Posts Tagged ‘Ireland’
Monday, May 13th, 2013
There are a few bass about down Wexford way, at least for surf enthusiasts, lure fishing to date being curtailed by coloured seas thrown up by our still unsettled weather patterns. Digging five dozen large black lugworm with a south Wexford beach mark in mind, on arrival although a lovely surf was creaming in with little evidence of floating weed, one cast was enough. In an instant, main line festooned with wrack, plan B was put into action, hit an east facing strand.
That’s more like it, an hour before high water, again a nice surf allied to a bit of depth in close and no weed, happy days. Popping twin 4/0 kamazan paternosters at thirty and sixty yards respectively, second cast a decent haul over bite connects. Typical of a schoolie, announcing its presence in adult fashion, only to be found out when the much anticipated bullish head shaking is replaced by a light swimming sensation. A pound and a half of albeit solid muscle is no match for a thirteen foot beach caster.
That said, at least small bass are present in numbers and have been for a number of years now, a good sign for the future, however where are their parents? Definitely in the right place on numerous occasions when surf bass fishing over the five years this blog has been running, schoolies have noticeably become the predominant catch. Back in 2008, when I started back sea fishing in earnest, surf bass of four – six pound featured in my catches from south Wicklow around to Kilmore Quay. Post 2009/2010 the average size relative to my diaries has definitely got smaller. I’m fishing the same venues at the same times yet the catch returns have altered, lots of juveniles but fewer adults……….What, if anything, has changed?
Tags: Angling, Bass, Bass fishing, Beach fishing, Fishing, Ireland, lugworm, Sea Angling, Sea Fishing, Surf casting, Wexford
Posted in Fishing Diary, Sea Fishing | Comments Off
Wednesday, May 8th, 2013
Success at fishing is all about being in the right place at the right time using the right bait, throw in a lot of luck coupled with a smidgen of persistence and you could have a winning formula. Over the May bank holiday weekend Paul Millea and Alastair Leong pushed that theory to the limit when chasing bream on the River Barrow. Setting up camp on Saturday afternoon the lads set to their task feeder fishing with a Barrow dustbin lid in mind, on Monday their persistence was eventually rewarded when a shoal of slabs finally entered their swim.
Having met and enjoyed the lads company while fishing on Saturday it was nice to receive a positive report and accompanying images of their sojourn in south Co. Carlow. Hybrids were to the fore that day along with a couple of small bream, on Monday however the big mamas arrived.
At close of play the boys landed six bronze bream, with the best to Alastair running 4.lb 11.oz. With most fishing, be it sea, game, or coarse delayed by the recent prolonged cold snap, it is great to see things finally kicking off. The fishery Paul and Alastair enjoyed is special, combining all the disciplines including pike. Well done to the lads, continuing last Saturdays form with interest, now where did I put those maggots……?
See also: Bountiful Barrow.
Tags: Angling, Bream, Coarse Angling, Coarse Fishing, Feeder fishing, Fishing, Hybrids, Ireland, Red maggots, River Barrow
Posted in Coarse Fishing, Fishing Diary | Comments Off
Sunday, May 5th, 2013
May sunshine, a gentle breeze, a rising tide, camaraderie craic and banter, and nature finally throwing off its winter blanket. Yesterday the River Barrow came to life, not firing on all cylinders but showing enough to fashion a wonderful afternoons fishing in that magical south County Carlow location where freshwater merges with salt, so creating a unique mixed fishery which every May explodes with abundance.
It being the May weekend a number of specimen hunters lined the tow path, casting the preferred blue/silver Tazmanian Devil towards the far bank hoping to connect with an early shad. Again having traveled with bream in mind, I set up at my chosen swim shortly before the rising tide cleared the “scar” a quarter of a mile downstream. Casting out a 40 gram feeder at regular sixty second intervals bites came on within five minutes, however the pattern settled into slow/steady as against constant.
Initially a few plump roach showed interest followed by a small trout and a dace or two. Close to high tide proceedings slowed, the water torpid and glass like. In unison with the ebb kicking off however my swim came to life, a bream and three hybrids taking my bait with confident abandon, wrap around bites being the order of the day.
At this point I have to extend thanks to Waterford angler Paul Millea who kindly gave me some ground bait mix, enough for an extra hours fishing, which made all the difference. That’s the beauty of angling, you meet people for the first time and the connection through the shared hobby does the rest. Setting up a tent close by, Paul and his friend Alastair were down after bream and hybrids, and even if the fishing was slow they were still having the craic.
Preparing to leave around five pm a commotion downstream had me running for my camera. Regular visitor from the north of Ireland Duncan Cole, while spinning for shad, had connected with a very sizable wild brownie. Netted after a spirited tussle, the four pound trout more than made up for the absence of Duncan’s primary target shad. “There’s always the next tide“, he quipped. I couldn’t agree more…….
See also: Persistence Pays Down Barrow Way.
Tags: Angling, Bream, Co. Carlow, Coarse Angling, Coarse Fishing, Fishing, Game Fishing, Hybrids, Ireland, Lure Fishing, River Barrow, Wild Brown Trout
Posted in Coarse Fishing, Fishing Diary | Comments Off
Wednesday, May 1st, 2013
Sadly, and with great frustration I have to report that illegal poaching of coarse fish is occurring yet again on the lower River Barrow. Maybe the practice never went away, with the perpetrators adjusting their action plans under pressure from water keepers and Fisheries staff to become more covert and discrete. Who knows, one thing is certain however they are back and the evidence was very clear to yours truly yesterday evening while putting in a spot of feeder fishing at a favourite Co. Carlow venue. To make matters worse they couldn’t have been more brazen and their actions spoiled for this writer a very enjoyable and relaxing evening.
Timing my arrival to fish a rising tide into dusk with bream and hybrids in mind, I set up a 40 gram feeder with a meter long tail to a size 14 kamazan. Baiting with four red maggot cast thirty meters into a still fast flowing river, letting the feeder settle then retrieving and refilling plugged with maggots every sixty seconds, by the forth cast bites commenced. First off a nice plump hybrid followed by a couple of equally plump roach. Large dace entered the swim for a while accompanied by an odd trout and as it got dark small flounder. Make no mistake this is some fishery which makes the latter part of this post all the more annoying.
Chatting to a lady walking the tow path she pointed to a passing car while asking, “does catch and release apply here“? Relative to species bye laws, I replied, but that most responsible anglers do tend to put fish back, especially the coarse fish. “Well I observed the occupants of that car fishing yesterday evening, she said, they were clearly filling a bucket with small silver fish”. Asking, were they Eastern European, the lady answered in the affirmative.
Not fifty meters up from me two more of our Eastern European brethren were setting up, a keep net nowhere to be seen, which is always a likely sign in my experience that fish will be kept. Finishing my session and all packed up around ten pm, it now black dark, I sauntered over towards the lads interested in how they were doing. “Are you catching guys?” “Small trout” came the dour monosyllabic response, the two blokes keeping their backs to me, not turning to engage. Flicking on my head lamp, right in the beam lying on the bank a big plump, full of spawn, dead roach. “So what’s that then?”
Of course you all know what follows, the usual excuses; we didn’t know, cannot speak English, etc, etc. Pointing out that circa 2013 I’d heard it all before and what they were uttering was garbage, that they well knew the rules, and given they were driving a 06 Wexford reg’ beamer, it was quite obvious that they had been in Ireland a while, so cut the crap. A few more expletives and home truths were proffered before I made my exit letting them know I had their reg and was going to forward it to the fisheries board.
A sad end to a grand day. The implications though for the fishery in question are serious and IFI and Waterways Ireland really need to get their act together on this sinister development, lack of funding and staff shortages being no excuse for real action. A good start would be to contact the local community and set up an education programme while also empowering local water keepers. Please get on the case and feel free to contact this soldier too, I’m happy to put my two pence halfpenny in the mix…….
Tags: Angling, Bream, Co. Carlow, Coarse Angling, Coarse Fishing, Feeder fishing, Fishing, Hybrids, Ireland, Poaching, Red maggots, River Barrow, Roach
Posted in Coarse Fishing, Fishing Diary | Comments Off
Thursday, April 25th, 2013
Prevailing south westerlies over the last week coupled with a rise in temperature up to 16/17 degrees have at last encouraged bass to move inshore. Reports of bass, predominantly schoolies it has to be said, have been posted from Wexford right around to Kerry, with this writer having seen photo’s of a six pounder (Wexford) and a fine eight pounder from a Waterford strand.
Planning an evening trip down to a favoured south Wexford beach, a four meter five pm tide linking nicely with a rolling southerly sea, or so I thought. On arrival the wind had turned around north west flattening the sea creating conditions more suited to flounder then bass. Being single minded it was bass or bust, commencing fishing at six bells, an hour after high water, twin 4/0 paternoster traces were baited with lugworm and razor then lobbed sixty meters into the gutter.
Fishing is a constant learning curve, joined on the beach by Gerry Mitchell and two of his friends Darren and Billy, the lads set up a couple of hundred meters to my right. Other than a couple of schoolies for Darren and an odd flounder things were quite. Regularly putting out big fresh baits, coming on dark around 21.30pm I pulled in a small flounder followed by a biggish spider crab. From then on traces started to come in with an odd hook nipped off, signalling that the spiders had arrived in force.
Running out of bait about 22.10pm yours truly departed, subsequently as I learned that’s when it all kicked off. Yes the spider crabs had been waging war on the boys traces too, however come 22.30pm Gerry started hitting bass with Billy and Darren making a dent on the flounder population. For two hours the lads were kept busy, funnily enough Gerry in the central position caught a dozen bass up to 55 cms with the boys only beaching flatties, such are the vagaries of fishing.
The above experience rubber stamps a trend which has become very apparent over the last couple of years, backed up also by the writing of Clive Gammon describing Wexford beach fishing in the mid nineteen sixties. Do not venture out surf casting with bait in Wexford until at the earliest dusk, and ideally black dark if you want to be certain of connecting with bass. Yes there will be exceptions, however as a rule of thumb and with a view to better catches this season and beyond, it’s advice that I will be sticking to from now on…….
Tags: Angling, Bass, Bass fishing, Beach fishing, Ireland, lugworm, Razor Clam, Sea Angling, Sea Fishing, shore fishing, Spider crab, Surf casting, Wexford
Posted in Fishing Diary, Sea Fishing | Comments Off
Friday, April 5th, 2013
Took a spin down to a local stream today, literally. With snow still lying on high ground, interminable easterlies delaying the onset of summer, and water temperatures below normal for April, having fly fished on a number of occasions lately with mixed results I decided to call into action my trusty light spinning rig with a view to fishing some deep pots and slow sections. Flicking a size 1 Mepps into likely holes and runs is a method of fishing that I used a lot back in the day on Wicklow streams such as the Vartry. Cast upstream or down, into pots, worked under low lying branches close to the bank, or in channels between banks of weed, small bar spoons can prove irresistible to both brown and sea trout.
Utilizing a 7 foot, 5 – 18 gram casting weight, rod matched to a spinning reel loaded with 4.lb b/s line, I attached a 1/0 tear drop copper Mepps sporting red spots, a favourite lure of mine. The biting wind necessitated woolly hat, scarf, and gloves, a far cry from the 20 degree heat experienced towards the end of March early April 2012. Making my way downstream I found a nice shallow run flowing off a bend into a deep hole. Casting a long line at about 30 degrees down and across the lure plopped into the stream close to the far bank. Caught by the current a rhythmic pulse transmitted through my taught line signaling that the blade’s working ok. Swinging across, now working deep and slow, guided between two banks of ranunculus, bang, a nice half pounder.
A little later while prospecting the far side of a long wide pool, towards the tail a good take pulls my rod tip over, definitely a better fish. On light tackle the trout fights well, guiding it quickly towards my hand, close to three quarters of a pound, good for this river. Nicely spotted, yellow bellied and quite plump, quick photo for posterity and away.
With not a hatch in sight come three pm everything went quiet, and also very cold due to the wind chill. Next week the weather is predicted to turn southerly, it can’t come soon enough, a bit of warmth and the river will blossom. Roll on the evening rise……
Further reading: Blustery Day on the Derreen.
Tags: Angling, Fishing, Game Fishing, Ireland, Lure Fishing, Mepps, Spinning, Threadline fishing, Wild Brown Trout
Posted in Fishing Diary, Game Fishing | Comments Off
Monday, March 18th, 2013
Sometimes you just have to step back and admire, a skill honed over many years can, when presented by a master, look easy. I’ve gotten to know Liam Stenson, like many other fly anglers, through his blog Irish Fly Fisher.ie. With a shared interest in both fly fishing and blogging our paths were bound to cross at some stage. A friendship has developed over the last few years, and not having met since last season it was nice to catch up while casting a St Patrick’s Day line on the River Liffey downstream of Ballymore Eustace.
Enjoying a fine day on the Liffey commencing around eleven thirty am, finishing around three thirty pm, a stand out few moments of the session has to be retold. Even colder than the day before, I found myself upstream of Liam fish less until a good trout took in a back eddy close to the far bank. Head shaking and sullen it sat in the current thrashing before cutting loose. Well that was it, cold and pissed off I walked down towards Liam who, as I approached, looked up from perusing his various fly boxes.
“I’ve had a few trout Ash to a particular dark olive pattern that I tie for this section of river, unfortunately I appear to have none left”. Liam had given me a few flies before setting out, and not having used them all, maybe he could be lucky. “Here, look in the box you gave me this morning”. On cue the particular tying called out to Liam before quickly becoming attached to his 1.7 lb b/s tippet. That’s when proceedings got interesting.
A narrow gut ran fast into a dog leg pool deflecting off a high bank so creating a back eddy on the inside. The current then flowed off fast under some low lying branches where most of the trout were resident. Occasional dark olives, swept into this run were being picked off by these fish who were sitting either side of the fast water, a heavy boil and plop signaling a particular trout’s presence on cue as I looked across. Liam dipped his fly in floatant then placed it in the water so removing any excess oil which could create a trout scaring slick. Wading through the pool he took up position ready to cast towards the rising fish.
Lengthening his cast Liam delicately placed his fly in the flow just upstream of the low branches. Feeding a half yard of line to prevent the klinkhammer skating he moved his rod tip in unison with the visible imitation. Ker plop, Liam’s left hand pulls line down in conjunction with right hand sharply raising rod top, the trout bores left and deep out of the current. A few dashes here and there and it’s in the net, a plump, yellow bellied Liffey half pounder in great nick for the time of year. Congratulations proffered, we discussed the years of passion and interest that went into developing the skills I had just witnessed. “It all boils down to being regularly on the water Ash”, I couldn’t disagree while equally admiring Liam’s humility, one of fishing’s gentlemen…….
Tags: Dry fly fishing, Fly Fishing, Game Fishing, Ireland, Irish Fly Fisher, Large dark olive, Liam Stenson, Olive Klinkhammer, River Liffey, Wild Brown Trout
Posted in Fishing Diary, Game Fishing | Comments Off
Monday, March 18th, 2013
This morning she has the look of an English chalk stream, running clear, the first vestiges of ranunculus (a curse later in the season) waving in the current. A sharp, cold south easterly breeze blows upstream, not a rise to be seen, the trout are keeping their neb’s down and who would blame them. In the distance snow lies on Lugnaquilla, Leinster’s highest mountain, like a dome shaped Mount Fuji, standing sentinel over the surrounding countryside.
Making my way down to a get in point below the bridge I slip into the water, cold seeping through my waders, fishing just might be slow. Set up with a four weight rig, kill devil spider on point, greenwells spider covering center, with a partridge and orange taking up the rear, I cast at a 45 degree angle towards the far bank, throwing a mend before letting the flies swing around. Lengthening the line, third cast a pull, splash, and hop, diving and skittering towards my hand, a beautifully spotted 10 inch trout.
Spring regularly finds me on this river, flowing off Wicklow granite she first runs across bleak moorland before dropping quickly onto a rich agricultural hinterland where she meanders gently, eventually linking with her parent River Slaney. With a river bed comprising coarse sand and gravel ideally suited for constructing redds, this stream enjoys a run of salmon and it is not unheard of for early season trout fishers to unexpectedly connect with the king of fish. My five minutes in the sun occuring a few years ago while fishing a 1/0 copper Mepps with trout in mind, four pound b/s line being no match for a spring salmon when it decides to get its head down.
Back to the present, after my initial success things went quite, a couple more pulls signaled interest but nothing definite ensued. Flattering to deceive the day looked glorious, blue skies and fluffy clouds creating an impression of spring warmth when in reality it was Baltic. Time to go down, replacing the kill devil with a weighted nymph, instant success, of a similar 10 inch size, the trout shook itself free after thirty seconds.
Persevering down stream with no more joy I changed over to a dry fly set up tying on a dark olive klinkhammer, working a few runs on my way back towards the car seemed like a plan. With still not a rise in sight and fishing water more in hope then design I signed off, it being well past the witching mid day hours so important to fly fishing in early March. Tomorrow is another day with the Liffey, Mr Irish Fly Fisher Liam Stenson, and a master class in fishing the dry fly beckoning, bring it on…….
Tags: Angling, Down stream wet fly, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Game Fishing, Greenwells Spider, Ireland, Kill Devil Spider, Partridge and Orange, Soft hackle flies, Wild Brown Trout
Posted in Fishing Diary, Game Fishing | Comments Off
Saturday, March 9th, 2013
Grey clouds press down on the surrounding hills, a sharp variable easterly breeze cuts, and the threat of rain is never too far away. Only die hards fly fish County Wicklow’s mountain streams in March, trout, spent after spawning are only beginning to return to the runs and glides, with fly life, especially today marked absent. Like a magnet though our red spotted friends beckon, the rushing waters call, and before we know it a cast is unfurling, placing a weighted nymph into a likely gut.
Peat stained water runs clear and surprisingly low given the amount of rain that has fallen since what seems like last April. At below summer level, without doubt finding a fish is going to be hard. It’s nice to be out though, pulling on the waders, sharing fishy tales, while pondering about life and fishing. Accompanying me on this first trip to the river is Mitchell Josh, an avid angler from Oregan on the USA’s west coast, visiting Dublin with his wife he fancied a day out in the country, striking a balance between sight seeing the Book of Kells and The Guinness Hop Store.
A deer bounds across the moor, tail up, flashing it’s white behind, a farmer spreads slurry on a nearby field, in the distance artilliary fires, quite surreal, and best of all we have the river to ourselves. Working runs downstream, a partridge and orange on the dropper partnered by a weighted nymph on the point, our day is punctuated by a few tentative pulls and one sprightly trout. It’s called fishing not catching, or so runs the cliche, I’d say it’s about being there, wouldn’t you agree?
Tags: Angling, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Game Fishing, Ireland, Leaded nymph, Partridge and Orange, Soft hackle fly fishing, Trout fishing, Wicklow, Wild Brown Trout
Posted in Fishing Diary, Game Fishing | Comments Off
Monday, February 18th, 2013
Six years in the making, Nomads of the Tides, co-written by Chris McCully and Ken Whelan, to be published later this year by The Medlar Press, will I am certain become the definitive book on Irish sea trout angling, growing to hold its own alongside such seminal works on this wonderful species to include Falkus; Sea Trout Fishing, Morgan and Harris; Successful Sea Trout Angling, and Fahy; Child of the Tides.
In August 2011 I had the pleasure of meeting and fishing with Chris on some of my local rivers in south east Ireland. Over consecutive evenings we fished the Slaney, Avoca, and Vartry, furthering Chris’s experience and knowledge of what sea trout fishing is to Ireland. During a presentation both Chris and Ken made at the recently held Irish Angling Expo 2013 memories of those evenings and the people we fished with came flooding back, in particular Denis O’Toole who only a few weeks previous had hooked, played, landed, and released a fish of a lifetime Avoca river sea trout of 16 lb 4.oz.
In the course of writing “Nomads” Chris McCully undertook 18 research trips to Ireland, flying 24,440 air miles, hired 18 cars driving 6,500 miles, wrote 24 published articles for Trout and Salmon magazine along with one scientific paper, gave five presentations on the project, and kept the day job going too. A labour of love, you could say so. I cannot wait to get hold of my copy………
See also: Record Sea Trout Graces the Avoca.
See also: A Passion for Sea Trout.
Tags: Angling, Chris McCully, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Game Fishing, Ireland, Ken Whelan, Nomads of the Tides, Sea trout, Sea trout angling, Sea trout fishing, The Medlar Press
Posted in Fishing Diary, Game Fishing | Comments Off
