A warm dry summer, the first in four years, a feature of which was that prevailing winds returned to a more normal south westerly pattern provided plenty of opportunities to cast a line. Sea angling this last few months had taken precedence over fly fishing, but with less then a week to go of what has been by all accounts a good trout season, having finally purchased an electric outboard it was time for its maiden run on Roundwood. Meeting Gary at Knockatemple around mid afternoon, we loaded the boat and set off up the south lake which was well down on normal.
Gary correctly chose to use a wet cell 2 sinking line armed with a peter ross on the point, daddy on the middle dropper, and a silver dabbler on the top. Yours truly went for a floating line, tying a silver invicta on the point, watsons on the middle, and a daddy on the top. Picking a parallel drift along a shore pushed ever so slowly by a weakening northerly breeze we cast our lines. There was little wave action, more a ruffling of the surface and no hatch, possibly due to the chilly evening. The sun is a lot lower in the sky now, disappearing behind the mountains around seven pm. We drift keeping a line about twenty metres offshore. Approaching a point where there is a sharp curve into another bay Gary casts, waits a few seconds to let the line sink, and on pulling his rod immediately locks over into a strong fish.
Staying deep the trout proceeded to swim in a wide arc to the right before doubling back around the bow of the boat. Keeping a tight line Gary played the fish for a couple of minutes before it tired, splashed on the surface a few times, and made one dart away from the net before being successfully landed. A fine male fish, although lean it made 1.lb 12.ozs when weighed back at the clubhouse. The best of four trout Gary rose during the session, three of which went for the peter ross with a single on the daddy. Fry form a big part of the diet on the south lake and daddies are common in September, Gary’s choice of flies and tactics were spot on.
A good fish for the lake and one destined for the pot, it made us realise what a fine wild trout fishery Roundwood is. The local club and Inland Fisheries Ireland have to be congratulated for the work that they have put in over the years, enabling this wonderful facility to be one of the best wild trout waters in the country. The fish do not give themselves up easy, but on a good day, well the pictures say it all.
For more information click on: Last day on Roundwood.
