Ronan's Report

It’s been a mixed week of fishing. I’ve been doing some guiding for anglers after salmon, chasing pike and trout on Corrib, targeting monster browns on Lough Inagh as well as seatrout, salmon and normal sized browns. One client had an arctic char, they’re very rare over here and usually small, but very pretty and there is something very special about catching them. Unfortunately i didn’t get a pic! In my 16 years fishing Inagh I’ve only had about 7 or 8 char.

I have no idea what’s in store for the next few days.. I might target pollack around the rocks from my boat, might try for a salmon, might be working!

By the way, if anyone wants to hire me as a guide, give me a call! +353 87 770 1986

For info on staying at the Lough Inagh Lodge call Maura on 00353 95 34706 or log on to http://www.loughinaghlodgehotel.ie/

For fishing bookings and info contact Colin Folan on 00353 95 34706 or 00353 86 867 9459

Have a great August bank holiday!

Ronan..

Conditions at 9am were perfect. Within the first hour John landed a hard fighting 2lb+ seatrout on a Silver Stoat. During the battle I noticed a wall of wind and rain charging down the lake in our direction. It was with us for the rest of the day. We battled on fishing known salmon water drift after drift, A drogue made the drifts last a reasonable amount of time, without it the fishing would have been even more chaotic than it already was. At times, going back up into the wind to start another drift really got my adrenalin pumping. Wind and waves so strong at times the boat hardly moved forwards, To open up the engine would mean disaster, even as we were going the boat occasionally took on water. This is fun though! Watch the waves and gun it when you can. There was so much water coming back on top of me from the boat breaking through the waves, Sometimes stinging my face and eye’s, that wearing a hood or cap was pointless! Your getting wet, that’s all there’s too it, keep bailing. We would always start the drift well above where we normally would to allow the drogue to grab. Then we had relative peace again until the end of the drift, a little wetter than the last.

Kylemore Lough is a stunning place to fish. I’ll be back when the conditions are more favorable!

For bookings contact Nancy on 00353 95 41143 or http://www.kylemorehouse.net/

I just tied up a few flies for fishing on Kylemore lough in Connemara, Co. Galway tomorrow. It pays to have a range of flies in varied sizes and colours for lough style fly-fishing. Bushier flies on the bob, then getting more slender and streamlined towards the tail. These flies are tied with seatrout and salmon in mind, but they will also work for browns.

Ronan..

I sort of went off the radar for the last while. Women, drinking and getting stitches in my hand were all to blame. I had one blog to write about early morning caenis feeders but to be honest, the day in question was almost identical to the other blog I wrote on the topic.. The only difference was Johns brother Damien was with us. I’ll add some pics anyway.

The weather is fantastic right now and I’m getting motivated again. John just informed me about some late evening sedge fishing on Corrib. That will probably be our next venture. Hopefully tomorrow evening actually. Stitches in hand or not I’ll man up and get out there. Doctors are rarely right in my experience anyhow.

At some point in the near future I’ll be targeting salmon and seatrout, both locally and in North Co. Mayo and maybe Co. Sligo. Decent runs of fish are arriving and I dont want to miss the boat on this like I did last season.

I’m taking my boat out of Maam tomorrow and putting it on the sea outside my front door. Maam,at the Nortwest tip of Lough Corrib, has been absolutely useless this year so I wont waste any more time there. The sea will present some great fly-fishing opportunities for the rest of the summer. Lots of pollock and mackerel to be caught, there is talk of bass but I’m not holding my breath on that one, at least not around here. I hope to get down south to target them however. There’s a good chance of ballan wrasse on fly and maybe horse mackerel. Sandeels too. There are mullet around but they generally just frustrate the crap out of me. Yesterday evening they did just that.

So thats about it.. I’ve set myself up for some good blogs and I want to deliver on them. Time and this blog’s title will tell.

Ronan..

Ps. Tip of the week. Don’t buy an Airflo 40+ sinking line. They come apart at the joint between the running line and the head. I’ve seen it happen to the only four 40+’s I know of.

Also, on a totally different note, pardon the pun, I went to see a band recently that I’ve been enjoying.  They’re called Austra. Have a listen! This song is a good intro to the band but all their stuff is great. I like it anyway! Link at the bottom..

Oh, one more thing.. Get yourself over here Paul, It’s time!

Last Saturday Eddie Purcell, a great family friend and fly-fisherman, took John and I out on Lough Derravaragh. The lake is 8kms long with the Inny River flowing into and out of the northern end. Trout stocks are not high but they are big. We only had about 5 hours to fish so we decided to target pike as ideal water for them was evident. The first drift was about a kilometer long over perfect pike terrain. It was along a 15 – 20 foot drop off by reeds. I landed one little jack. Shortly after Eddie took us up the Inny river, a magnificent, wild spot with lots of bird and fish life. The fish were not giving themselves up easily but we had a few chances and landed another jack pike. I’ll have to come back here to fish for trout! According to Eddie they are the most beautiful trout you are likely to encounter anywhere. That’s a good enough reason for me!

More on early morning caenis feeders soon.. I have lots more grey hair since i started fishing for them!

Happy fishing all and a special thank you to Eddie for taking us out.

Ronan..