On The Fly

niallon

Hoping there may be some pick up on this thread. I would call myself and average to decent fly fisherman, but my biggest drawback has always been a lack of knowledge of the fly life. Most of my fish (I mostly fish the Dublin Trout Anglers stretches of the Liffey) are caught on the sedge because it's simple, sun's going, sedge is coming. I've caught on the May obviously, but for other flies I've never known what times of day/year to be looking out for X fly and I reckon I've missed out on some decent daylight/dusk fishing as a result.

What I'm hoping to bring about with this thread is maybe a concise list, specific to Ireland, of what flies are up/coming up on the rivers and lakes, and maybe how to fish them.

I know a quick Google will tell you what times of year certain flies are supposed to be up, but changing climates and freak weather in general seems to be changing up everything, such as me catching on the May two weeks ago and on a Blue Winged Olive two days ago (although that one probably isn't that strange)

thefisherbuy

Hi,


Well sedges are going to be the main hatch of flies for another month(Also anywhere there's trees will have type's of insects on it Eg, spiders,beetles), I think then there's a hatch of spinners, Then in september there will be alot of Daddy long legs around, so they'll get pushed by the wind into the rivers,Then There wont be much hatches, The trout will turn into spawning mode and wont take anything, I've caught fish on my own fly since February And i just caught my pb 5 river brownie on it, It's really Neon green, with black, and knotted pheasants tail, works very well, Don't know why, Just thought of it, Because back in February there was a hatch of stone fly (or black flys)

niallon

thefisherbuy wrote: »

Hi,


Well sedges are going to be the main hatch of flies for another month(Also anywhere there's trees will have type's of insects on it Eg, spiders,beetles), I think then there's a hatch of spinners, Then in september there will be alot of Daddy long legs around, so they'll get pushed by the wind into the rivers,Then There wont be much hatches, The trout will turn into spawning mode and wont take anything, I've caught fish on my own fly since February And i just caught my pb 5 river brownie on it, It's really Neon green, with black, and knotted pheasants tail, works very well, Don't know why, Just thought of it, Because back in February there was a hatch of stone fly (or black flys)

Thanks for the feedback, sounds like an interesting fly. Before evening if the fishing is slow on the Liffey I've found most small black patterns will tempt something alright.

I tie my own too but I've only ever caught on my own G+H and my own Devaux, last few nights a Devaux tied with an olive seals fur body has been doing the business well. Can't wait till the Daddys though!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I find many fly patterns are specific to particular rivers. Of the hundreds of flies I have I'll probably only use 4 or 5 in a season on my local trout stream.

fiacha

I've found the Little Grey Jobbie also known as the CDC F-Fly appeals to feeding trout, regardless of the hatch. As an experiment I tried it all last season on two rivers. I didn't change the fly pattern, tippet or leader and I consistently caught fish. I didn't try any other patterns, so I don't know if those particular fish were just "easy". It was great to have the confidence in the fly and I just concentrated on my casting and watercraft.

The fly is cheap and very easy to tie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLaPnujqkRM

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

On one stream here I have had a PTN on at all times all year and it has always delivered over any other pattern it was paired with.. On another stream it's a matter of anything as long as its small and black. I wonder if we get too caught up in what the hatch is etc. For close to 50 years I spent so much time switching between boxes full of flies trying to see what worked each day, considered conditions, temperature, hatches etc instead of persevering with a fly. Now I carry a few well trusted patterns and keep them in the water rather than on the bank being tied on or taken off.

madred006

Olives are always popular .then u get the spinners caenis sedges and lots of ants and the likes .Like some guys on here if havnt changed flies that often during year on river ,I find if you present it well enough you have a chance .

madred006

Olives are always popular .then u get the spinners caenis sedges and lots of ants and the likes .Like some guys on here if havnt changed flies that often during year on river ,I find if you present it well enough you have a chance .

niallon

Thanks for all the feedback chaps, much appreciated. I find a lot of posts are ringing true to my own fishing too, I find most small black flies good for something if nothing else is working, thanks for the heads up on the F Fly too, I'll have a few of them tied for the next trip. I'll keep this thread updated with what's working and not, feel free to do so too anyone who wants!

The Pontiac

I'll be fishing Lough Barfinnihy in Kenmare next weekend.

Can anyone recommend me some flies and best line/setup to use?

Cheers..

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

OK, water level went up about a foot by Monday morning so I decided to give the fly selection some thought and experiment at the same time. I put an old favourite small green nymph (sorry I don't retain the names of them all and have these many years) on a dropper and paired it with all the recommended flies for this time of year. I left the nymph and over the 5 hours switched the other flies. Threw in sedges, terrestrials, etc all as wet flies.
I got 16 nice wild brown trout and every one was on the green nymph that always works for me on this river at any time of year.

niallon

Nice going, think I definitely need to stop being lazy and branch out into more variety on the fly (haven't used a dropper once all season either, the shame!)

Out twice this week, caught a nice enough fish in an hours fishing on the Liffey at Straffan, took a Blue Winged Olive. More rises to a Devaux after that but nothing big enough to take it unfortunately.

Second trip produced no fish, stuck with the Olive and a huge rise came about around nine but couldn't tell for the life of me what they were taking, seemed to be five or six fish rising together, all at the same time then nothing for a few minutes, then five or six at once again, this went on for half an hour or so.