Kilgad Fishery - 14th March 2009

I had intended to get up early and head to moorbrook but being soo tired I woke up at 11.30am so that idea was out the window. I grabbed a bite of lunch and a shower and packed up the car and set out to find a spot for fishing, headed up to tildarg but turned away at the gate because of the 2 ft wave rolling down the lake and decided to head to Kilgad at Moorfields. After settling up the bill for a 4 hour catch and release and got set up. Set up with snowbee buzzer line and a holoneck on the point and a size 16 firefoil on the dropper. I headed around the lake and fished for about 20mins without a bite so changed the dropper to a lime rib olive buzzer , that i had tied and moved to the bay behind the spit of land and after about 10mins I cast out and was hit by a nice rainbow who gave me a good scrap. With it safely netted I fished on with no more luck,at that point forum member waterboy introduced himself and after a chat with him and mick i moved to the small lake and put an emerging black buzzer on point as a few fish where rising but to no luck.

I then stuck an orange egg on for the craic under an indicator and had a slamming take with a poor fight, the reason why?......it was a natural rainbow about 6 inches long so with it safely returned I stuck the olive buzzer back on and opted for a goldhead hares ear with a lime tail and fritz/dubbing body (I had tied it ages ago and never caught so thought id give it a whirl). I moved around to the point of the spit and cast out across the wind. With a fast figure 8 retrieve I hit into a fish which gave me a very good fight, everytime i got it near the net it made another run. I got it netted and it was at least 3.5lb, released safely back to fight another day. I cast out again and hooked into a fish which gave me the fright of my life, it hit me and leapt out of the water to give a nice aerial acrobatic performance and back into water, after about 5 mins it was netted, leaving me with a sore arm lol. I fished on a wee bit longer to no success. I then moved around to the bridge beside waterboy and was chatting to him and cast out bringing my flies in slowly when i got a nice hit and missed it, or so i thought the fish had taken the lime rib buzzer and swam towards me. With the line tight again i netted the fish. I fished on for another 30mins or so and called it a day. 

Overall a throughly enjoyable day with 5 fish in 2 and a bit hours so I was happy enough and will be back. 

Here is the Hares Ear and Lime Rib buzzer

Tildarg Fishery - 7th March 2009

I have recently joined Ballynure Angling Club and they where having their first competition of the year at Tildarg so I headed up at around 9.30am and was greated by a strong gusting Westerly wind with boughts of rain. I set up with my new koma kassette and snowbee buzzer line and a size 12 Holo Necked Black buzzer on the point and a size 16 orange firefoil on the dropper. My boat partner Billy and I headed down the far end of the lake as the other boats had congregated around the top half of the lake, we fished for an about 30 mins or so with no luck, then I lifted my rod up in the air and was dicussing the buzzer line with billy with my holo necked buzzer hanging in the water and BANG!!! fish on, It stayed deep but it didnt feel like a stock rainbow, far too thrashy, showing the signs of a wild fish and when it came to the surface this beauty greated me.

With the brown trout safely released I was happy catching the brown trout and didnt care if I didnt catch anything else all day but slogged on anyway through the wind and the rain. With a few more missed takes and getting smashed a few times, Billy missed a nice fish that took his whole cast. We fished on with no luck, others from the club had been using intermediate and sinking lines so moved out into the deeper water and switched to fast glass intermediate with a mini orange booby and fished it with slow strips and fast figure 8, but no luck. Changed onto a hot head damsel but after 30 mins with no luck we moved back tight into the bank and switched back to buzzers with an olive and a black holo necked buzzers on. I had a big hit and looked at leader, well where a leader should have been, the wee bugger snapped my leader so retied my cast but used a Hares Head Buzzer (will post a picture in a few days) on the dropper and new holo neck on point, fished on for a another 20 mins and thought i had hit the weed but when i brought my line up my cast that I had lost was attached with my two flies, make both of us laugh and got my buzzers back. I then hit this nice rainbow

It was 2lb or so and gave me a hell of a fight despite it not having best of tails, it stayed deep but was good craic. We fished on again missing fish and then another fish hit me and made a huge arc around the boat and gave me a nice fight, with it safely in the bag, it took the Hares Head buzzer which was nice as it was first time id fished it since it came off the vice, just a wee variant i tied up and will be getting the production line going for them. We fished on for a while and then Billy finally got his first fish the boat on a black buzzer. We packed up for the day at around 4pm.

Overall it was very enjoyable day, the brown made my day. Initially i was concerned about the buzzer line, whether or not it was worth it but after using it for the day I can say it is definitely worth it, it gives a heightened sense of the take and it took a while to get used to but i can say it made the bites feel more connected if you know what i mean, its hard to describe. The Koma Kassette was excellent, i managed to get 100m of wychwood 20lb backing and the entire buzzer line with room to spare and with the space saved it my bag with kassettes it is def worth the investment.

Murloc Angling and Rural Pursuits - 17th October 2008

I headed to Murloc today with my mate Peter. We arrived at about 9.15am and where warmly greated by James. We settled up for our fishing and decided to set up on the lake, we set off to the far side, with the wind blowing into the bank it was gona be hard to get a cast out but would be good for letting the flies drift. The sun was also out and was quite bright so I opted for the old faithfull moorbrook bloodworm 5ft under the indicator. I hit a number of fish and at 10am I got my first fish to the bank and then next cast I got another one. At this jetty I got another 2 fish to the net. In this time Peter got 4 on the bloodworm after trying buzzers for most of the morning. I moved around the bank to the area without jettys after seeing some fish move, managed to wrangle another 4 fish out of this spot til about 2pm. The sun disappeared and a few fish began to move and I got another few takes but lost the fish. I then decided to switch onto the diawl bach/buzzer combo that has been working for me and went back to my original spot after no takes around rest of bank with the buzzers/diawl bach. First cast and I was letting the flies sink and BANG fish hit me like a bullet but after a good fight I got him in and he had swallowed the diawl bach, much to my annoyance as this was the only 1 I had left, but thats the way it goes so I cut the line and let the fish go. It also had a montana foulhooked in the cheek, so removed it with relative ease before returning it safely to the water. I switched then to a size 12 Olive buzzer and a size 12 Firefoil Buzzer and after a few crosswind casts I had a fish on, I thought it had taken the olive but when I got it up in the water so got him netted. Peter got another fish on a cormorant and also managed to sleep for an hour on the jetty. At about 3.30pm we decided to call it a day.

Overall I got 10 fish, must have lost the same and Peter got 5, Biggest was about 3lb between the pair of us. The weather stayed nice and the forcast showers never appeared. We left happy and you can't ask for more than that.

Woodford Fly Fishery - 8th October 2008

Arrived at woodford just after 9. After a quick chat with Ted and ordering lunch I got set-up. Michael had already arrived and was set-up. After a wee chat we headed out onto the water. The wind was blowing from the north west meaning that we had to contend with the high bank which meant the possibility of catching the bank behind us. I started out with a bloodworm on and cast it out and let it sink and retrieved in a slow figure 8. After about 30mins and no takes i switched to a diawl bach on the point and black buzzer on the dropper using 6lb Airflo G3 fluorocarbon. No touches for about 20mins, and then i decided to switch to an olive buzzer on the dropper due to past success at Woodford. Next cast and fish on, very subtle take resulting a beautiful fully finned rainbow of about 2lb. I thought to myself the olive buzzer had done the trick but the diawl bach had actually done the business. I moved about the bank with the wind to my back but no more touches. At around 12 Ted shouted "GRUBS UP" and it was time for a fry, and then i got a bite just as I was reeling in, but what can you do.

After a very healthy fry we headed back out. I fished for another hour with the buzzers and diawl bach on but to no success. After seeing a couple of fish rising I switched on to a CDC hares ear emerger with 6lb Airflo G3 fluorocarbon tapered down into 4lb Fulling Mill Co-polymer to help with presentation. Nothing would look at the emerger and Neil, one of Woodfords members pointed out the hatching sedge so after carefull deliberation through my dry fly box, I decided on a CDC bibio hopper, the CDC mainly because I didnt have any gink left. Cast it out and watched a couple of fish move and then a boil under the hopper, just nosing at it, I twitched it a little bit but to no avail. I decided to switch back to the buzzers/diawl bach for the last few hours before I went home. Neil had mentioned that some anglers had been using goldhead vibrators to great success on floating lines, he wanted to try it on a sinking but didnt have any, luckily I had so gave him a brown one. Id say about 10mins later BANG and he is into a fish and it jumps out the water, me and fossil looked at each other and said it looked a big fish. I grabbed the net and Michael grabbed his scales.

Neil could not do anything with the fish, line stripping off the reel soo fast the back was out on the water. After a good fight the fish made for the weeds and wedged itself under a large clump. This is wear some teamwork came in handy, as Neil tried to coax the fish out of the weed, I got into the water with the net, after about 5 mins the fish showed and he was bagged. A quick weigh of the fish said it was roughly 8lb 4oz, nice fish by any standards and fin perfect. We then found the reason why it gave such a fight and why Neil couldnt turn the head

It was foul hooked in the anal fin, is there not a rule that foul-hooked fish don't count? lol As you can see it was a whopper of a fish.

The fish was released safely to fight another day. Now back to the fishing, Michael had to leave so left me and Neil to slogg it out. I tried the goldhead vibrator but to no luck so stuck the bloodworm back on. A few casts later and im into a fish, nothing major just a nicely finned rainbow of about 1lb 8oz. Right I thought, finally game on. Another cast resulted in me getting smashed and the fish stealing my bloodworm, Grrrrrr!!! Couple more casts with a fresh bloodworm and I called it a day.

Overall it was a hard day, with few fish being caught and we all did well to catch the fish we did.

Murloc Angling and Rural Pursuits - 22nd September 2008

Arrived just before 10am and after a quick chat with Fred I got set up, opting initialy for an olive buzzer on the point and a small black and red buzzer on the dropper after Fred mentioning claret had been working well. I set off around the lake to the far bank. The weather seemed to be against me with bright sunshine and not much of a ripple, thus not many fish where moving but I cast out the buzzers in anticipation of a take but no, nothing so i switched to a claret buzzer and again nothing so after 45mins I put a diawl bach on the point, a couple of wee tugs but nothing to write home about.

I switched to the old faithful, Moorbrook Bloodworm, fished 4/5 ft under an indicator. This resulted in 2 top quality fish in 2 casts. I fished the bloodworm for another hour or so, missing plenty of fish. I then hooked a lovely fish about 2lb 8oz. It was just before 2pm and I fished for another hour, missing at least 10 more fish but that is the nature of the game. I was working at Tildarg at 5pm so I packed up and headed home.

Tildarg Fishery - 18th September 2008

I woke this morning with the intention of heading to either Murloc or Movilla, at 9 am i phoned Movilla and got the usual "its fishing brillantly" response which i know from experience means it aint lol I hadnt slept well the night before, I was still tying flies at 4am so I decided to fish TIldarg instead, and another bonus is that I get to fish it for free. I quick run to Woodford to pick up some supplies and I was at Tildarg for 11am.

I initially set up with a diawl bach on the point and an olive buzzer and headed off up the bank, with a couple of fish rising but no takes or bites so thought I might have a better chance in the boat. I anchored up along the far bank quite close to the weeds, a couple of casts and a smashing take on a black buzzer (see pic below). With the fish landed, I fished for another 20 mins or so and moved on bottom corner of the lake beside the dead trees, I had a bite here and had a fish on that went down into the weeds and I had to snap the line and sacrifice 2 flies, all part of the game.

I moved the boat to near the middle of the lake after seeing a couple of fish moving. I anchored up and changed to a size 12 black buzzer on the point and a size 16 black buzzer with red head(also in pic below). BANG!!! fish on the dropper, it gave me a good scrap. Fish netted and it was back to fishing, 2 casts later and I wasnt paying attention and SMASH, a fish hit me like an express train and broke my dropper off. With a new cast tied up, I fished on for another 30 mins with another bite but nothing else.

At this point (3pm) my mate, Marty had arrived and after a bite to eat and not much happening fishing wise he talked me into going to his hide and having a pop at some crows with the shotgun. I got the only crow of the day which wasnt bad for my first time.

A wee bit of clay pigeon shooting and it was back to the fishery at about 5pm. I had another bite to eat and headed up the bank with the buzzers on again. With plenty of fish moving at this point I thought buzzers would do the trick but no it fell to the trusty Moorbrook bloodworm on a 14 ft leader fished with a slow figure 8 retrieve. 2 fish hit me like express trains and with them safely landed and releashed, another fish hit me and got off and then the rain forced a halt to play so I packed up and headed home.

Murloc Angling and Rural Pursuits - 12th September 2008

Arrived at Murloc at 10am, with so much buzz about the fishery I was excited to get set up and chuck a fly or two. Firstly I was astounded by the lodge, it is fantastic. When I got out of the car I was greated by an energetic springer by the name of Fly. Upon entering the lodge I met Fred the owner and also Paul from our very own forum. I filled out a wee detail sheet to be put onto the Murloc waiting list and then Fred ran over the rules and also what flies had been working.

I moved round to a jetty and got set up, Fred has said that fish had been taking apple green buzzers so I set up with a size 12 olive buzzer on the point and a size 16 lime green buzzer on the dropper. I had a couple of bites and then a very subtle take resulted in a fish of about 2lb weight that shot off into the centre of the lake, great fight and not a fin out of place. I got 3 fish on the olive buzzer and a couple of bites on the small buzzers.

I moved around to another spot, with a few more bites a moved round the the bank opposite the lodge and set up with the olive buzzer on the dropper and a size 12 diawl bach on the point. great fun on this jetty, a further 5 taking the diawl bach. Paul managed to get 1 fish beside me on the diawl bach. With the sun shining brightly the fish stopped moving on the surface, at this point I put a size 12 moorbrook bloodworm 5 ft under an indicator, the fly was out 2 mins and big take that broke me, and again the next take broke me so set up another bloodworm, this take was more solid and I landed a lovely 3lber. I caught a further 8 fish on the bloodworm. Paul landed a further 3 on a bloodworm i gave him.

Things went quiet and is started to rain and the fish decided to go deep, I fished the bloodworm for another wee while and then changed back to Diawl bach and buzzer combo but opted for a red headed buzzer as the olive buzzer was in a fish's mouth at the bottom of the lake. I fished the buzzers and diawl bach's on a very slow figure 8 retrieve and BANG fish on but it got off so flies back out again and another fish took the buzzer, at this point the rain was pelting down so I decided to tackle down and head home, as did Paul. We headed back to the lodge and had a chat with Fred and let him know how the day had gone.

So overall a throughly enjoyable day with 17 excellent fish (a personal best for me) and Paul ended up with 4 but sure who's counting...... lol.

Here are a few pictures of fish from throughout the day