This edition we will look back on the Irish fly fair 2024. Now we have covered the pickup and laydown cast let’s look at some false casting and shooting line. Anthony and I run through a coarse fishing trip and how we got on. Our fish for discussion this week is the Mighty Gudgeon. We then look at our competition winner from the last edition.

In the previous edition we took a look at the pick-up and lay down cast, this is perfect for getting used to our fly rod and familiarizing ourselves with a cast. Now we want to try some false casting.

What is false casting? We must be careful with false casting when fishing as we can often over-use it and sneak into a habit of false casting for the sake of it. False casting allows us to do a few different things, it’s useful if we are trying to dry out our dry fly / wool indicator as it shakes off the moisture. It can be used if we want to judge a distance / accuracy before allowing our line to fall onto the water, generating line speed or if we want to change direction, we can also false cast. A false cast is keeping the line aerialised as we move through our casting arc. It’s great when we are practicing tightening up our loops or opening them. It also helps us to hone in on our timing and feel for the rod loading. When fishing we need to be careful as if we are wet fly fishing, we don’t really want our flies to be dry. I tend to use a cast from the Spey family for wet fly fishing which we will speak about later on in our casting journey. When false casting learn to watch your fly line, watch it unroll in front of you and behind you if you can. You can also record yourself casting to see if you’re stopping points are correct, it’s very helpful if you haven’t got someone to watch you and advise you.

How to start false casting? Start with your rod in the same position as with the pick-up and lay down cast (P.u.l.d cast). As we lift and accelerate back to the one o clock position, we let our line unroll and then forward cast to 10 o clock. Here is where it differs, before we would reach 10 o clock and then lower the arm to deliver the cast allowing our line to lay on the ground. Now when we hit 10 o clock, we want to let the line unroll and return back to one o clock, keeping it aerialised. When we want to make the final cast or the delivery cast, we allow the line to unroll to 10 o clock then lower the arm which results in the line laying on the grass / water. Again, talk yourself through this cast.

1. Pick up and lay down position.
2. Lift, accelerate to one o clock.
3. Pause at 1 o clock allow line to unroll.
4. When line unrolls begin forward acceleration to 11 o clock.
5. Pause at 11 o clock allow line to unroll, when the line unrolls begin acceleration back to 1 o clock and repeat the steps to practice your false casting.

Casting arc practice – When practicing try stopping at different times on the clock. Stop at 10-2 or 11-1 then mix it up and stop at 12-2, 11-1 and so on. When doing this watch your loop shape and see how the different stops open and close your loop and even sometimes make the loop nose dive to the water which is handy for headwind casting which we will look at further down the line. Let’s firstly familiarize ourselves with the casting arc and learn how our rod reacts at the different stop times.

Shooting line, what is it? Sometimes we may want to reach a greater distance but haven’t got the clearance behind us or perhaps we are not comfortable carrying that amount of line. What do we do, we shoot line. Shooting line is very useful and can be simple once it’s broken down. Pull off about 3ft / 4ft of line and hold in your non casting hand. Begin to false cast and when you stop the rod on your delivery cast release the line which will shoot through the rod guides adding distance to your cast.

Irish Fly Fair 2024

In replace of our ask the expert slot this week I am going to speak about the Irish fly fair. Where do I start here, I am going to try not to repeat to much of what I have already written in my brief roundup of the Irish fly fair. How do you sum up the fair in such a way that you do it justice? The fly fair through my eyes – As a fly angler and growing up always wanting to fly fish it’s true to say that the exhibitors at the fair are my heroes. Is there a word for something that goes beyond passion, when there is or if there is then it belongs with these people. Rod designers that have just given back so much through their designs and theories. International fishing guides that make people’s dreams come through, fly tyers that create absolute art and have the skills to be able to invent and like mentioned create. Casting instructors that love helping people on their journey and assisting them to become a better caster. Demo casters that stand up in front of a crowd and show people it really can be easy, breaking down the steps of a particular cast. The people mentioned have gone further than the mile, they have dedicated their time into understanding the fundamentals and extremes to be able to break it all down and produce it into a much easier more understandable model, then very modestly speak about it.

All that mentioned there is also quite a lot in it for some of the exhibitors and someone like me who is at the beginning of their fly fair journey. Sometimes it’s hard to believe how modest people are. When you have a passion for something and in all the things you do in your life you want to excel in this particular field a positive word from one of these people can really push you ahead and get you through the toughest times of your journey. I always wondered did they realize that, then I thought of course they do because at some point they were where I am now, looking up to a caster and believing one day you will be there. I had a conversation with a guy at the fair and shared the following story with him “when I was younger in my twenties I would be with friends and they would hear a song on the radio and say “I’d love to go out tonight” perhaps to a pub or nightclub or whatever, I just wanted to get a fly rod and go for a cast be it on grass or water when I heard that feel good song. Fishing was what I wanted to do when I got that good song feeling, to my surprise the guy I was speaking to said “that was me you know, the exact same”. To hear that from someone that I have a very high level of respect for was just magical to say the least. Modesty exists also with the fly Tyers, I had people show me different patterns that they made look so easy and broke it down for me to be able to understand, they knew after all these years exactly what it’s like to be a beginner and managed to bring themselves back there to show you steps that made sense to me as a beginner. I went outside and casted with some wonderful people, people who wanted you to progress as a caster, wanted you to learn. We mostly all do it for the same reason and that’s in hope that the person they show then shows someone else. A very passionate way of representing your sport. Then there is of course my organization which is APGAI IRE, to work with them is special, I remember seeing them many years ago at the Galway fair and thinking one day I’d love to be sitting in one of them chairs. Watching the guy’s tie flies with the youths and even watching the instructors outside working with people casting makes me realize how lucky I am to be involved with such people and such an organization like APGAI. Of course, there is the Cadence team and unfortunately, I usually only get to meet them at the fairs, at times we speak over the phone or email but nothing like meeting up and having a chat and a good catch up. The names involved with Cadence are all the people I looked up to at the beginning of my journey and still do look up to them. Very modest, superb anglers who know their sport inside out. A little sad in a way as the Irish fly fair family won’t re-unite fully until 2025.I think the Irish fly fair team have created a very special following and family that is and was only ever possible if the people involved in the organizing of the event were fully dedicated and passionate as they could easily spot the passion in the chosen exhibitors, demonstrators, trade stands and organization’s that make the Irish fly fair unique and what it is.

Anthony’s adventures

It’s amazing to look at Anthony fishing sometimes and see that he at times fishes like his Dad. I never told Anthony “This is how it’s done”. I helped him to cast and after that the journey was his. What really hit home with me is that Anthony would try different things than I would and I would learn from him. When you do this with a beginner they do your thinking outside of the box for you. It broadens your angling mind. It’s very hard to switch from what works to try and find what might work better. Anthony would always be switching and trying things I would never dream of, yet some of them work. Slightly sad in a way as my young apprentice is now growing up and it’s with a tear in my eye I say “he doesn’t need me as much with fishing anymore”. However, I make good tea and buy the best biscuits, so I am going to hold onto that for a little bit longer and cherish it.

Recent trips saw us being able to fish canal mouths as the canals themselves where we fish were quite shallow and only fished well in the evenings. Found some wonderful areas on the main river also that normally I wouldn’t fish but was pushed there as water levels were low. Anthony and his friend came with me on a few occasions, and we had plenty of perch. Quite exciting for his young friend as you could watch the perch chase the lure in their little gangs or swaggers. Of course, it wouldn’t be much of a trip without a few casts for a pike. We spotted a pike hunting at the back of a lough gate so had a few throws and Anthony managed a follow and then a take from the pike. Not a huge fish but very exciting.

Roach and hybrids are fish we love to chase also, this time of year heavy ground baiting I find can push fish away and almost spook them in the area I fish. Anthonys trick for this is to add sand, gravel or some loose clay to the ground bait. It dilutes it and makes it less obvious or intrusive in the swim is my thinking. It also helps it to get to the bottom rather quickly. There are many views I’m sure on why this seems to work better during the winter months / colder temperatures. We then fish it with stick floats setting our float to the bottom and allowing it to drift over / past the ground bait patch and beyond. We keep allowing the float to drift well past where the ground bait was put in to see where the fish are feeding, sometimes they will be right on the bait other times it could be anything from 3m to 8m. Current affects the distance and some other factors at where the ground bait settles and runs to. There are times when we will just drip feed a swim with chopped worm or maggots and then allow our offering down. Anthony had some lovely roach that really fought hard, such a pretty fish and little warriors. So, nothing out of the ordinary for the fishing adventures, I am looking out the window while writing this and the snow is beginning to come down a little heavier meaning a new set of tactics for this weekend will be required.

The Gudgeon

Well, what a fish, my first sighting of a gudgeon was with my dad on the River Barrow. The Barrow quickly became my fishing nursery. I caught my first fish here which I will never forget. I saw my first salmon jump, witnessed the aggression of a pike that grabbed a trout while my dad was reeling it in, watched an otter hunt and catch a fish. Looking back now my imagination as a child added so much to my fishing adventures. I fish for gudgeon with Anthony and Daniel quite a bit, mostly when we are just “going for a walk by the lake”. A size 22 barbless hook, little piece of chopped worm and very light rod. We sometimes take a small amount of ground bait to get the fish in the mood to take, usually found where there is a sandy or gravelly riverbed these fish can be hard to spot and at times it’s their shadow on the riverbed that’s easier to see. Watching the fish cover the bait as they inspect it has led me to miss many a take, instead it’s much better to watch the small puddle chucker float and wait for the orange tip to sink or move to one side then lift gently into the take. The gudgeon falls into a category I like to call the foundation fish, its one most young anglers catch or chase at the beginning of their journey giving them a strong foundation moving forward. It’s a super way to involve the entire family. I usually go with my good wife Marta, Anthony and Daniel, we take a picnic and the lads catch and work together in their battle with the Mighty Gudgeon.

The river whispers 11 Competition Winner

Rian O Reilly, Tullow, Co. Carlow

Age: 10

Well done Rian on a lovely carp, your prize is on its way. I look forward to meeting you on the bank.

Youth Competition time – Picture of your greatest catch

Between now and Christmas I will be running a small competition each edition for our young budding anglers. It will give them a chance to win a yeti cup for their fishing adventures. To enter email entries to [email protected] . Closing date for this competition is 6pm on the 4^th December.

Upcoming events

My pike fly fishing demo became quite popular and will be underway in the next couple of weeks. There will be four 2-hour demos where we will look at various techniques and tackle required to begin our pike on the fly journey. All places are now taken. If you would like more information about more demos then feel free to reach out by email or phone.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +353857652751

Courses

My usual range of fishing courses are available and if you would like more information feel free to reach out.