Transfer of blog to www.irishflyfisher.ie

This wordpress blog will no longer be updated as of today and will be deleted on 30 June. All blogs and future updates can be found on www.irishflyfisher.ie

Thank you for all your support and i hope you’ll continue to support me through my new blog.

River Greese Ballitore, Kildare

Last Sunday I headed down to fish the river Greese in Ballitore Co. Kildare. The Greese (Griese) is a small fast flowing river with plenty of deep pools. Any time that I fished it before, the water was always gin clear with lots of aquatic plants which are good for insect life. Sunday was no exception. It was as clear as  the  chalk stream’s of southern England. It was still well down on the guage even after all the recent heavy rain we have had.

Guage at Bridge Ballitore

There were black gnats swarming all along the river which the trout were ignoring. They were confidently rising to a hatch of iron blue duns.  The day was dull with a very strong upstream wind and the ever threatening rain. I rigged the rod up with one of my own klinkhammer variants that I am trying out this year. They have worked well so far this season. The one I used this time was tied as an iron blue. I started fishing the small weir pool beside the old mill where several good fish were frequently rising to the iron blues. I landed two nice trout from there. The second one was particularly good. He swam up and down the pool  then thrashed around on the surface and in the end managed to put the other fish down.

Weir pool Ballitore

I then moved upstream towards Ballitore, where I landed three more trout and lost several more. I also landed a salmon parr. Its good to see the parr in the Greese. All fish were returned alive.

The Greese with its clear water is a beautiful little river which presents a challenge to the flyfisher. There is an active angling club that control the waters. (The River Greese Trout and Salmon Anglers Association). Permits are available locally from the supermarket Moone, the Sportsman Inn Timolin and the Shaker Store Ballitore.

Next time I will try to get down and fish the Greese during a night time rise  when the sedges are about.

Black Gnat's on the Greese

Upper Liffey Ballyward, Co. Wicklow

olive upright dun

Last weekend I went  flyfishing on the (upper) river Liffey at Ballyward bridge. When I arrived at the river it was dropping off after the overnight rain. It was a day of mixed weather, bright sunshine, strong winds and some cloud cover. I made my way down to the riverside and had a look around for any signs of moving fish.

I noticed that there was large olives lifting off the water. At first glance I took them as large dark olives but on close inspection they were olive upright duns. It was good to see these uprights as they are sensitive to water pollution and therefore a good indicator of water quality. I also noticed that the olives had drew the attention of several trout which were greedily snatching them as they emerged.

I tied on one of my own tying’s a  Greenwell’s  klinkhammer and tried my luck. Delicate casting was definitely not on with such a strong wind. It was more like chuck it and chance it. The Greenwell’s drew a blank as did several other flies. It wasn’t ’till I tied on a Tup’s indispensable that my luck changed. Even with the gale blowing and my cast crashing on the water I managed to land fifteen trout. Incidently the Tup’s also was tied klinkhammer.

Ballyward trout

I returned all fish to the water for another  day. This is a nice location to fish on the Liffey but with it’s close proximity to the city it does tend to get over fished on the warmer days during the season. If it’s a peaceful quiet day’s fishing you are after it would be best to avoid fishing at Ballyward during school holiday’s.

Liffey at Ballyward

Gougane Barra West Cork

I am just back from a short break in west Cork. I was staying in a wonderful house overlooking  the beautiful Gougane Barra lake with Saint Finbars church in the background. It was my intention while I was down that way to fish some of the excellent little rivers around the Macroom area. After unpacking the car and organising the house I drove out to Macroom to get some information about permits and some locations to fish. I was somewhat dissapointed as I looked over the bridge in the town only to see the river Sullane was rising after heavy over night rain. Not one to give up easily I went out to Mary Annes bar in Masseytown to look for Tom Sweeney whose name I was given by a local man I met on the bridge. He told me that Tom was the man to talk to about the Macroom Trout Anglers Association and all things to do with flyfishing in the area.

I met Tom who was busy behind the bar keeping the beer flowing for the few locals who were gathered around the bar. He was more than willing to help out with my enquiries even showing me through one of his boxes of flies. He didnt hold out much hope for me to fish the Sullane as it was still rising but he gave me some directions of where to fish the river Laney. I got a Macroom Anglers permit and set off out to the Laney. (I wonder is that tom depicted in the mural on the gable wall of Mary Annes?)

When I got to the Laney I found that it too was starting to rise but I managed to fish it for about an hour or so and in that time I got some little brownies on a small olive klinkhammer. The Laney I found it is a nice little river but the banks are somewhat overgrown in places. It holds a good stock of small wild brownies up to a half pound but you can be sure there are some educated bigger ones in it. After that I headed to the other river Tom mentioned the Foherish. Tom said you can usually fish it as it is the last one to rise but when I got there it also was rising so that put an end to my river fishing plans for the day.

Later that evening I headed over to the Gougane Barra Hotel, for a drink and to look for information about fishing on the lake. It turned into a late one as there was good music and the craic was mighty. The local musicians were joined by the junior members of the hotel family all in all a very enjoyable night. I also got all the information needed for fishing on the lake from the hotel owner Neil Lucey.

Next day was spent fishing the lake with plenty of wild brownies rising all over the lake. I had over a dozen fish up to three quarters of a pound all taken on an olive spider size sixteen. If fishing for wild brown trout and peaceful tranquil surroundings appeals to you, then Gouganne Barra is a place you must check out.  A nice break, in a fabulous place. Well worth a return trip and maybe next time I will get to fish the Sullane.

Gougane Barra Lake

Rare American

Last April while I was out flyfishing on my local river I came across an unusual looking plant (pictured) growing close to the edge of the river. It was totally out of place with all of  the other riverside plants. I took some photos of it in order to have it identified to see if it is harmfull or invasive. There are several invasive species of plants growing in Ireland at the moment which are a threat to our native species. I then got in touch with Jenny Seawright or Irish wildflowers. Jenny identified it as an American skunk-cabbage (lysichiton americanus) which is  non native and non invasive. She is interested in it as to how it came to be growing where it is. I shall be keeping Jenny posted as to its progress. If anyone else comes across an unusual plant that they would like identified  they can get in touch with Jenny who will be happy to do so.

American skunk-cabbage

Fishing on the Liffey

I have been able so far to get down to my local river on ten occasions. The fishing has had mixed results from blanking to catching several fish up to the pound mark.  The weather was mainly cold and dry with air temperatures ranging from four to eleven or twelve degrees. The water temperature has risen from seven degrees on the first outing up to nine degrees yesterday. I have been using wet flies like snipe and purple, waterhen bloa, winter brown and several others. The most sucessfull outing I had was at the end of March when there was small hatches of olives happening. Most of the fish the waterhen bloa fished upstream. With the clocks changed over to summertime I am looking forward to some evening fishing.

Carnalway Bridge

Kings River Wicklow

Last saturday I went down to my local river [Liffey] only to find it in flood due to power generating so rather than head back to gardening I decided to drive out towards Wicklow to fish the Kings river. It is several years since I had fished it so early in the season. I arrived at Lockstown bridge about three o’clock . The day was mixed with bright sunshine and a lot of dark clouds with a stiff upstream breeze. I got kitted out and headed downstream for about half mile or so and started to fish back up to the bridge. I tried nymphing Newzealand style I had no luck at first to the nymph but I managed to rise and miss two small trout to the indicator. The sun then came out and and brought on a light hatch of stoneflies so I chanced  a smaller thin bodied Klinkhammer and it fooled some nice little brownies in the space of about twenty minutes. As soon as the clouds appeared the fish and stoneflies dissappeared. I checked the water temperature it read 8.5 degrees c. I then made my way back to the car. It was good to get out to try this wonderfull little river and have some sucess so early this season. I am lookind forward to trying it when the water warms up later. It beats gardening any day.