Comic strip

Myself and Ronan shared a rod on the beat on tuesday last 26/7.
 We were using Ronan's 5 weight Orvis Access switch rod with a foating Airflo scandi short head 300grain.
No takers at the V.

Ronan fishing Carlins

First blood to Ronan

The look of love

Second blood to Ronan

I meanwhile was personal photographer.

Gimme that rod!

Whos papparazzi now eh?

That salmon was later seen making a quick get away after a long distance catch and release.

Guideline switch line

 Got a Guideline switch line from Clonanav yesterday. Its a #9 with a 25gram head which suits my Echo #7 which takes a 25-29gram head. It is mainly for the local rivers in my area which are small and where a shooting head can spend alot of its time inside the rod rings. On giving it a test trial I found the line very very responsive to overhead casting, infact probably the easiest line I have ever cast overhead. The line is very smooth and subtle and the integrated running line is nice and thin. It took a bit more getting used to with spey casts and I found the Snap T the hardest to get on with. Im going to try it with a 6ft intermediate polyleader and see if it makes it any easier. I did get used to the line after a bit of flirting with it but havent realised its full potential yet. In terms of comparison to a shooting head the distance achieved is only slightly less but it is noticeable. The length of the line is not long at all infact with a spey cast I nearly put out the whole 24m. I found the wallet and tips of good quality although the sink tips have no way of identification on them. The loop to loop connections are very nice and smaller than other guideline fly lines. I have to give the setup a proper trial on medium and small rivers but initial prospects look promising.

Oh yeah got the replacement tip from guideline! Sorted!

Glen River

We also stopped off at the glen river while staying in Glencolmcille. 20 yoyos to fish for the day and it is a stunning river, we were not blessed with water though but ronan still managed a fish. Plenty of fresh sea trout about it too.

Switch Dog

Trusty side kick extraordinaire.

Maeve the Rave!

 Here is one of the highlights, Maeves fish!

Explicit Content, Parental advisory.

Glenmore Pool

After a slap up Sim breakfast we all took it a bit easy and didnt get back out till the afternoon. I had an attempt at tying a few flies and John and Petsie went back to the beat. Ronan and the two girls followed suit and I finished off some silver wilkinsons and decided on Glenmore pool.

I fished the tail of Glenmore with no luck and then started at the head of the pool. Instantly I had fish coming to the fly, swirling and plucking it. I hooked and landed a lovely fresh grilse and then phoned Ronan and the girls and said to make a move to Glenmore pool pronto.

Finn- 14/07/12

Great weekend had by all at Glenmore lodge. Here are some of the highlights. Water was well down, prob half a foot? Didnt even check!

First fish of the weekend to Petsie from the "V". Somehow we got up at 5.30 to fish it, well saying that some of us didnt sleep at all.. John hooked a fish from the beat on a hitch fly which was a great feat in itself. The two brothers are just back from Canada and had bombers out too but no luck with them. I lost a fish and fly in Carlins after tying a stupid knot on light fluro. I left the two lads to the upper beat and I fished through to the footbridge which I now know is the end of the Ivy bridge beat. Nothing doing but was a good start to the weekend.

Alls quiet!

Fished the fane 3 times since friday and all is quiet. Its dropping below 2 and still very clean. A little flurry of fish friday but nothing more reported since. High tides probably helped last week. Heading for the Finn this weekend and the forcast is good for fishing but bad for sun bathing. We're staying in the lodge at Glenmore so should be good craic!

For the Pot

I like to take one fish per season to have with me spuds, and here it is! This is the earliest I have ever caught a fresh Fane salmon, I always do the fish justice and make the most of it, its a 9 and a half pound cock fish and we'll get 3 dinners out of it for 4 people. Its more than enough to take in any one year, you dont want to get sick of it! I've taken 3 or 4 fish previous seasons but some steaks just get left in the freezer or you give cuts to someone and they dont use it, thats a travesty. Im totally behind catch and release, I just get hungry sometimes!

Here is the Park shrimp that did the damage, completely in contrast to the big frances that connected on Tuesday. I tied it for the Finn in Donegal but I decided to employ Summer tactics on the Fane. Its about an inch long. Im still happy with the single hooks, they are barbed but still have damage limitation and are far easier to remove than doubles and trebles. So far they are better hookers too, we'll see how my season pans out though (touching wood).
  Oh yeah! christened the Echo with its first fish aswell, it has far more power through the blank than my Lpxe, hard to explain, it flexes like crazy but doesnt feel under tension. Handled the fish with ease. Hate to say it but it is a superior rod to the Lpxe, so far. But it is a heavier gram rated rod and is more designed for spey casting. Im torn!

Best to date

Decided it was about time to really give the Fane a proper throw and fish down through my favourite beats methodically. Started at 7am this morning and fished down through Knockbridge with no luck.

I then moved up to the Carrick road bridge and fished down towards Knockbridge. Water is absolutely perfect and very clear, really enjoyable. Came to the last pool before heading off and after 6 hours fishing my jaw dropped when I was dabbling a francis fly and a fish came out of the depths and turned on the fly. Never experienced a take like it, I saw everything, after the flash of the flank he powered back into the dark and I let him really take the fly beore lifting into it.

What ensued was a bit of frantic chaos as I had no net and it was my biggest fish to date. Rod was struggling with the current and power of the fish and as he tore up river the rod bent behind a tree and snapped with the fish still pulsing upriver. Didnt think too much about it till later but I've got a replacement part before from guideline so fingers crossed it will work out. After alot of struggling and running up and down the bank I tailed the fish.

Photos arent the best, was rushing a bit as I didnt want it out of the water too long, was a long fight before I tailed him. In all my haste I never measured him but just threw the rod beside as a rough measure. Took a while to get back but powered off into the deep. Im not sure of its weight and I will be more methodical in future but just from the fight, weight on the rod and weight and girth in my hands it is definetly my best to date.