Paddy Dunworth of Celtic Angling reports from the Maigue:
Today I was guiding Joseph O’Connor who’s party is staying at Adare Manor. Joe’s a 3rd generation Irish-American who lives in Pennsylvania. At 79 years young he was at pains to impress upon me that his fly-fishing mileage was on the low side, and challenging low water levels are really only for advanced fly-fishers.
However, the luck o’ the Irish came in the form of a 4 inch rise on the river Maigue following rain over the previous 24 hours. This was enough to make wet-fly or swinging flies (US) just about practical and it wasn’t long before Joe connected with his first wild Irish brown trout, followed up just 20 minutes later with a beautifully conditioned ‘pounder’. Brownie points and bragging rights back home in Penn I’m sure. Not bad for an ould fella.
The short-lived rise went as quick as it came but it offered us a brief window of opportunity to make Joe’s visit to Ireland and the Maigue a memorable one, and there’s room aplenty in my diary for anyone wanting to follow in his footsteps. So come on over!
All fish safely released.
Go fishing…
Notes: Based near the picturesque village of Adare (Ireland’s Prettiest Village)
