the biggest smile I'd seen on his face all mid term break. Little did he know there was more in store...
Roly Byre, the River Barrow Piker, reports that any hint of Spring that had been in the air vanished quickly but that there was still a requirement to go and fish for pike on the Barrow. The Junior Piker was keen to make the most of his midterm break and recent floods, daily snow flurries and gale force winds were not considered as reasons not to venture out to a ten year old! Roly gave in and unfortunately they had nothing to show for the effort they made’
Roll forward 7 days to last Friday. Temperatures (not that they felt it) had crept up a degree or two and they were not there long when a rod almost ended up in the river, it leapt out of the rear bank stick, the alarm screamed “RUN” as a psycho jack hammered a bait. The Junior Piker was into his first fish of the day, a hard fighting Barrow pike.
The biggest smile seen on his face all mid term break. Little did he know there was more in store...
While Roly was playing a rather bad game of hide and seek with my unseen quarry the Junior Piker let a roar. He was in again! A smaller fish this time that gave a great account of itself on light tackle.
Roly and the Biker Piker tried all the usual tricks of rebaiting, repositioning baits, casting to the ebst lies and even some unlikely ones. With nothing responding they resorted to the cup of coffee trick. Then something happened. The Junior Piker was roaring yet again. “I’ve got one”. Roly rushed to help him land what turned out to be a beautiful Barrow brownie.
The Junior Piker admires his brown trout
The Biker Piker was next up, he picked up a jack in the middle of the afternoon and Roly’s gamble on the far bank pool paid off just before we called it a day.
The Biker Piker had one before the end
Though conditions were far from ideal, being windy, sunny and very cold the trio had a great day. No massive fish were landed but everyone got something and best of all the Junior Piker was even more hooked on the best way to spend a day.
Paul Hanley reports tha the water level on the Lee River has been perfect for the last week at just two feet above low summer level. Paul fly fished it through all the beats with different sinking lines but he had nothing to show not even a take. Using heavy flies on a floating line with a very long tapered leader has produced plenty of salmon in the past for Paul but not this time. And this while the Laune river and the Blackwater river at Fort William are getting fresh fish almost off every tide. Paul hopes that some fresh water at high load will bring salmon in because even though the east winds are keeping the temperature down one must always remember that the water coming out from the bottom of the dam is cold. What makes it colder still for the angler is the wind chill which is very cold even to wade in. Once the wind moves to the west or south then we will have fresh fish moving upstream from the sea.
Perfect water but not perfect temperature, we will have to wait for milder weather and then we should see some springers showing up and hopefully being hooked on the fly.
Lawrence Fitzgerald with his second Laune fish. Caught and released from Charlie O'Connor's
On Tuesday 9th April the water on the Laune was well under 2 feet on the gauge at Johnston’s.Despite the fairly low water fish are running the river.
On Tuesday 2nd Kieran Conlon (A.P.G.A.I – IRL Advanced Two-Handed Casting Instructor & Guide) and his angling friend both met and lost fish at Heffernan’s on the fly. Kieran played his fish for a few minutes; he described the fish as small springers.
On Wednesday 3rd Laurence Fitzgerald made a return trip to the Laune and scored again with a lovely 6 lb fish which he returned to the Laune. There was a big fish landed at Johnston’s on Wednesday but the anglers identity remains a mystery. On Thursday a Tralee angler had a fish of 7lbs on the fly in Heffernan’s.
Lawrence Fitzgerald with his second Laune fish. Caught and released from Charlie O'Connor's
Prospects: Come high or low water there will be a run of good sea trout into the system over the next three weeks. They will be catchable on all methods but you have to be out there. The best sea trout fishing on the Laune in 2012 was during April especially in the last two weeks.
Beat 3
A bit low for Beat 3 to be at its best. No news of fish from the beat this week. A good place to try if we get an extra 2 feet of water from this rain.
Anglers please note: A ‘One Day’ salmon permit for Beat 3 only costs €25 probably the best value in salmon fishing in the country with a good chance of a fish.
Galway City Council is calling on the Minister for Fisheries, Simon Coveney, to hold an oral hearing, on a proposed fish farm for Galway bay. At a meeting of the City Council last night, a motion, proposed by Councillor Colette Connolly, was unanimously passed requesting information about the authors of the Evironmental Impact Statement and the cost of it… Galway Bay FM, 09/04/13. Read the full article ‘COUNCIL WANTS ORAL HEARING ON GALWAY BAY FISH FARM‘.
Reports by concerned anglers in the Inver area that a significant fish kill had occurred on Tuesday morning were discounted by a spokesperson from the Inland Fisheries Board in Ballyshannon. Reports of the fish kill by a concerned angler had been given to this newspaper was also broadcast on Ocean FM and the Inland Fisheries Board immediately dispatched an Environmental Officer to the scene… Donegal Democrat, 09/04/13Read the full article ‘Fish kill reports discounted‘.
AS the trout and salmon angling season gears up a notch and anglers are getting itchy to get back on the water, it is timely to encourage those casting a line in the west of Ireland, Europe’s top brown trout habitat, to ensure the survival of the renowned species by disinfecting their boats when moving from lake to lake or river to river. Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) recently launched a campaign to stop the spread of invasive aquatic species in Ireland with the launch by Minister Fergus O’Dowd of an individual angler disinfection kit – the first of its type in the world…
The Connaught Telegraph, 09/04/13. Read the full article ‘Reel progress as anglers tackle spread of invasive species – New guide for visitors now available‘.
Sunday, April 7, was the day many of us in the club have been waiting for since last October 31. It was finally here, Opening day on Lough Rowan or as its known locally “Laura” Lake. The long wait was over, and now it was time to throw a line in the hope of catching a Lough Rowan bar of silver or gold. I grabbed the bike, the fly rod and headed out. The town was quiet apart from an alarm going off somewhere over Mullaharace direction. A black cat shot out from under a horsebox at McIntyre’s and slipped under Mulligans gate in a serious hurry… Leitrim Observer, 22/04/13. Read the full article ‘The Last Cast with Jarlaith Gallagher‘.
SAVE Bantry Bay, tourism groups, anglers, and environmentalists across Ireland have written jointly to all TDs calling on them to help resolve the underlying issues causing the growing and increasingly bitter conflict over the proposed Galway Bay salmon farm. The groups are seeking a full review of the current aquaculture licensing system to ensure transparency and the right to an independent review of any decisions… The Southern Star, 09/04/13. Read the full article ‘Bantry group calls on TDs to review salmon farm licensing procedures‘.
INVASIVE NON-NATIVE species of plants, animals and fish have a direct cost to the Irish economy of €261 million each year, according to the first estimate of the economic impact of the problem. Despite the associated costs, the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has not yet brought into effect a 2011 regulation that would ban trade in some of the most damaging species, his department has confirmed… TheJournal.ie, 06/04/13. Read the full article ‘Invasive species cost Ireland €261 million per year‘.
Mr Fly Fisher himself Liam Stenson made his way down to the river Suir at Holycross in County Tipperary last weekend and tells us:
This was my first outing to the river Suir for this season. The week leading up to the outing was again a cold dry one with the dreaded East wind still with us. While travelling down the M8 my thoughts were would it be worthwhile travelling the distance when the weather was so cold and the Easterly wind was blowing hard, prospects were not too good! At least it’s raining, can’t be too bad!
I arrived in Holycross shortly before 10am, all quiet there as usual. I looked at the river and it was in great condition, with a good water height which was flowing clear. I also noted that there was no signs of fish moving and no signs of any insect life, again I thought would it be worthwhile fishing today? I headed up to Glasheens shop where I had a coffee and a hot scone. After the coffee I bought a day ticket for Thurles, Suir & Drish Anglers’ Association club waters.
Holycross Abbey, Co. Tipperary
I set up the rod with a team of wet flies consisting of a Waterhen Bloa on the point, a Hares Lug and Plover on the middle and one of my new patterns on the top. The new pattern is a variant of a Iron blue Nymph that I am trying out this again this season. I had some success with the same pattern last year. Those of you the regularly read my posts will know that each new season I try out several new patterns. Over the past seasonsIi have had some success with a few of them but i also had more patterns which failed. You cant win all the time!
My preference when I am fishing with a team of wet flies is to walk down stream and fish each pool as I come to it. This was not the case today as the section of the river I choose was flowing towards me which would have been great had I been dry fly fishing but i was fishing wet flies. My tactics were to walk up to the head of each pool and fish the flies down and across letting them swing around in the current, fishing through the pool. This meant a lot of doubling back on myself. I cast the team into the head of the first pool I came to and on my third cast I was rewarded with a take and a hook up. My first fish of the day was caught and released, a nice wild brown trout close to a half pound in weight. I caught another five fish in the same pool before I moved on upstream to the next pool.
Suir Trout
Keeping with the same team of wet flies, I started to fish down through the pool and I was soon into my next fish. Another fine trout near the three quarter pound mark. The next fish I hooked into was the one that got away, a fine wild brown trout which at a guess was over two pounds in weight. After loosing that fish I caught and released three more fish including a nice one over the pound in weight. It was now time to take a break and warm up with a hot soup and a sandwich.
While i walked back up river after the break I noticed that there was a few Large Dark Olives coming off the water and there was some fish rising to the Olives. I decided try and have a go at the rising fish with a dry fly so i tied on a Light Cahill Klinkhammer. I did not last too long with this tactic as the wind was just too strong and it was blowing the wrong way. I did however manage to rise a few fish but I failed to connect with any of them. Time to change back to the wet flies! I changed back to the wets and I caught and released seven more wild brown trout before I called time out.
I had a brilliant day out on the River Suir even though the conditions were dreadful. The team of flies I used all worked on the day but the best fly was the Hares Lug and Plover. I also noted that the new pattern I was trying out accounted for five nice fish. I will be giving that pattern another wetting the next time I get out. Are we ever going to see temperature get into double figures this April? The air temperature on the day was a mere six degrees although it felt much colder with the persistent east wind blowing in my face. The water temperature was also six degrees.
This was my first outing to the wonderful river Suir this season and I have already planned a return trip before the end of May. Lets hope the awful weather has improved by then!
