The Essential Fly

Fishing Tips To Be Sure A Happy St. Patricks Day!

17 March 2022  |  Sarah
Happy St. Patricks Day!

Loch fishing in Ireland
Works all around the UK
Fly Fishing In Irish Lochs
With it being St. Patricks day we thought we would share some tips about fishing in Ireland... However these tips can work all over the UK in lochs and stillwaters so have a read and a cuppa if you don't fancy some of the black stuff! ;)

Perhaps Ireland is best known for loch style fishing, which involves drifting along in a boat. 

The traditional method includes time honoured wet flies that are tripped through a rolling wave using a floating line. 
This is all well and good when a decent breeze shifts the boat along at a fair lick when patterns like a Bibio, Olive Bumble and Blae & Black are all you’ll need.
These are arranged all of 3ft apart on a 12ft leader. 

The idea is to use only short casts and work the flies through the wave so they create disturbance that in turn attracts Trout.
Longer rods of 10-11ft are beneficial as they help to hold the flies up, close to the surface, especially in a good blow. When it comes to the retrieve, don’t be afraid to move the flies quickly as the boat is moving towards your flies too, and you want the flies to create an attractive ‘furrow’ at the surface. 

Be mindful to hold the rod tip high (approx 30 degrees angle) as this creates a little slack between rod tip and water that allows Trout to turn down with your wet fly, thus preventing the hook from being pulled from their mouth, which happens when holding the rod tip close to water.
Be aware that both Sea-Trout and Salmon for that matter respond well to this method when they are navigating loughs looking for feeder streams to spawn.
As exciting and productive as wet fly tactics are, they rarely work in a flat calm.  Firstly, your boat doesn’t drift very far and secondly these large wet flies tend to scare fish given a glassy surface. 

Now, it’s best to embrace more subtle methods, typically buzzer fishing. 

In fact, during recent years reservoir buzzer fishing tactics have proved extremely successful on Ireland’s large loughs.  Better still the same outfit used for wet fly is perfect for the job in hand.
Of course, presentation is very different now when using thinner monofilament like fluorocarbon will give you an edge.  Longer leaders too tend to be the order of the day when two buzzers positioned on a 14ft leader, or a team of three buzzers on an 18ft leader are the norm. 

It’s vital you slow down the retrieve to snails’ pace, as natural buzzers merely drift in the water column with no real sense of direction.  Conversely, train your rod tip close to the surface now, so you have more direct contact. 

Don’t fret over ‘bumping’ fish off like when wet fly fishing, as Trout moving to intercept buzzers do so in a more leisurely fashion.  This calls for a more straight line approach, which is a great help when it comes to detecting takes.

Finally, as wild brown trout, salmon and sea trout are the quarry it’s vital to respect them by returning the bulk of your catch.  This way stocks remain healthy to produce future generations. 

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