The temperature was good, no rain, plenty of fly life and despite a sometimes gusty southwesterly wind, plenty of fish were caught.

DTAA Secretary Cathal McDonnell won the day, with his fourth trout in the last 10 mins, and while casting under a tree ! Nymphs , lures and wets proved to be the best methods.

13 anglers turned out with eight weighing in fish and most of those heading to the upper lake having bagged two fish on the lower lake.

Results table below

With two of the 7 competitions for the 2025 season now completed the leaderboard for DTAA Angler of the year is taking shape:

Thanks to Tom Hipwell for organising with support from Declan and Alan. Next competition is the LM Byrne Cup on Lough Leane on 14th June.

Jim’s passion for the sport and his deep connection to the river remain fondly remembered, and his spirit was certainly present on the day. Blessed with excellent weather and ideal water conditions, anglers were treated to a fantastic day’s sport. While the focus was firmly on trout, the river, as always, had a few surprises up its sleeve, with a handful of lively pike also making unexpected appearances—each one safely returned to the water to fight another day.

Top honours went to Mr Virgil Malinauskas, who landed a superb wild brown trout tipping the scales at 2lbs 12oz, securing his place atop the leaderboard. Ms Bernadine Gavin, last year’s champion and a regular feature among the top ranks, followed closely with a fine trout weighing 2lbs 7oz. The contest for third was just as competitive, with Mr Nicky Weir claiming the spot thanks to a beautifully marked fish of 2lbs 6oz.

The presentation of the Jim Glynn Memorial Cup was a particularly heartfelt moment, with Jim’s wife, Liz, and daughter, Lorraine, making the presentation. Adding to the family spirit of the day, Lorraine herself took part in the competition, impressively landing a fabulous pike during her outing.

Throughout the event, anglers showcased outstanding examples of wild brown trout, highlighting the river’s enduring quality and the skills of those who fish it. Most importantly, it was a day marked by camaraderie, respect for the water, and a shared love of angling—a fitting tribute to Jim Glynn’s enduring legacy.

Lake 0’Flynn & District Anglers ran a very well contested McCarthy cup on Sunday in very blustery conditions.

The results are as follows,

• 1-st place. Anthony Doyle,  3lb 03.8 oz.
• 2-nd Mike McDermott, 3lb 01.8 oz.
• 3-rd Mark Malone, 2lb 13.4 oz.
• 4-th Ronan Baggott, 2lb 08.6 oz.
• 5-th Dan McDermott, 2lb 2.04.6 oz.
• 6-th Derek Madden, 2lb 03.4 oz.

Go fishing…

Lough O’Flynn, Co. Roscommon

The fishing gods played havoc on Sheelin for the bulk of the week gone by.  Lough Sheelin was predictably busy on the bank holiday Monday but rough southwesterly winds left anglers searching for shelter and quitting the lake early.  The aquatic gods threw a bucket of cold water over everything after the holiday weekend by producing heavy downpours with southwesterly winds racing down the lake at uncomfortable speeds on Tuesday.  The meteorological cat and mouse game continued as, after the despair and disappointment of early week, Wednesday was a better day with sporadic hatches of buzzer appearing with sympathetic light northerly breezes and daytime temperatures climbing to 17 degrees, giving us all the illusion that finally the weather was on the turn by being conducive to buzzer fishing.  Hopes were soon dashed as cold easterlies hit in on Thursday destroying any surface hatches and pulling the water temperatures back down to 11 degrees and then on Friday the rain returned with a vengeance.  The weekend of April 26th and 27th saw a marked improvement with the much desired moderate south westerlies returning along with a daytime warmth reaching 18 degrees.

It has been a very frustrating fishing week with nothing steady happening, buzzer hatches were sparse, localised and brief.  The hiccuping start to the buzzer fishing here is all down to our unpredictable Irish weather which jumped from winter-like conditions to a sudden burst of summer.

Lake levels have risen and the water is discoloured in sections particularly where the wind was blowing into the shoreline which again added another stumbling block to piscatorial successes.  The lake was busy both on Saturday and Sunday with the majority of anglers focussing on the silted areas of Goreport, Bog Bay, Corru, Rusheen and Sailors Garden – all on the hunt for buzzer taking trout.

The fly anglers have now surpassed the spinners with the sound of that welcome whip cast through the air as lines with teams of wets were aimed at the trout looking up to feed on some stage of the buzzers or chironomid dipterans lifecycle. Most of the action is happening below the surface so teams of wets using droppers of the Blank Buster Buzzer, Flashback and Epoxy were favoured.  Tungsten Depth Charge Buzzers as point flies with a team in size 8 and on droppers in smaller sizes.  Beadhead Buzzers use brass beads to take the buzzers down, slower sinking than tungsten beads, these take the set up down at a slower rate than normal patterns.  The Emergers that were responsible for some catches were the Shipman’s, CDC Emergers, Shuttlecock Black CDC and Assassin.

The term buzzer refers to anglers flies which imitate the pupa of the midge and not the air borne adult.  Boring as this kind of fishing might be to some anglers, buzzers account for 50% of a trout’s diet and are one of the few insects that are present in all their forms (larvae, pupa and adult) on virtually every day of the year but of course it is the heat that really brings on a hatch.  Over the years as fly tyers develop new patterns, the term buzzer has evolved to encompass all manner of different flies and there is now a vast and mesmerising choice of colours and dressings that represent different stages of the lifecycle.

Buzzers have to be fished slow and this is the crux for most, patience is tested and for many it is the ‘chuck and duck’ of the team of wets and the visual surface action of the dry flies that is much more appealing than a slow and painful retrieve.  The truth of the matter is that this is the main buzzer season here, admittedly sluggish to get started this year but it is this section of fishing that brings up the Sheelin visions of big well conditioned trout.  After feeding down at the bottom of the lake the trout will now be looking towards the surface to see what other food is around.  Buzzers can be fished on a floating line under a bung or if on a drift using an intermediate or slow sink.  Buzzers ascends from the lake bed slower than other nymphs so it is this slowness that has to be imitated.  A combination worth a try would be a buzzer on the point with a Kate Mclaren and Green Peter on the droppers, fished very slowly.  Suspended buzzer patterns are also good.

The flies that worked best were the Bits-type patterns in claret, fiery, black, ginger, orange, hare’s ear, olive and grey, the Klinkhammer, Grey Duster, Nymphs – Pheasant Tail, Diawl Bach, Hare’s Ear and Olive in sizes 12 and 14, Mini Muddler as a top dropper, Epoxy Buzzer, Shipmans Buzzer, Flashback Buzzers, CDC Emergers, Greenwell’s Glory, Bibios, Black Pennells, Connemara Black and Stimulators.

Some catches this week were down to the larger flies of Black & Gold Humungous, Silver Humungous, Black Minkies with a flash of silver, Snakes, Woolly Buggers and Cats Whiskers using heavy lines. The Dabblers are still there in Claret, Pearly, Silver, Green, Peter Ross and Silver.

The best fishing areas for this week have been in the silted areas of Bog Bay, Sailors, Goreport, Finea, Corru and Rusheen.  Other areas were at the back of Church Island, Merry point and Goreport.  All fishing location choices were governed by wind direction.

Lough Sheelin is on the cusp of her fishing season, as the weather warms the insect life will blossom here and with that the interest of the trout.  Sheelin is a wild brown fishery so although a difficult, whimsical stretch of fishing water will always offer the angler that chance of a trout weight of a lifetime.

The Lures and Flies

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Please remember anglers to abide by BYE-LAW 949 which strictly prohibits from

June 14^th, 2017 onwards:

• The taking of any brown trout of less than 36 centimeters.
• For a person to fish with more than 2 rods at any one time.
• To fish with more than 4 rods at any one time when there is more than one person on board the boat concerned.
• For a person to take more than 2 trout per day.
• All trolling on the lake from March 1^st to June 16^th (inclusive).
• To fish or to attempt to take or to fish for, fish of any kind other than during the period from March 1^st to October 12^th in any year.

Number of catches recorded: 32

Heaviest catch:  a 6lb plus trout caught by Fergal Kellett on Epoxy Buzzers

Selection of catches:

• Niall McMennamin: 1 trout at over 3lbs on buzzers on April 23rd.
• Gary McKiernan, Lough Sheelin Guidling – 1 trout at 3.5lbs on Dabblers
• Peadar McAvinney, Monaghan – 2 trout best at 5lbs on teams of buzzers.
• Brian McAvinney, Clones – 1 trout at 3lbs on buzzers.
• Mark Farrelly fishing with Denis Goulding – 4 trout heaviest at over 5lbs.
• James Cahill, Lucan, Co. Dublin – 1 trout at 3.5lbs on buzzers

Sheelin Fishing Guides:

Grey Duster Guiding

Grey Duster Guiding

Address Lough Sheelin Cavan Irelandwork Mobile Phone: +353 86 898 4172cell Email: gebhg@yvir.vrINTERNET

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Trout angling guide

Notes: Kenneth O’Keeffe has over 30 years experience of trout fishing guiding on Sheelin and specialising in all methods

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Lough Sheelin Ireland

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Lough Sheelin Guiding Services

Lough Sheelin Guiding Services

Address Corlismore House Ballinagh Cavan Irelandwork Mobile Phone: +353(0)87 1245927cell Phone: +353(0)49 4337185work Email: ybhtufurryvathvqvatfreivprf@tznvy.pbzINTERNET Website: loughsheelinguidingservices.com

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We here at Lough Sheelin Guiding Services provide what we think is a world class ghillie and guiding service on the famous Lough Sheelin. We will do our upmost to try and make sure visiting anglers catch there fair share of these famous wild trout and make
your visit a memorable one.

Our Ghillies offer fully guided trips and be assured we know every corner and drift on Sheelin and will work hard for you to make sure you get the best opportunity to catch Sheelins famous wild brown trout.

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Corlismore House Ballinagh Cavan Ireland

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Denis Fly Fishing Ireland

Denis Fly Fishing Ireland

Address Summerhill Meath Irelandwork Mobile Phone: +353876994971cell Email: qqravfftbhyqvat@lnubb.pb.hxINTERNET Website: denisflyfishingireland.com

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Notes

Well its the start of a New Era for me. This season I will be running a Guiding Service on  the midlands lakes. I will be primarily based on Lough Sheelin, Lough Owel and Lough Lene, where I have fished all my life. I have many caps for the Senior Irish Team, Captain twice, I have also won the Brown Bowl and have coached the youth team on and off for over 15 years. I am also the Irish Ambassador for Wychwood Game.

The midland lakes produce some of the biggest wild Brown Trout in Ireland and some of the biggest Stocked triploids too. The season starts with fry imitations but quickly turns to the buzzer, followed by Olives, Mayfly and sedge fishing as the year progresses.

If you want to book a day with me please  please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

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Summerhill Ireland

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John Mulvany  johnmulvanyfishing@gmail.com 086 2490076

Wow! What a week and set of challenges the Irish weather threw up this week for us. I fished the river when I could and utilized the lakes quite a bit. I had many guests out and the important thing was we had a great time and caught fish.

First up was Spring Schoellkopf an interesting lady who was the first female pilot for US Air’s predecessor Allegheny Airlines, her first flight was at the age of 23. I didn’t have to do much instructing here as Spring was quite a caster and angler.

We fished a foam indicator with a 3mm pheasant tail, simple fishing which gave good results. It wasn’t long before we had our first trout on what were challenging conditions.The largest trout we had was about 28cm and gave a great fight in the heavy water.

Listening to Springs stories while we fished was super and it was an enjoyable morning. Spring reminded me a little of Joan Wulff who i studied quite a bit for my APGAI exams. It was with some sadness we bid farewell at the fishing room and drew a line under a fantastic day. Its times like this that are the slightly sad part of guiding, watching Spring and her partner depart the fishing room, take one last look a the Nore and head off into the sunset was like saying goodbye to two people I knew all my life. Perhaps it’s just me but I find guiding gives you a connection with your clients and they relax to a level where the conversation just flows, humour and friendship just become natural. It’s this connection that becomes hard to break even after a few hours of knowing each other.

Float fishing the lakes

I had another fantastic duo out during the week and the river wasn’t so kind this time to us. Father and Daughter Kayleigh and Patrick McCarty were exactly what I needed to liven up my lake fishing. I was keen to fish the river but I knew we would have been wasting our time; it was chocolate brown.

We went to the lakes and tried for some roach, watching the orange tip of the float while one of us had some hot milk and the other two had a nice hot cup of coffee was exactly what we all needed. Sometimes fishing is put in brackets and its really time to spend with people maybe you haven’t seen in some time or you just need their company.

Kayleigh, I believe, was the first to hit a nice roach followed by Patrick, my turn did come but I missed the take, typical and I’m meant to be the pro. We had a great time on the lakes and had many roach, cups of coffee and hot milk. It was great to meet both Patrick and Kayleigh and throw a line with them.

Back to the Nore

Fishing wise this week it was for sure tough going but as always challenge accepted. I fished streamers myself expecting a bigger trout but it didn’t happen, I had a few around the 30cm mark but that was it. Fishing a 3mm gold head pheasant tail was the order of most of the days, had some fish on wet fly also, just a winged olive wet fly. Some rain due in shortly so will push the river up little but as far as i can see its to be dry for days so will aim to get down and give it a cast.

My tik tok videos on the basics needed to fly fish / coarse fish have begun so make sure to check them out, they are aimed at beginners to help them to choose or see what they may need for their chosen discipline.

Trout fishing Ireland (@trout.fishing.ire) | TikTok

Irish Angling Spring Fair 3rd and 4th May 2025

It’s here at last, the 2025 Irish Spring Angling Fair. I am delighted to be included in the demonstrator line up with some of the industries finest. It will be a great weekend for people to learn more about fly fishing, get some advice and even tuition.

I look forward to seeing you all there, make sure and stop by the APGAI stand or Cadence stand and say hello.

Go Fishing…

Trout Fishing Ireland

Trout Fishing Ireland

Address Thomastown Kilkenny Irelandwork Mobile Phone: +353857652751cell Email: gebhgsvfuvatverynaq@bhgybbx.pbzINTERNET Website: Trout Fishing Ireland

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Growing up in the countryside of Gowran, Co.Kilkenny, I started my fishing journey on the River Barrow with my dad, which is where I caught my first fish, a lovely brown trout. The Gowran River was also a short walk from my homeplace, and on the days my dad couldn’t fish, I would walk through the fields and fish the Gowran River. My love for fishing grew and took me to Mount Juliet Estate, where I began guiding at 13. I went on to become fisheries manager at Mount Juliet Estate and, to this day, enjoy taking out hundreds of clients every year fishing on the River Nore. I enjoy all types of fishing and guide all over Ireland. I am an Apgai Ireland-qualified casting instructor and have Ambassador roles with Cadence and Yeti. I joined Fulling Mill as an endorsed pro guide and am part of the Patagonia pro team. My angling journey has been an exciting one and hopefully will continue to be.

I take out all levels of anglers, from beginner to experienced. I enjoy what I do and count myself very lucky to be able to meet and guide new people to what might be their first Irish fish.

Dan O Neill

---

Website: troutfishingireland.com

Email: troutfishingireland@outlook.com

Phone: +353857652751

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Thomastown Ireland

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Peter Driver of Piscari Fly is back with his weekly roundup of the fishing scene

Lough Owel

Mark and Tommy Driver were out at the weekend on Lough Owel for the Leinster TAFI lakes. It was an awkward enough days fishing, a couple of fish caught alright.

A cold windy on Lough Owel for 20 anglers. Early start with rain and wind, with winds increasing as the day went on. Large hatches of Olives in the afternoon carpeted the lake in places but there were little to no rises of fish.

Fish in the afternoon were reported by many to be feeding very high in the water.

Over the course of the day 35 fish were caught by 15 out of the 20 anglers taking part.

Seniors

1st:- Fergal McKeirnan – 5 fish 4543grams

2nd Shane Callan – 4 fish 4367grams

3rd Dec Conlon – 3 fish 2736grams

Masters:

1st Declan Conlon – 3 fish 2736

2nd John Kellagher – 3 fish 2651

3rd Robbie Phelan – 3 fish 2576.

Longest fish = Shane Callan 1565grams.

Top club on day was Dundalk Team 1 = 11 fish for 10359 grams.

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Congratulations to all the winners. A big thank you to Brendan Murray for stepping in as Boatman for 2 anglers. Also a big thank you to Stan McKeon for coming by to do our weigh-in on the day, a great help and much appreciated. Thank to our Secretary Mark Driver for organising the day with the committee.

Congratulations to Fergal Mc Kiernan and all those that qualified for Team Leinster.

Leinster Rivers

The Leinster River Qualifiers dates are now out.

Tafi Leinster Senior & Master River Qualifiers are kindly being hosted again this year by Kells Anglers Association in Kells, Co. Meath. On the 17th of May. The deadline for entries is 9th of May with practice closing on the same day at midnight on the 9th of May. All entries being accepted online through https://www.onthewater.ie/club/tafileinster

Any issues placing your entry on the website please contact Mark Driver on 0860349273. You must be a member of a Leinster TAFI affliated club to take part. Hope to see a great turn out this year.

For the full newsletter and to see all the deals and special offers sign up at  the PiscariFly website.

Go fishing…

Piscari Fly

Piscari Fly

Address Woolengrange Thomastown Kilkenny Irelandwork Mobile Phone: +353 87 9787040cell Email: cvfpnevsyl@tznvy.pbzINTERNET Website: piscari-fly.com

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Fly Shop

For all your fly tying and fly fishing needs. Stocking rods, reels, clothing water etc

Guiding

 Want to improve or learn any aspects of your fly fishing? Then why not give us a shout and we will look after you. Fishing available locally on the River Nore at Thomastown and other club water by arrangement. We have also teamed up with Blackwater Trout and Salmon fishery to offer you an amazing fishing experience with over 8km of amazing river to be discovered.

• Full & Half Guided days
• One to one coaching
• Master classes
• Groups and Clubs welcome

Nymphing. Dry Fly. Wet Fly. Streamer. Dry Dropper 

Instruction

Peter Driver is a qualified casting instructor with APAGI, and advanced qualified fly dresser with APAGI. He specialises in competition nymphs and fishing, Irish lake flies, streamers and lures.

As a qualified casting instructor with APAGI I Peter offers casting clinic’s and lessons, to suit your desires. Being able to cast correctly and have a good understanding of the mechanics of casting is a solid foundation in fly fishing that will pay off in your fishing, be it rivers or lakes.

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Woolengrange Thomastown Ireland

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Next up, Jasper was at the bow end of the boat for a change, as his friend Osgur took the engine for the day. Osgur rose a heap of fish using wets, but most of them were coming short and so didn’t connect, but he did manage to bring a couple to the net. Jasper pulled streamers for most of the day without having any luck, but a late switch to dries on the last few drifts brought a bit of action, and he landed a nice wild brownie.

At the weekend though the weather improved significantly and he had some lovely dryfly fishing. There were a few olives hatching the the trout came really well to he small olive fished on a 7x leader.

George has included the tying of the fly that made it all happen below.

Visit George’s channel here and don’t forget to Like and Subscribe.

‘Every season brings new challenges but we always need to give our best’

Marcelo

It has been another tough week on Sheelin as her anglers battled challenging cold north westerly winds with easterlies taking over for the bank holiday weekend, these coupled with sub zero nightly temperatures, water temperatures barely in the double figures and heavy rain resulted in gruelling trout fishing conditions.  The weather here has been miserable and has effectively put a stumbling block in the way of the buzzer fishing.  Traditionally buzzer fishing hits in here in late April but as the end of this month is fast approaching, the signs aren’t very encouraging with poor and sporadic hatches.

It has been a disappointing week with a handful of anglers out every day with the predictable surge in numbers for the bank holiday bracket of good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday.  Small buzzer hatches were reported in the silted areas of Finea, Sailors Garden, Bog Bay, Goreport and down along the western shore.  A few fish were moving to the surface but the weather was predominantly keeping them down.  Anglers were trying to booster each others morale with hopes that “this (buzzer) fishing will happen very soon”.

Buzzer fishing despite the delay this year is well worth waiting for.  An underestimated and sometimes dismissed section of fishing on Sheelin with many anglers looking with tunnel vision towards the Mayfly suspicious of the fact that in reality more trout are caught on Sheelin in late April and early May on the buzzer and nymph patterns than during mayfly mania.  Anglers should sit up and take notice of this important little insect, in all its stages and certainly be aware of its lifecycle to perfect imitation and ultimately success. This is a large group of insects with over 5000 described species and 700 in North America alone.  Males are easily recognised by their plumose antennae.  The various names are enjoyable – ‘Lake Flies’ in parts of Canada, ‘Sand Flies’, ‘Muckleheads’ or ‘Muffleheads’ in various regions of USA and best of all ‘Blind Mosquitoes’ or ‘Chizzywinks’ in Florida.  In adult form some midges are large, up to hook size 14 but the majority are size 22 or smaller.

Female buzzers can lay up to 3 batches of eggs which are laid on the water.  The egg mass is a small clear jelly-like glob.  The eggs hatch into small worm-like larvae known as bloodworms.  The bloodworm or midge larvae is red and are found in soft mud or silt and these areas are predictably the best buzzer fishing areas on Sheelin.  Bloodworms spend most of their time attached to the bottom or other solid surfaces in a tube that they make.  When they get near to hatching, they lose their blood red colour and take on a more sombre appearance.  They then make their way from the lake bottom up through the water columns to the surface by a wriggling swimming action and it is this phase that the anglers called buzzers.  The favoured patterns for this stage are epoxy buzzers.

Once the pupa reaches the surface it tends to get stuck under the surface film and takes awhile  to push through.  While they are doing this, they hang in the film like little commas and the trout go mad for them, at this stage CDC Emerger patterns are a good imitation for the angler to use.  The actual hatching of the adult takes less than 30 seconds once the buzzer breaks through the film and the cycle starts all over again.

Despite contrary wind conditions and a distinctive lack of warmth some nice trout were recorded this week, with Martin Ryan’s trout of over 5lbs being the pick of the catches.  Lure fishing is sliding off the top position, mainly to be replaced by Dabblers with Claret and Silver being the favourite colours.  Finally teams of wet flies are featuring albeit not in abundance but Sooty Olives, Invictas, Dunkelds, Connemara Blacks and Black Pennels are coming out of hibernation.  Buzzer set ups were being used but with little or no success as the water temperature is still too low, dipping back down to under 10 degrees during the week which has effectively slowed down the action of insects in the depths, we need heat to stir everything up, get all those lifecycles going and ultimately get the fish to look upwards for a change in menu.

The large fly patterns of Black & Gold Humungous, Silver Humungous, Black Minkies with a flash of silver, Snakes, Woolly Buggers and Cats Whiskers using heavy lines are still there as being responsible for some of the catches over the past seven days.

The Dabblers were popular in Claret, Pearly, Silver, Green, Peter Ross and Silver.

The best fishing areas for this week have been along the rocky shores and exposed points – the shallows were the water is warmer and the food – shrimp and hog louse is plentiful and easy to access.  The buzzer locations are gradually taking over so it was the silted areas of Bog Bay, Sailors and Goreport that were popular for anglers targeting buzzer feeding trout.

The best areas are Chamber’s bay, Kilnahard shore, Holywell down to Crover, Merry point, Curry point, at the back of Church Island, Bog Bay, Goreport, Gaffneys and Finea.  Some trout still hold the depths of water though, so blind casting if you can cast your line where you think the fish might be and retrieve might trigger a take.  Daily choices of fishing spots are governed, as always, by wind direction.

Ronan Creane refers to ‘the fishing gods’ in his 2024 article and I think I agree with him in that for good and bad luck, the fishing gods are there.  Many of us refer to this elusive god in jest but there is a little belief there too.  Although still early in the season here, some anglers have caught terrific fish and those that strike gold like this generally look upwards while thanking something that none of us can see.  This or these, are the fishing gods so there would seem to be more than one as it is always plural.  As the challenging weather continues here it is time for the Lough Sheelin anglers to send up a silent pray to those ‘fishing gods’ to produce some decent fishing weather.

Please remember anglers to abide by BYE-LAW 949 which strictly prohibits from

June 14^th, 2017 onwards:

• The taking of any brown trout of less than 36 centimeters.
• For a person to fish with more than 2 rods at any one time.
• To fish with more than 4 rods at any one time when there is more than one person on board the boat concerned.
• For a person to take more than 2 trout per day.
• All trolling on the lake from March 1^st to June 16^th (inclusive).
• To fish or to attempt to take or to fish for, fish of any kind other than during the period from March 1^st to October 12^th in any year.

Flies and lures

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Lough Sheelin Guiding Services (www.loughsheelinguidingservices.com) 087 1245927

Grey Duster Guiding
Kenneth O’Keeffe
Tel: 086 8984172 Email: trout@live.ie

John Mulvany  johnmulvanyfishing@gmail.com 086 2490076

Number of catches recorded:  32

Heaviest trout: 5.5lb trout caught by Martin Ryan

Selection of catches:

Martin Ryan – 2 trout at 4 and 5.5lbs on wet flies.

Colin Norris, Dublin – 1 trout at 3.5lbs on Dabblers.

David Chambers, Meath – 1 trout at 2lbs on a team of Buzzers at Finea.

Mark Cahill, Cavan – 1 trout at 3lbs at the back of Church Island on a small Claret Dabbler

Finian Malcom, Enfield – 1 trout at 4lbs on a Silver Invicta.

The River Nore
Peter was out on the River Nore twice in the last week doing a bit of coaching and fishing: Rivers are extremely low for this time of the year, and it’s also gone back to being quite cold, that Easterly cool breeze is back there. So fishing is mixed enough, we did manage some decent trout once we went around bends and got in out of the wind.

I did see some hawthorns coming off, some large dark olives. I even saw yellow May coming off at some stage on Monday. We got some half decent fish on both days, but it’s just not there yet, definitely some progression. If we had some warm rain coming in, hopefully soon enough, well, that will bring on the rivers for fishing. But yeah, the River Nore is definitely worth a visit. Call into us here for your day tickets, gear or location ideas on where to fish.

​

A Day on The Avonmore River
Mark was out over the weekend with a Journalist from the USA who was visiting Ireland and wanted to fish this beautiful river for a day. To get a taste of pure wild trout fishing in the Wicklow Hills. They accessed some remote fishing deep down in the Avonmore system. Levels were low, like most places across the country currently. But this made the river more accessible in terms of beats. They focused on the Dry-dropper method, which proved to be best on the day. Fishing various Caddis style nymphs & perdigones under an Indicator Klinkhammer. Fish were found high in the runs and side slacks which was great to see this time of year. With his guest catching 9 beautiful conditioned brown trout and some other small fish. The biggest of the day was on a dry fly, after a beautiful strike and play to the net. A mixture of sunshine and rain on the day was a true Irish day’s experience on the river. But after plenty of laughter, exploring the river banks amongst woodland and having fun, he left with plenty of memories from his day out with Mark on the Avonmore.

Fishing the Midlands
This week I made the most of the unseasonably fine weather, concentrating on the local Little Brosna and it’s trout fishing. It was certainly bizarre to be throwing a long leader and a dry fly upstream in the orange glow of sunset and not a leaf on a tree! There was no major hatch to speak of but enough trout were looking up to make it worthwhile, certainly not the most effective method but definitely the most fun.

As the weather broke over the weekend, I had a go at streamer fishing for trout on the Shannon. It was surprisingly enjoyable, as I fished the edges of currents and dangled the streamer behind big rocks, I felt like I was back in central Finland. In hindsight I should have fished a smaller streamer but the reality was a pike was a more likely result. Sure enough it wasn’t too long before a big green head inhaled the streamer right on the surface. Pike will move into surprisingly fast water when they are hunting actively. As I waded back to shore I saw a good trout send some roach flying, unfortunately he didn’t respond to my streamer despite covering him from several different angles.

In other news, I will be attending the Irish Spring Angling Fair in Ardaire Springs on the 3rd and 4th of May. I’ll be bringing the guide boat along and look forward to talking to everyone interested in pike fly fishing.

Over the last week I was also delighted to be accepted onto the A.Jensen Fly-Fishing Pro-Team and look forward to working with them in the future.

Watershed Fly Fishing is a full-time professional guiding service specialising in pike fly fishing, operating from Banagher, Co. Offaly. In season, we also guide for trout on the Shannon tributaries. Get in touch to make your own memories at 085 7386944 or www.watershedflyfishing.ie