Enjoyed a great first day of the season fly fishing with Mr Irish Fly Fisher himself Liam Stenson and his good friend Ray Bradley on the River Liffey somewhere in Co. Kildare. The sun shone, however a stiff south east breeze put a chill in the air keeping fly hatches to a minimum, that said a few dark olives did show and trout were rising in the more sheltered runs.
Fishing a team of wets to include a kill devil spider on the point, a greenwells spider on the middle dropper, and a partridge and orange on the top I proceeded to fish a likely run endorsed by Liam, “he hooked and lost a fish estimated at 5.lbs in it last season, the hook straightened”. The upstream breeze made fishing wet difficult so I quickly reverted to dry and put up a small olive klinkhammer pattern. With no trout showing I fished likely seams to little effect.
Liam on the other hand found a sheltered back water with a nice streamy run pushing close to a half sunk tree. Placing his fly in the suds he winkled out a 10 inch trout to break his duck for the year. Two more fish rose but were too quick for him, these Liffey brownies are lightening fast.
Moving upstream I found a run sheltered from the wind by a high bank. Heavily lined with willow trees, there were enough gaps to enable fishing if one used unorthodox casting methods. Switching over to wets my luck changed and I rose a number of trout landing three to close on half a pound. Beautifully spotted but a little lean, in a few weeks they will be plump and full of fight.
By now the sun was waning and a chill started to fill the air, we had forgotten but it was only March 3rd. Close on four bells three tired but happy anglers walked back to the cars, the Liffey had been good to us Liam also netting a few nice trout and the day most certainly augured well for the season to come….
