Ronan's Report

Not many fish to report from the weekend but it was not all bad. I managed one nice trout in flat calm conditions on Corrib with Dad on thursday. I fished with just 2 buzzers on a 5lb flourocarbon leader. If there was any breeze at all  would have been fishing 3 or 4. I’ll tie a few for a blog in the near future.

Friday I was on sea without a flyrod with my good friend Fuzz.. We got a feed the old fashioned way with our hands and spears!

Saturday Fuzz and I fished the Corrib for both pike and trout but we had no success. I did explore a large chunk of the lake i never fished before and did not see a single fish. Conditions were tough once again. I’m really looking forward to a day on this lake when everything is just right.

By the way there are still no pike near Maam! Bad mistake putting my boat there for the early part of the season.. I’ll know better next year!

Enjoy the week! Ronan..

I woke up to a perfect blue sky day with hardly a breath of wind.  I did a little work but could not get motivated because I was inside… so I thought, Dam it. I’m going outside! First I went to Crumpan and and got myself a feed of cockles for dinner, Then went for a snorkel in the same place to see if the fine weather brought any mullet in. It did. Mullet are a bit of a curse because they offer many of the things a fly fisherman looks for but are just about impossible to catch. They can be spotted cruising near the surface apparently feeding. When a shoal is located they draw the angler in completely. Absolute concentration happens without effort. Flies are changed often due to constantly being ignored. They keep your full attention until dark or until you just give up. All of the above happened when I targeted them after I got out of the water. I had one take on a size 14 Green cdc weed fly (a dry because all my best mullet success has been on dries). The hook up was brief and I had no other chance. In my experience with mullet that was a good evenings fishing! Time for dinner…

Ronan..

One small trout is all we landed on Lough Mask last Thursday.. Conditions were ideal. We covered water that should have held fish but it simply felt like they were not there. I think our great lakes are in trouble and i dont know what to do about it besides practicing and preaching catch and release. I believe working on the spawning streams would be a good idea too though. On a brighter note i heard some good catch reports from the lower Corrib on Saturday. Buzzer fishing will soon be in full swing!

Pike fishing on Saturday was great fun. I had 4 and they are much stronger than they were a week ago. I’m yet to meet a really big one but I’m enjoying the search! When john puts his boat in the lower Corrib it will open up many opportunities for big ones i think. Build the dam trailer john!!!

A great win for Ireland in the rugby followed by a few pints in Galway topped of the day beautifully!

Have a great week all.. By the way, I’ll have a sexyloops email address soon so if anyone wants to contact me it will soon be possible. Thanks for reading!

Ronan..

This day last year paul and I were getting ready to leave NZ to head for the Northern Territory in Australia. We arrived in Darwin on Paddy’s Day, Traditionally a fishing day for me but the Guinness got the better of us on that occasion. We were on the water the next morning… afternoon maybe, we don’t wear watches!

Tomorrow is Paddy’s Day once again and also my 20th fly fishing anniversary. I remember that first day very clearly. I was with my Dad and my Grandad on Lough Corrib. I fished hard all day with freezing hands while putting up with some abuse such as “you’ve been watching me casting for fuckin long enough now to know how to do it” and “It looks more like whipping a bull than casting”. It was half in gest… I think! I kept trying and persistence paid off with a 1.5lb brown on a Black Zulu.  All 3 generations were delighted and I never looked back. Dad (Joe Creane) and I fish together in NZ every year. I wish my Grandfather, Paddy, could have been there with us, however I’m thankful for all the great days the 3 of us had on the water together,  Without them I would not be able to think like a trout!

Tomorrow Dad and I are going to take on Lough Mask…

Ronan..

I arrived at Corrib on Saturday morning to find it like a sheet of glass. My plan was to target trout since the season is open again but with bright sunshine and not a breath of wind to push the boat along there was not much point. I set up a rod for trout anyway in case the conditions changed but first i went after pike along the reeds in front of Ardnasillagh Lodge where i rented the boat. I had 3 pike within half an hour all 4-5lbs and then things went quiet. At 2pm I left the bay and ventured out into the lake to inchagill hoping for a breeze to get up by the time I got there. It didn’t! This time of year on Corrib a little wind is essential so I went back to where I started in pursuit of pike and boated one more of about  6 or 7lbs in the evening. It was a great moment, The pike cruised towards the fly from the side with his fins out of the water like a shark, he bumped the fly first so i paused, Then a slow strip away and he nailed it! I enjoy fishing with friends but sometimes it’s great to be on the water alone. I think it gives you a more genuine appreciation of nature and your surroundings. One disadvantage however is trying to photograph fish with the 10 second timer! You have one chance then the fish goes back whether or not you got the fish in the frame. It was great to get a few fish finally. No big fish yet but persistence pays off, or so they say!

I stayed at johns on Saturday night and tied up a few flies for Sunday. We fished out of Maam again and i can safely say there are still dam all pike in this part of the lake. I hoped that in the 3 weeks since we last fished it some fish would have moved in but we haden’t as much as a pull all day. I’ll try it again in a few weeks…

Spring is well and truly in the air and it feels fantastic!

Tight lines All…    Ronan..

Nothing to report from Saturday. The lake was very high and coloured from huge amounts of rainfall all week. Fished hard all day in Oughterard bay but no action. The highlight of the day was a cup of tea!! If anyone has some info they would like to share, or join me for a day, please contact me on facebook.. Cheers!

Ronan Creane

Sunday was the fourth or fifth time out on Corrib from Maam this year.  I put the bad fishing the first few times down to adverse weather conditions but now I believe the pike just aren’t in this part of the lake yet. Corrib is a massive body of water and pike, like trout, probably have movement patterns around the lake throughout the year. I won’t fish out of Maam again for a while. John and I fished hard all day for one small pike. There were 3 polish lads spinning and trolling in the same area and they did not catch any fish at all so this backs up my theory. Next weekend John and Iwill fish out of Oughterard. We’ll crack them yet! Just have to find them first…

I forgot my camera so had to use my phone! My apologies for the slightly dark images.

Later! Ronan..  (stuntman ci)

I didn’t make it out on the water last weekend, no great excuse, just too much partying! Next weekend will see me (and John) back out on Corrib.. and preparation has started.  Here are a few flies John and I tied up.. The weather is getting a little milder here so hopefully that will improve our chances. Time will tell!

I’ll report back on Monday… Stuntman Ronan..

Not much news on the pike front this week.. My boat is moored on the Bealnabrack River in Maam in North Connemara, about a mile upstream of Lough Corrib. It was -7c on Friday night and on Saturday the river was frozen all the way to the lake. The ice was up to an inch thick in places! I drove my old lake boat through the ice all the way to the lake causing only minimal damage to the hull. The lake was ice free but the cold seemed to turn the pike off completely. Am i right in thinking extreme cold will put pike off feeding? I realise people ice fish for them so maybe its a localised occurrence. Such low temperatures are new to Ireland but i have a feeling these cold winters are here to stay! I never came into contact with a pike all day. Its entirely possible that there were very few pike where I was fishing! I’ll be out again next weekend. I hope its warmer and the fish are on!

In the mean time, here is what I prepared for NZ last season. If anyone is planning a trip out there this will give you some idea as to what sort of flies to tie. They worked well in Tasmania too with the addition of some beetle patterns.

Take tomorrow off work and go fishing!

Stuntman Ronan..

Today I did a days work, then came home to wash the motherload of dishes. After putting down a fire and having dinner I decided it’s time for a blog… Its been nearly a year since my last one!

This year my plan is work hard to fund my next fly fishing mission abroad and to fish hard for whatever is available locally. At the moment its Pike. Lough Corrib is only 40 mins away so thats where I put my boat in. I’ve been out 3 times in conditions varying from howling gales to flat calm and sunny. Its all fairly new to me, tying huge flies, wondering what colour use, what depth to fish them at and where, etc… The best way to learn is to get out there, explore and experiment…

John and I are heading out again this Saturday. The next blog will be about either Pike handling, Big pike (hopefully big pike) or flies.. or all three! Until then, Tight Lines…

Stuntman Ronan..