Angling guide Dan O’Neill reports on some of his recent guiding experiences:
Driving in the car to a booking yesterday, I glanced at my watch and saw it was June 2nd. The last time I saw the date, it was 28 April, where did that go? I have had a whole host of people out since my last report, and fished many fantastic areas in southern Ireland with fantastic people.
Over the past few weeks, I hosted two group/media trips: one for Club Mouche Niortais and another for H2O Fly Fishing Magazine, while in between, I also had some individual bookings. Club Mouche Niortais is made up of some fantastic anglers and fly tyers. Technique-wise, it’s quite a mix; there were nymphers, dry fly and wet fly anglers, which made it interesting.
I learned some great new patterns including the “yo-yo” a sedge pattern that had an eyelet just above the hook bend and a foam body, the line would go through the hook eye around the foam body and through the eye at the back, the yo-yo could then slide up and down the line to change depths while dry dropper fishing. While the lads were here, we were on the tail end of what I hope wasn’t our summer. Water temperatures were quite high, peaking at 16 Celsius.
Dry fly fishing on the flat water was quite good fun; small patterns were key. Nymphs were no bigger than a 22, and dry flies were mostly of 22 or 24. Lines were of thin diameter, we rarely used anything bigger than .10 tippet sections, with .08 being called on quite a bit. Fishing was on my home river, the Nore, mostly. I visited the Slaney and the Blackwater as well, and caught good numbers of trout on them. The fishing approach varied slightly on each river, which made it quite interesting. The lads were most familiar with the Slaney as it reminded them of a river they fish in Normandy. A great group of anglers and now friends whom I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with; I look forward to seeing them again next year.
Another trip was with H2O magazine; this magazine was one I had wanted to work with for a while now. It was great to welcome Giorgio and Alberto, sharing some of Ireland’s most iconic fishing destinations. We visited the Nore, Suir and Blackwater. Every river throwing up different challenges and showing unique beauty. I keep saying how amazing it is that fishing brings people together and forms friendships; this trip was no different. We shared food, thoughts and fishing ideas.
It was great to take the lads to areas I have fished for many years and get them into a magazine I have read and admired for so long. My time with them was fantastic and flew past. I will certainly see the lads again soon, as I plan to visit them in Italy late this year or at some point next year. The H2O Magazine is well worth a read and is the only bilingual magazine available, the images and content are fantastic and just make you want to pick up a fly rod and go for a cast.
I had, of course, a few other guests who were mostly beginners. It was great to catch their first trout with them and see them fly fishing for the first time. It’s quite rewarding to hear them say they will take up fly fishing when they go back home.
I’ve been working on my TikTok channel lately, and I host weekly giveaways. Usually it’s flies, nymphs and sometimes a lesson. Be sure to check it out and follow the instructions to be in with a chance to win.
