Summer Report Competition - Result

9 days on the Moy

Having just recently returned from a 9 day trip on the Moy I thought I would share a little of it with you.

Day 1, 26 may.
Having arrived in Ballina with the River running at about 1.6m on the gauge I decided that I would start my trip on the lower river with the rest of the guys on the trip. Although it wasn't what I particularly wanted to do I put in a full day on both worm and spinner with nothing to show for my efforts.

Day 2.
As the river was now beginning to drop off and the forecast was looking good, with little rain on the way I decided that I would get a 7 day permit for the East Mayo waters as I felt this would give me the best chance of a fish on the fly even though I have never seen or fished these waters before.
I planned to fish the fly only beat and started off at the Gub which is at the lower boundary.

I arrived to find that the river was still a bit big (my opinion) and so once more to the worm. After an hour or so I noticed a guy heading up along the tributary (R.Gweeshan (sp)), which was running in from the right into the Gub, closely followed by 2 other anglers carrying fly rods. As I watched I saw where they crossed and without hesitation I grabbed my fly gear and followed them. I was now heading up river to see what fly fishing delights awaited me. When I eventually caught up with the other anglers I realised that it was our very own Minitube and his clients. After a brisk 15 minute walk we arrived at Roberts' chosen pool.
We had a chat and Robert passed on some tips on which pools to fish and where to concentrate my efforts for which I was extremely grateful.
After Robert and his clients had move on it was now time for me to start.



I fished the fly only stretch hard for the next few days despite the strong winds but without success. No matter, the river was in fine condition and there were very few other anglers (I don't like combat fishing), so on we go.




Day 6.
Having met up with another forum member the day before, it was decided that we would fish further down river and explore the fly opportunities available to us. After 7 hours of fishing down the river with out so much as a pull, we decided to go back to the cars, recharge our batteries and finish off the day on the worm.
Arriving at a pool where I had spotted a fish rising earlier we began running the worms down using the "Moy bung" method. Three casts in and I got my first bite and duly converted it into an absolute cracker of a Springer weighing in at 12lb. Now I am feeling rather happy as you can well imagine, so when I cast in again and get another fish of 9.75lb I am delirious with joy. My companion for the day however, wasn't quite so chuffed for me when the second fish went in the net. HeHe.



Day 7.
Spent the morning chasing, dreams of fish, with no joy, so it was decided to finish early and come back later on in the evening and try a new pool where we were informed of some lying fish.



After a couple of hours worming (yes I know) without a touch we noticed what looked like running fish on the move. So we duly upped the concentration levels and began to fish hard once more.
Once again I was rewarded with another fish of 7lb which was covered in long tailed lice, there in confirming our earlier thoughts about running fish.



Day 8.

The sun has come out and and the wind has dropped.
As the conditions were far from ideal it was decided to return to the same pool as we had fished the previous evening but unfortunately we were unsuccessful this time.

Day 9.

Yet another scorcher of a day.
I decided to take my camera out with me and take a few pictures instead of thrashing the water.





I would like to end with saying thank you to:
Minitube for his help and advice.
Tiernan Brothers Michael and Pj For sorting me out with all the little incidentals we all require and for the updates and reports on their website.

Also to say a very big thanks to the forum member I met for being great company, also for netting my fish and not throwing me in.

And finally too my mates for putting up with me for the duration of the trip.

.

A recent trip to the dee....and....fishing for forces


Sunday 24 July saw us driving the 460 miles up to Banchory from home near Huntingdon. A good early start got us to Penrith in time for John Norris opening, and a few essential leaders, hooks and fly-tying bits were hoovered up. A quick brunch across the road in "No 15" and we were underway again, and after a thankfully uneventful drive, arrived at our villa at the Inchmarlo Resort by mid-afternoon.

My fishing partner for the week, Bob (Pegleg on this forum), and his wife drove up overnight Sunday, after a caravan trip to the CLA Game Fair, and they arrived safely in time for breakfast with us on Monday morning. We were to fish Cairnton on Mon/Tue/Wed and Invery on Thu/Fri.







After the heavy rain of a week earlier, which led to good catches throughout the river, we found around 11" on the gauge on Monday, and the water then continued to drop back by an inch or two each day. The weather was cool northerly winds, with around 13C during the day and 6C or less at night - hardly balmy July night-fishing weather - and we decided to focus on the daytime whilst we had these cool, cloudy conditions.




From the off we saw fish in every pool of every beat - some running, some seemingly resident, but despite the numbers seen, getting connected was a different issue! Cairnton's ever-helpful gillie David Cowie suggested using very small flies - well small to me anyway! Most of my salmon fishing is done in the early spring and September, and #6 or #8 Park Shrimps or 11/2" tubes are the norm. We were persuaded to try #11 Stoats Tails and other similar dark flies, and I eventually found a few in one of my boxes !

LOOKING DOWN TO THE BOTTOM BEAT​

PEGLEG WITH DAVID AT THE TOP BEAT​

Cairnton fishes 3 beats and on the Monday morning, I drew the bottom beat, Pegleg the top, but apart from my one pull down in Invercannie, we had nothing to show.....except for a small eel that I hooked firmly amidships whilst drawing in line to recast. It looked like I had hooked a twig, but the twig quickly knotted itself around my leader, then the flyline too. Regrettably, it did not survive its ordeal After lunch, I was up on top beat, Pegleg on the middle beat, but we had no action between us, not even an elver!

Tuesday morning and I took a sea-liced grilse from the neck of the Grey Mare on a #11 Cascade, fished off a floater with 10ft intermediate polyleader. A couple of other tugs did not connect, and we finished with just the one.

A NICE SEA-LICED GRILSE​

The forecast for Wednesday was to turn very bright at lunchtime, and so we decided on an early start. I was on the middle beat and was fishing by 5am - it was a nice grey, humid start to the day. Working down through the Cottage Run, directly in front of Cairnton House, I saw fish showing and possibly running through the very tail of the run, where it made a classic V into the next rough water pool.

TAKING SPOT IS THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE GLIDE​

I had changed to a #11 Crathie and as my fly swung past the rockface off the south bank, everything went solid. For a second I thought I was snagged, but soon felt a few thumps and the game was on! Salar wanted to go back down where he had come from, but with only my 12ft grilse rod I thought I would have little chance in the pretty wild water below, so decided to hang on tight from the off. After a few yards and several anxious moments, Salar decided he didn't want his jaw dislocated and came upstream. Ten minutes later, after a fairly nerve-racking fight, I carefully beached a nice 33" cock fish. A quick photo and he took no reviving and shot out of sight as soon as his head was under water!

33" OF COCK SALMON​

Shortly after, a nice sea trout took in the same spot.

SEA TROUT ON CRATHIE FLY​

What a great start - and it was still before 7am !
Sadly, the sunshine arrived earlier than predicted and Pegleg and I left the water around 10am, to return later in the evening. But the clearer air, and cold north wind seemed to kill the evening activity, and what fish we did see moving early on, soon disappeared. We decided to join David for a dram to wish him well on his retirement at the end of this season.

THE INVERY HUT​

Next morning, Thursday, on Invery we were met by the ever enthusiastic gillie Karl, who kindly showed us our beats and their lies.

GILLIE KARL REVELL​

It's a couple of years since I last fished Invery, and I had never seen it during the summer on previous trips, so this was most useful. All Thursday and Friday we spent casting amongst fish - but the superglued mouth disease had hit the Dee - for us anyway! Small flies, full floaters, Francis flies, sink tips, medium flies, Sunrays, Monkeys....everything failed dismally.

Pegleg was driving home early on Saturday, and at 5:15 on Friday he reeled in, having not had a pull during the 5 days. He walked down the bank to me, with Karl commiserating, and I said I would "just have a chuck in the neck of the Killing Hatch", where he'd just finished, while he got his gear stowed. Five minutes later and I'm into a small grilse, which was safely landed and sent on its way. Difficult to tell your mate you've just taken a fish where he'd just finished.........but I found the words anyway !!

PARK HOUSE​

Saturday morning and I'm off down to Park to mentor a couple of military guys under the arrangements of the charity "Fishing For Forces".

At my request, as a regular at Park, John Foster the owner of the famous beat, had very kindly donated 2 rods to the charity. Fishing For Forces aims to provide fishing for those returning from Operational Duties, so that they can enjoy some rest and relaxation and, even if they've never fished before, they can discover the therapeutic qualities of the sport.

WES AND DICKIE FROM 1 SCOTS​

Two members of 1 Scots, based in Edinburgh, were the lucky recipients of this wonderful opportunity, and Dickie and Wes met up with Park head ghillie Keith Cromar and me.

STOCKYBASHER WITH DICKIE​

Neither Dickie nor Wes had experience of fishing with a double-handed salmon rod, but after a little explanation and instruction, both were able to cover the water quite well with a Single Spey cast.

The Dee was by now at around 9" at Park, but there were lots of fish in the beat, with fresh fish still running, as well as the usual "residents" that had been there for a while. We saw fish of all sizes, but the low water and desire to run hard meant they were focussed on other things, and certainly not our two soldiers' flies! The lads fished with my gear, and were set up with a full floating line to a #11 Park Shrimp or Cascade.

WES AT THE HOUSE POOL​

Shortly after lunch, whilst fishing Park's famous Durris Stream, Dickie was taken solidly by a salmon. I fish off the reel, and have my drag set pretty firm, so when I asked Dickie what had happened, I expected to hear that a fish had pulled a few inches of line off the reel. Oh no! this one had taken "2-3 rod lengths", and I would say was probably NOT a small grilse, and had been pretty well hooked for a while, but Dickie's inexperience sadly allowed it to make its escape before capture. Escape and Evasion at its best!! Nevertheless, this was a great achievement for a novice on a difficult day, and left Dickie with the feeling for what might have been !

DICKIE IN DURRISS STREAM​

All together a wonderful opportunity for Dickie and Wes, and all made possible by the kindness and generosity of John Foster - memories were made and the experience will hopefully have helped soothe away some of the less memorable experiences both had experienced recently in Helmand.

So, an eventful trip for me, an eventful day for my two new friends, and a trip which holds many special memories, other than of the Dee's first fly-caught eel ????

My magical Donegal weekend

Having only fished a handful of days in Ireland this season I was watching the weather forecast closely for most of last week. At last things were coming together nicely for a good fishing weekend….somewhere.

Planning proper commenced when Openthelennon (Ronan) called on Thursday to invite me to fish for sea-trout in Lough Beagh with him on Saturday. At around the same date last year Ronan and a friend had had a great day on the lough with thirty fish to 3.5lbs.



Everything was pointing to perfect fishing conditions and a possible red-letter day. There had been plenty of rain, ensuring fresh water in the lough and a run of fresh fish, with the forecast of a south-westerly breeze and plenty of cloud cover helping to get the adrenalin going.

Lough Beagh, four-mile long and half-mile wide, is the centrepiece of County Donegal's Glenveagh National Park and, I'm told, was recently featured in a T&S feature. Glenveagh itself is a haven for a stunning array of flora and fauna and was chosen as the place for the recent re-introduction of the golden eagle, which had become extinct in Ireland.



The fishing is managed by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) who allow only two boats on the lough, but on Saturday we were the only two anglers there. It's a LOT of water for two anglers, and at €30 each for boat, engine, fuel and fishing is, even by Irish standards, a bargain!



Despite the perfect conditions and some deft work by my boatman, the morning was producing only the occasional fish, some coloured sea-trout and small brownies. Ronan quickly opened the scoresheet, in the middle of a windy squall, but it took a while for me to start playing catch-up.



As the weather brightened and the wind started easing we decided on an early lunch.











As the clouds receded, the winds dropped and the sun came out we offered sacrifices of Ikea prawns, Orkla smoked-salmon and Bersano Sanguigna to the fish Gods, in the hope that they would reward us with a bountiful harvest in the afternoon.





Tactics were mulled over and, despite having seen nothing surface-feeding, we decided to set out again to fish dry daddies.



The change in tack provided an instant upsurge in our catch rate (read, "I started catching") as a couple of dozen fish, mostly small, were landed and as many lost, on various daddy imitations.







However, the larger fish just didn't seem to want to know and as we headed back to port at 6pm the weather was getting nastier by the minute.



As we packed away one of the park rangers came down for a chat to see how we had got on.

"The fisheries board electro fished the lough a couple of days ago," he told us.

"Really, and what did they find?"

"Lots of salmon by the river mouth, ferox to 5kg, and plenty of sea-trout. I live just down there by the bridge and have been watching the sea-trout running. There's a great run."

In common with most anglers I never look for excuses, but can't help wondering if a large scale and deep electro fishing exercise may have had some impact on the fishing

However, a couple of dozen brownies, a dozen sea-trout and a fine lunch in good company makes a great day out in my book. A big thanks to Ronan for the invite!

At 05.40 the next morning the alarm went off in Glenmore Lodge on the River Finn, 45 minutes drive from where I had fished the day before. But by that stage I had already been up for 25 minutes.

Off I went, in light rain, to put in a couple of hours on Beat 1 before breakfast. Assuming that the other rods would start at the top of the beat and work down, I decided to start at the bottom and work up towards them.

On the way to the beat I stopped on Glenmore Bridge to check the height. At 1ft 5in it had dropped only two inches overnight, and was absolutely perfect for the beat.

Sure enough, five minutes after starting in the Glebe I was into my first fish of the day on a size 10 single Bann Special (this year the Finn is mandatory single barbless hooks and total C&R). The small grilse was sea-liced.



In the course of the next twenty minutes I lost three more, and had two pulls, and I still hadn't reached the end of the 80m long pool.

This was Finn fishing like it used to be and brought me back to a day ten years ago when I caught twenty-one grilse in a morning session on the same beat. Early signs were that this could be another one of those days.

A quick cast in Carlins was rewarded with a second liced fish before it was time for breakfast.



As I headed up to the lodge I met Easky who was arriving to fish the beat and I agreed to show him around after I had had something to eat.

I caught up with him an hour later in Leonards, a pool that I've had many many fish out of, including 13 of the 21 on that day back in June 2001.



He offered me a try-out of his Loomis switch rod and on the second cast his Calvin shrimp was grabbed by a high-spirited grilse. In the spirit of gentlemanly guiding I immediately handed the rod to him, which he grabbed enthusiastically.

The fish came adrift in the handover, but I knew there would be plenty more to come.

Sure enough, as Easky left Leonards and started in the Gully just below me I was into another fish, which he kindly came and netted for me.





While using foreceps to unhook a deep-hooked fish I managed to rip the hackle off my Bann Special and went looking to ace fly-dresser Easky for a suitable replacement, preferably one of the Calvin shrimps he was using to such devastating effect. But sadly no, he only had ONE single and wasn't going to give it to me, no matter what!

So on went a lovely traditional-looking fly that OpentheLennon tied for the December fly swap. And very soon it too was doing the business.



Sorry about the state of the fly Ronan but it has been in the gob of several fish!

And so it went on, Easky would get a contact and lose or land a fish, then it would be my turn. Soon the tally was running at four fish each and six each lost, with a multitude of plucks and pulls in between.

The fish were an even mix of sea-liced, fresh and coloured grilse up to 5lbs.

And this was all in three small pools. Leonards, the Gully and the Glebe.

















For a change of scenery I headed upstream to fish the streams from the Ivy Bridge back down to the Glebe before lunch and by the time I was back with Easky we had each had another fish, mine coming, once again, from Carlins.

All my fish were caught on a 10ft 8wt Lpxe single-hander but having tried out Easky's switch rod, and seeing how much better it could handle the stiff breeze, I'm thinking one may need to be procured.

A quick post-lunch trip upstream past the Leap to Carney's, the junction pool where the Reelin joins the Finn, produced no more fish and soon I called it a day.





The weekend really will go down as one of the finest fishing weekends I've ever had. Not for the numbers or size of fish but for sheer variety, good company, fine food, beautiful scenery, and a few fish, it really was priceless!

A Couple of Days on... River Tay, Murthly

An earlier post from June.



Its been a long season so far, with not much to show for it. I haven't fished much recently after an injury in April, and unfortunately, i had to cancel my trip to the Junction in July recently. i was delighted when i a friend offered me the chance to fish the Murthly Beats on the River Tay for two days.



I must have taken 20 or so days on the Tay in the last 18 months, and only had kelts, a good soaking and a sea trout for my efforts. The week before my days, friends fished Murthly 2 on the Top water and caught well, so hopes were high, that was until the weekend of rain that followed.



I was on Murthly 1 and Donald was to be my Ghillie for the two days, a superb gentleman and always keen to share his knowledge. Tony is the Ghillie on Murthly 2, and has been very helpful whenever ive been fishing the Tay in the past, both first class Ghillies.



Thursday Morning arrived, an early one at that, and thankfully it was bright, warm and with a whisp of wind. I headed up the A9 and on to the Low Water, to meet with Donald.

Murthly Low Water is opposite the Glendelvine beat, with each being fished on alternative days, it is of course the beat that Miss Georgina Ballantine caught the 64lb British record salmon, above the Bargey Stone in the Boot Pool.



The water was falling after the recent rain, but wasn't too coloured, and looked perfect for the fly. After a chat with Donald, tactics and flies discussed, and a coffee, it was time to get fishing.



I opted for a 14' Dtx, Floating shooting head and a fast tip, and a Size 9 Cascade. I set of downstream to start fishing the Boat pool, from the right bank, just bellow the Bargey Stone. The wading was good and over large rounded rocks, the water had a peaty stain to it but the fly fished well, and it wasn't long until a fish appeared. It was a lump showing just behind the large tree in the edge of the pool. I fished to Caputh Bridge, and then under it and the Sparrowmuir Pool. A long pool with a light flow, the remainder of the morning was spent fishing this out and without seeing any further fish.



I met the other rods over lunch, then Donald showed me the Spruces, where i was to fish for the afternoon and i swapped to a 15' Dtx with a 65' Floater with an intermediate tip. At this height wading was waist deep, but comfortable, and again a good flow for the fly. I started a few hundred yards up from the hut, and fished the pool down. Again, waiting for a pull but nothing was to show or make an offer. I fished down toward the Bargey stone without success, then retired for dinner and wait for the light to drop to have another run through.



I fished the Boat Pool from the left bank in the evening, which was a contrast to the right bank. Starting on the bend, the water is fast, so a Tungsten Conehead longtail Munro was used to get some depth. Further down the pool it calmed down and fished well, however the only offer was from an adventurous trout taking the cascade- funny i never seem to fail to catch a Trout on the Tay.



Back over to the Hut and i fished Spruces down as the sun fell, a very nice end to what had been a superb day.

I got home and tied up a few flies with some Shaddow fox in the tails instead of bucktail to get a little more movement for the next days fishing, it turned out a very good idea.





Day 2



I arrived at the Hut for Murhtly Top water, and if i was excited when i seen the Low water, this was perfect, just perfect. What a location, the sun was accentuating the Douglas Firs, the water had a slight colour but looked superb, does it get much better than this?



I went for a walk to see the beat and it certainly didn't disappoint. They generic River Tay stereotype, big wide open pools, open banks and 16' rods? This was intimate, involving and dare i say perfect.



After getting changed, and discussing tactics it was time to get set up. I set a 16' Norway up with an 80' Floater, and the 14' Dtx with a floating head and fast tip again. I opted for a Ghillie Fly, on the Norway and a Tronach Shrimp on the Dtx, both Flys Tony designed and i had hardly let the varnish dry on.



After chatting to the other rods, i was ready and i set off with Donald to see where i would spend the morning fishing.



I spoke with a friend on the way up to Dunkeld earlier, and he said he had a fish out of the Tronach by 10am the week before, so i had better get fishing. As luck would have it, just before 10am a fish thankfully obliged and i had one on. I was in the Burn Pool, and Donald had said on route to the Tronach "Start in here, if theres anything fresh its the best chance". He wasn't wrong, after a few casts to see how the fly was fishing and getting a good speed, i had what i thought was a sea trout on, then it woke up. A good fight and it reluctantly decided to come and see us, unfortunately it didn't stick around for a picture excusing itself and swimming off to sulk in the pool. Donald gave it 8lb and it was liced and pristine. Superb, first Tay fish, an excellent start to the day.



Donald left to see the other rods, and i took another run throught the pool. A few casts down, and another fish was on, this one was a little more playful, and up on the surface immediately. Another good fight, again he didn't seem too keen to come and see me but after a quick picture he was back in the pool to sulk with the last one. This one was larger than the last, round as a pig and liced, superb fish. When Donald arrived he was delighted and we set of to get a third for a hat trick.



I fished the rest of the pool out then left it to rest and headed up to the Tronach with Donald. This is the top pool on the beat, with an Island separating it from Newtyle, so holds fish. The banking had been reconstructed, and there was a 12' drop if you walked of the bottom step. It looked very fishy, so i started to fish from half way up the Tronach down. As we approached the tail Donald mentioned "Now we're in Tiger country, if you get a fish in here our running". Coming down to the Tail, you could wade and the water picked up pace, i swapped up to a size 7 Tronach and fished it out, without seeing a thing. Lunch time was approaching so i had another cast in the Burn Pool then headed back to the Hut for Lunch.



After lunch i was on the right bank opposite the hut, for a little practice in very tight casting on my bad side. There had been fish showing all morning on this side, so it was worth a cast or two. I started above the Girnal and worked my way down towards the croy. There were a few fresh fish running through, and the rod opposite me had a fish on, which then broke him on a rock. I fished the pool again before returning to the left bank to fish the Girnal from there.





A change in tactics, i put on a sink tip head to the 15' Dtx, and a small fly and tapered leader. The Girnal is quite a long pool, but there was less flow on the left side so a square cast with downstream mend got the fly fishing. I worked down the pool and only seen a further two fish within range.



Back to the hut for dinner and i said farewell to the rods leaving. I waited an hour or tow for the sun to drop and the pools to rest before taking another run through the Girnal. There were a few more fish about but again nothing offered.



I made my way up to the Burn Pool and after a cast found myself talking on the phone for a few minutes. Two casts later and another fish on, this one very grumpy and not terribly please to see me. He headed downstream and into the backing a few times, and eventually after walking down to it i got it in, another prisitne fish, fat as a pig and liced. He swam back off to join his friends and i was delighted to have a Tay hat trick.



The sun was beginning to set so i went up to the Tronach and fished it down and through the tail as it set, a perfect end to the perfect day. I took a few casts again in the Burn pool walking to the hut and met another rod who had just arrived, i gave him a fly (which he then caught a 14lb fish on the next afternoon in Garth on the Lower beat- my three plus his to the same pattern, Superb) and headed down to the Girnal for a last cast before heading home.



A thoroughly enjoyable day, in good company, a great ghillie and a sublime beat.



Thanks go to my friend for the generous offer of fishing two days, i cant thank you enough. To Donald for his impeccable advice and Tony for his also. It doesn't get much better than that, very enjoyable and a couple of days to remember.

The Spey a week on Thursday for a few days, so hopefully it will be as kind to me.

We have a winner!

The quality of reports in the summer report competition were without any doubt outstanding. Congratulations to our winner Crispin, an excellent contribution.

I would personally like to thank all of those who took the time to make such high quality entries. Its quality like this that makes this forum such a great place to be!

Summer report of the season competition winner 2011 - Crispin

Having only fished a handful of days in Ireland this season I was watching the weather forecast closely for most of last week. At last things were coming together nicely for a good fishing weekend….somewhere.

Planning proper commenced when Openthelennon (Ronan) called on Thursday to invite me to fish for sea-trout in Lough Beagh with him on Saturday. At around the same date last year Ronan and a friend had had a great day on the lough with thirty fish to 3.5lbs.



Everything was pointing to perfect fishing conditions and a possible red-letter day. There had been plenty of rain, ensuring fresh water in the lough and a run of fresh fish, with the forecast of a south-westerly breeze and plenty of cloud cover helping to get the adrenalin going.

Lough Beagh, four-mile long and half-mile wide, is the centrepiece of County Donegal's Glenveagh National Park and, I'm told, was recently featured in a T&S feature. Glenveagh itself is a haven for a stunning array of flora and fauna and was chosen as the place for the recent re-introduction of the golden eagle, which had become extinct in Ireland.



The fishing is managed by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) who allow only two boats on the lough, but on Saturday we were the only two anglers there. It's a LOT of water for two anglers, and at €30 each for boat, engine, fuel and fishing is, even by Irish standards, a bargain!



Despite the perfect conditions and some deft work by my boatman, the morning was producing only the occasional fish, some coloured sea-trout and small brownies. Ronan quickly opened the scoresheet, in the middle of a windy squall, but it took a while for me to start playing catch-up.



As the weather brightened and the wind started easing we decided on an early lunch.











As the clouds receded, the winds dropped and the sun came out we offered sacrifices of Ikea prawns, Orkla smoked-salmon and Bersano Sanguigna to the fish Gods, in the hope that they would reward us with a bountiful harvest in the afternoon.





Tactics were mulled over and, despite having seen nothing surface-feeding, we decided to set out again to fish dry daddies.



The change in tack provided an instant upsurge in our catch rate (read, "I started catching") as a couple of dozen fish, mostly small, were landed and as many lost, on various daddy imitations.







However, the larger fish just didn't seem to want to know and as we headed back to port at 6pm the weather was getting nastier by the minute.



As we packed away one of the park rangers came down for a chat to see how we had got on.

"The fisheries board electro fished the lough a couple of days ago," he told us.

"Really, and what did they find?"

"Lots of salmon by the river mouth, ferox to 5kg, and plenty of sea-trout. I live just down there by the bridge and have been watching the sea-trout running. There's a great run."

In common with most anglers I never look for excuses, but can't help wondering if a large scale and deep electro fishing exercise may have had some impact on the fishing

However, a couple of dozen brownies, a dozen sea-trout and a fine lunch in good company makes a great day out in my book. A big thanks to Ronan for the invite!

At 05.40 the next morning the alarm went off in Glenmore Lodge on the River Finn, 45 minutes drive from where I had fished the day before. But by that stage I had already been up for 25 minutes.

Off I went, in light rain, to put in a couple of hours on Beat 1 before breakfast. Assuming that the other rods would start at the top of the beat and work down, I decided to start at the bottom and work up towards them.

On the way to the beat I stopped on Glenmore Bridge to check the height. At 1ft 5in it had dropped only two inches overnight, and was absolutely perfect for the beat.

Sure enough, five minutes after starting in the Glebe I was into my first fish of the day on a size 10 single Bann Special (this year the Finn is mandatory single barbless hooks and total C&R). The small grilse was sea-liced.



In the course of the next twenty minutes I lost three more, and had two pulls, and I still hadn't reached the end of the 80m long pool.

This was Finn fishing like it used to be and brought me back to a day ten years ago when I caught twenty-one grilse in a morning session on the same beat. Early signs were that this could be another one of those days.

A quick cast in Carlins was rewarded with a second liced fish before it was time for breakfast.



As I headed up to the lodge I met Easky who was arriving to fish the beat and I agreed to show him around after I had had something to eat.

I caught up with him an hour later in Leonards, a pool that I've had many many fish out of, including 13 of the 21 on that day back in June 2001.



He offered me a try-out of his Loomis switch rod and on the second cast his Calvin shrimp was grabbed by a high-spirited grilse. In the spirit of gentlemanly guiding I immediately handed the rod to him, which he grabbed enthusiastically.

The fish came adrift in the handover, but I knew there would be plenty more to come.

Sure enough, as Easky left Leonards and started in the Gully just below me I was into another fish, which he kindly came and netted for me.





While using foreceps to unhook a deep-hooked fish I managed to rip the hackle off my Bann Special and went looking to ace fly-dresser Easky for a suitable replacement, preferably one of the Calvin shrimps he was using to such devastating effect. But sadly no, he only had ONE single and wasn't going to give it to me, no matter what!

So on went a lovely traditional-looking fly that OpentheLennon tied for the December fly swap. And very soon it too was doing the business.



Sorry about the state of the fly Ronan but it has been in the gob of several fish!

And so it went on, Easky would get a contact and lose or land a fish, then it would be my turn. Soon the tally was running at four fish each and six each lost, with a multitude of plucks and pulls in between.

The fish were an even mix of sea-liced, fresh and coloured grilse up to 5lbs.

And this was all in three small pools. Leonards, the Gully and the Glebe.

















For a change of scenery I headed upstream to fish the streams from the Ivy Bridge back down to the Glebe before lunch and by the time I was back with Easky we had each had another fish, mine coming, once again, from Carlins.

All my fish were caught on a 10ft 8wt Lpxe single-hander but having tried out Easky's switch rod, and seeing how much better it could handle the stiff breeze, I'm thinking one may need to be procured.

A quick post-lunch trip upstream past the Leap to Carney's, the junction pool where the Reelin joins the Finn, produced no more fish and soon I called it a day.





The weekend really will go down as one of the finest fishing weekends I've ever had. Not for the numbers or size of fish but for sheer variety, good company, fine food, beautiful scenery, and a few fish, it really was priceless!