to the surface.
- Hook: size: 12 or 14
- Rib: Very fine flat gold tinsel.
- Body: Dyed Olive hares’ fur from the mask.
- Wing: Case bunch of cock pheasant tail fibres pulled over and tied in lying under the body as legs.
- Thorax: Pinch of hare’s fur plucked out to give the fly a bit of life.
Step-by-step guide:
- Wind on a few turns of lead wire.
- Secure the lead with tying thread finishing at the bend of the hook.
- Tie in a strand of silver wire or pearl flash or both.
- Dub some fur onto the tying thread.
- Wind on the dubbing in a nice tapered shape.
- Catch in about a dozen fibers of cock pheasant tail fibres.
- Build up the thorax with more dubbing fur.
- Pull the cock pheasant fibres forward, trap down and divide.
- Stroke the cock pheasant fibers back down and under and tie down. Whip finish and varnish
It’s Behind You!, By Ray Mckeeman,
Whether you are brand new to fly fishing or have been waving your fly-casting wand for many years, I want to share a few tips and tricks that you might find helpful. As a casting instructor I often have to fight against obsession with certain aspects of the whole casting process, from loop size, loop shape, hard stop, no stop, the list is endless. We are all on a journey in this sport and at times happen upon simple, straightforward nuggets that can help any caster improve their technique.
Today’s tip: Watch Your Back cast!
In the world of fishing, fly casters are possibly unique in the amount of rod and line waving we perform before launching the latest fluffy creation to the fish. No matter whether it’s the beginner trying to master the basics or trying to squeeze another few yards of distance, the back cast is overlooked. As my own casting mentor Joe Stitt, put it: the secret to a good forward cast is a good back cast.
So, what is a good back cast? In fly fishing a good back cast will almost always be 180° from the intended target, it will have a slight upward trajectory (definitely not down), it finishes the instant the line fully unrolls straight in mid-air which is the cue to begin going forward. Here’s what to try:
- Stance – non dominant foot forward. Slightly open.
- Rod tip – starts low (touching water) – ending high – 12 o’clock position. Focus on back casting UP!
- Favourite chocolate bar – imagine it’s attached to the tip of your rod – don’t let it out of your sight!
In my experience this works for the majority. They SEE the trajectory. They SEE the line fully unroll. They KNOW when to begin to forward cast.
Two Problems
1.We are all built differently and sometimes physical limitation doesn’t allow us to fully watch that chocolate bar all the way behind. In that case a companion or group learning setting is invaluable as the extra set(s)of eyes can give a prompt when they SEE they line unroll.
2.Sometimes the opening of stance introduces line swing where a straight 180° forward and back delivery becomes bendy as we rotate our neck, shoulders etc. to keep the line tip in view. Here is where I suggest visualizing a target – a treetop, a cloud, anything that lines up with the caster’s view and where we want the back cast to end up.
Why not give this a try? It is simple. You now know the secret to a good forward cast!
Upcoming event: Irish Spring Angling Show at Ardaire Springs,
APGAI Ireland are proud to announce they will be attending the Spring Angling Fair at Ardaire Springs. There will be kids’ fly tying and kids’ casting at the event. There will be some of the APGAI Ireland team there so make sure and say hello. If you have the kids with you, be sure to stop off at the APGAI table and let them try their hand at fly tying with one of our Instructors. They can then take the fly to the casting pond and try to catch a trout with the help of an Instructor.
