Ronan's Report

I’m at Christchurch airport right now and my bag is checked through to Dublin. Snakehead has just appeared on the agenda for Thailand in a few weeks so hopefully my next blog (probably in about a month but possibly sooner) will have 3 countries and multiple species in it which will make a welcome change from trout.. I’m happy to be heading home for what will surely be an epic trip.

Last weekend was tough. I broke in 2 fish which I shouldn’t have and one was possibly a double. I hooked 5 in total and only landed one. Day one brought tough sighting conditions but day 2 was perfect and I blanked! I fished lots of new water and I’m excited about getting back there for some really big days in the new year..

If I don’t get a report up before Christmas and New year I hope you all have a great one!

Fish hard..

Ronan..

The only information we had on Lough Na Fooey was from a book by Oscar Wilde’s father from 1904. All it said was that there were huge pike present. Good enough we thought! The reason for fishing the lake was that we were going to a 30th birthday party on the lake shore that evening so we killed 2 birds with one stone. The fishing was bad. John and I rose a small trout each and Nigel lost 2 pike. One of those could (almost!) have been counted but John managed to knock it off with the net while attempting a new netting technique.

The party which followed lasted at least 2 days!

Dad and I had been on Ballinlough near Westport in Co. Mayo the day before (Friday). We had lots and lots of Rainbows between 2 and 4lbs on many methods including Big wets, lures, small wets, big dries, small dries, buzzers and nymphs. We were constantly changing to stay in control of the opportunities we were given.

I’m not sure what to do this week but whatever it is I’ll report back about it.. There are good numbers of seatrout and salmon entering the Ballynahinch and Lough Inagh system so maybe I’ll target them.

Good luck!

Ronan..

It’s a long time since I fished Lough Carra but it’s just as I remember it. It’s a large lake made up of lots of smaller inter-connected bodies of water. Its mostly shallow with a white marl bottom giving the water an unusual, unique green glow. The lake is known to fish well in high winds and Dad and I certainly had that on our day on the lake. It blew a gale for most of the day making fishing quite difficult but we had a good few chances and managed 2 fish a piece. The last time I fished Carra was about 15 years ago and I remember doing well on a claret and mallard on the tail under Dad’s advise. Once again the fly worked accounting for 2 of our 4 fish. There should be mayfly up on the lake at the moment but pollution has massively reduced fly populations. The trout appeared to be quite opportunistic feeders as a multitude of flies moved fish. I’ll get out on Carra again before the season is over.

Later..   Ronan..