Peter Driver of Piscari Fly is back with his weekly roundup of the fishing scene on the Nore and beyond:

How’s the Fishing

Getting a cast in before the Storm at Laois Angling Centre.

On Sunday we had some bad weather coming in across Ireland with very strong & wet winds. Checking out the weather in the Windy App that we use for all our fishing destinations for pinpoint accuracy on winds and weather, you could see the winds weren’t to get bad till lunchtime. So Mark headed to Laois Angling Center in Coolrain, Co. Laois. Not far from his home place in Durrow.

On arrival the winds were light and the low winter sun was creeping up. Mark started off with a slow intermediate with a 12ft leader and had on one of Peter’s Sliver Minkies and Black and Silver Minkies, with success pulling up high. Fish were chasing on a fast very short strip retrieve. But soon switched off that and with winds picking up Mark moving to bung setup with a Black Egg at 2.5ft and below that a Pink Squirmy Worm at 4.5ft. Getting some great action on the bung. Mostly coming to the worm at that depth, and changing the middle dropper to find another pattern working.

Fish seemed to be moody due to the increasing changing winds as the day progressed, they were going deep at times and then coming up high. Alternating the depths on the Bung helped with this but was time consuming. When the fish where high, Mark used his 3rd rod which had floating line setup with a Peacock Foam Back Beetle and a Croxia Beetle on a 14ft cast. Covering rising fish and picking up some nice browns and good quality rainbows with this method.
Moving around to different pegs as we got closer to lunchtime, it was obvious that the winds were picking up, the fish had gone down and very little action up high. Mark moved to the shore lines facing directly into the wind making strong casts out, allowing the wind to move the Bung back towards the shoreline and drop offs, and in turn picked up some great numbers of fish for the last hour. As soon as the Bung would come in line with the drop off, the Bung would shoot under and into fish on the worm pattern 5.5ft down.

It was difficult to determine the Bung in the wavy conditions but focusing it’s behaviour, we were able to notice takes and catch some good sized fish, that fought great.
By 1.30pm it was time to get out of there and head to the car, the wind had blown the tackle box over enough times along with casting being impossible into the wind. However, it was a great few hours from around 9am, and was well worth the spin over. Reports were the lake was packed on Saturday, where as on Sunday, Mark had the whole lake to himself and our friend Rodger.

For flies mentioned above check out the following links.

For minkies: https://piscari-fly.com/?s=minkie&post_type=product&product_cat=0​

For bungs: https://piscari-fly.com/?s=bung&post_type=product&product_cat=0​

For Squirmies: https://piscari-fly.com/collections/squirmies/​

Winter Tying-Fly of the Week

Peter’s Black Minkie and Silver Minkie

Whether I am fishing for Rainbow Trout on a stocked lake or Wild Brown Trout in the Loughs or even on rivers these are 2 Minkies that I am never without. They just constantly catch fish wherever I go. They have gotten me out of more holes over the years, staring a blank in the face and they just always pull a fish for me. A simple tie but very effective, I am tying up a couple now for the stocky season for my box. I will be pulling these along the bank all throughout the season just mixing it up between the 2.

They can be done in various sizes, I tie them right down to a size 12 and up to a size 6 and just really good fry pattern that fish will take even on a day that the lake has been hammered for a period of time and the fish have stopped chasing or are being wary. One of these fished slow on a small size 12 can be super effective. Or even fished as a team, the 2 together can be fantastic again in small size 12

Hook: Size 12 to 6 pisacri fly streamer hook

Thread: Piscari-Fly Kevlar (super fine strong thread)

Ribbing: Clear Mono 0.12

Tail: Piscari Red Flash Dubbing

Body: Piscari Silver Flash Dubbing

Wing: Piscari Rabbit Zonkers in black or silver-grey

Head: Piscari Red Flash Dubbing brushed out really well

Eyes: 3mm Silver eyes stuck on with either resin or superglue whichever you prefer.

Here is a link to a small pack I have put together for you to tie quite a few of these with minkies hooks, eyes and all included. If you have any questions do give me a shout.

​https://piscari-fly.com/collections/black-and-silver-minkie-tying-kit/​

Piscari Travels

1 of 2

On Friday morning early Peter and Mark fly into Manchester to meet up with their team mate Rob Redmad. The boys will do a 3 day practice session for the Hanak European Grayling Festival around the River Dee. Peter and Mark are really looking forward to Wales and to getting out together on the River. There will be lots of interviews and live footage going up on Piscari-Fly Club over the weekend. So make sure you stay tuned and see how the boys are getting on in Wales.

​https://club.piscari-fly.com/​

Winter Live Flytying

These will be starting in the coming weeks, Saturday night live. If you want to join Peter make sure you keep an eye on our social media for updates as we prepare to head to into the winter and some great flytying again this winter with Piscari-fly

About us

Based on the River Nore just outside Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, Ireland. Piscari-Fly is a growing Fly Tying and Fly-Fishing business with a vast amount of experience and knowledge. If there is ever anything I can do to make my service better for you please feel free to suggest it to me and I’ll gladly try my best to accommodate your requests. Thanks again. Peter Driver.

As a small business we depend on the satisfaction of our customers and their word of mouth reference, google reviews are important to our online presence and we sure would appreciate your review. Just head over to this link and give us a quick review.

Thanks for the support, its greatly appreciated.

Peter Driver.

Piscari-Fly, Woolengrange, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, R95 Y860, Ireland, 0879787040