Posts Tagged ‘St Patrick’s Day’

St Patricks Day on the Avonmore

Friday, March 18th, 2011

I tend to usually start trout fishing after it warms up in April, however given the day that was in it I decided to buck the trend. Cold but sunny with a steady breeze from the north west, I hit the Avonmore a few miles above Clara Vale and worked my way down stream. The height, flow, and colourĀ  of water were perfect but the temperature was way down, which was very apparent when wading.

River Avonmore, Co. Wicklow, on St Patricks Day 2011.

Fly life was limited to a few smuts and there was certainly no fish showing. Working a cast consisting of a leaded hares ear on the point coupled with two spider patterns, a killdevil and a partridge and orange, I worked the runs. A couple of tentative pulls and a splashy rise indicated life after winter, however the first hour remained fishless. Around midday it warmed up a bit, and fishing down a long run towards the tail I connected with three small trout in three casts. Perfectly spotted but lean after the winter, they will not take long to fatten up.

A spring day on the Avonmore, Co. Wicklow.

I met a couple of anglers through the day who related similar tales of how the fishing was going. One such was Ken Gray a regular on the river, Ken had tempted a few small fish on a Black Pennell. Changing to a floating set up for the afternoon as an experiment I blanked. No matter, the sunk flies did the business before lunch which is what I would have expected. More of the same next time out.