Fly Fishing for Rainbow and Brown Trout at Lough Mahon lakes.

         
Putting away the dry fly rod due to the strong gusting winds i started with a Di3 sinking fly line and a three fly cast of a Humungus lure on point a Blood red blob on mid dropper and a Cormorant on the top dropper, taking a lot of weed on the sinking line i decided to change over to a floating line and quickly started taking trout. The up and down action of the weighted Humungus combined with a very slow figure of eight retrieve took a lot of trout, but i had to change the retrieve on numerous occasions due to the trout just nipping at the lures and letting go with lightening speed. The strong wind kept bowing the floating line and pulling the lures down the lake faster than i wanted to retrieve and  this meant that the trout could feel the line well before i could feel the fish thus making me lose a number of good trout. To combat this i would mend a loop of line up into the wind on the last  cast just like an upstream mend on a river and this allowed me to fish the lures slowly without the wind causing a bow on the line. The majority of the brown trout took the blood red blod and the rainbows had no problem taking the humungus lure, while fishing the lower lake i took some trout in and around the island but in looking back maybe changing back over to the Di3 sinking line would have proved better due to the deeper water in the big lake.

Going back up to the top lake i decided to give the dry fly a go as the wind had just dropped off and caught a few nice trout on a black Klinkhammer size 14, but as is normal just as things were getting interesting on the dries the wind kicked back up gusting to 60km per hour and that put paid to my dry fly fishing. I was very tempted to fish a large floating Chernobyl Ant in the wave and pull it back against the wave making a very life like movement as it has worked for me on numerous stocked lakes and can be very exciting to see trout coming up and attacking such a large fly. All in all a good days fishing when weather conditions were tough.

Big Rainbows on the Dry Fly at Ardaire Springs.

        

        

The wind was a strong northerly gusting upto 60 km per hour and the temperature was very cold only barely touching 5 degrees all day and when it dropped down lower you could feel it on the fly line as it started to stiffen up when casting due to the cold. Starting at the top of the lake there was a small bit of shelter from the wind and the trout were cruising around  picking up anything that had been blown in off the grass margins. I caught and released a few nice rainbow and brown trout close in on the dry fly and after spotting many trout aborting the final take with my polaroid glasses i changed over to a smaller klinkhammer pattern on the dropper and allowed the larger size dryfly to fish on the point giving the trout a choice in fly size just in case that was the issue with the refusals. I found that when the flies were out in the heavy wave the big fly was taken aggressively but on covering in close along the margins all the takes were on the smaller pattern so having that set up suited both areas and i kept getting hook ups all day long, the only problem was on hooking a large trout close in it dived down into a weed bed and straightened my small size 16 klinkhammer with ease. Moving into the lower part of the lake the wind was sending a good wave into the corner and i saw a few big rainbows actively taking off the surface so i cast a long line and allowed the flies to be carried naturally on the wave into the corner. The trout came up the wave and hit the dry flies very aggressively so i had to allow a slack line and once i felt the pressure of line moving away i lifted into the trout and they were off up the lake like cruise missiles. The trick was after casting mend into the wind and as the fly moved down the wave send some line after it thus increasing the natural drag free drift and this is how i got some great hook ups. As most anglers know rainbows do not like a good wave and normally that stirs up the browns but these rainbows had'nt read the book and were quite happy to attack the dry flies all day long. The trout were  great fighters and never gave up and also some of the big trout were in great shape and condition for this time of year and beautifully coloured. Will definitely be going back for the bigger ones.

Dry Fly Fishing at Ardaire Springs Trout Fishery.

Having arrived at the lake i noticed a number of trout rising near the reed beds so i decided to fish for them with dry flies. The trout were  coming to the dry fly and playing with it, swirling under the fly and then refusing to take it so i changed down to a smaller size Klinkhamer and an F Fly to cover  the trout better.  Some of the trout were launching themselves into the air and landing on the fly which was both exciting  and annoying as i was not hooking up due to the way they were landing on the flies. After a while the takes were slowing down and the trout were coming at the fly in a more positive way which led to better hook ups and great sport. I caught a number of great rainbows around the 3 to 4lb bracket and even one almost touching 5lb,  the brown trout were slow to show but i met and caught a few the best being 2lbs.

Giving the dry fly a rest for a few minutes i put on a  hot orange booby with a Di 6  sinking fly line and met a number of trout but they were able to shake off the barbless hook with ease, i was playing out a good rainbow of about 10lbs when it ran at me with lightening speed and went straight into weed and that is where it left my fly ( smart trout ). Going back to the Dry flies i caught a few more nice trout before it was time to finish up for the day and head home. My tips for fishing at Ardaire Springs ,(1) ask Ned he knows what the trout are taking and  where to fish for them, (2) Try the Dry fly, Klinkhamer's in size 14 & 16, both Black and Olive were working well.  (3) Di 3 or Di6 sinking lines using hot orange boobies or Humungus lures and also some snake fly patterns in white and natural are working well fished deep and slow. For more infomation contact Ned at 00353 (0) 868128937 or info@ardairesprings.com and if you tell Ned i sent you he will definitely treat you to a nice cup of tea, all in all a great fishing lake with all anglers needs catered for.
                                                                                                                                                                               

Fly Fishing for Rainbow Trout at Loch Mahon Lakes

For more information contact www.lochmahon.com.

Fly Fishing for Brown Trout and Rainbows at Carrigavantry Reservoir, Tra...

For more information contact www.waterfordflyfishing.com.

Fly Fishing For Rainbow and Brown Trout

Fly fishing at the Laois Angling Centre , we had a great days fishing using dry flies, buzzers and lures. The most successful method was using lures on a D i3 sinking fly line with a Hot Orange Blob / White Blob, Cormorant Fly and Humungus lures. As the day went on we caught trout on Olive Klinkhamers and also on static buzzers.  For more information contact www.laoisanglingcentre.ie .

Lough Lene, West Meath

I really enjoy fishing this lake because it has some great fishing features such as shallow reefs and islands and being a big lake you really have to hunt your quarry. The dry fly fished very well using both Black or Olive Klinkhamers and when the breeze got up we met trout on lures such as Cormorants, Black Boobys, Hot Orange Blobs on a D i3 sinking fly line. There is a big stock of both natural and stocked Brown Trout and also Rainbow trout and having had browns up to six pounds myself and seen big rainbows caught it is definitely a great venue.