Ballygawley Water

Ballygawley Water is a small stream that I had not fished before. I had done some recon on the water and was greeted with the usual 'there's no trout in there!' response. I learned that the stream used to fish well but had been heavily polluted. I wanted to fish it anyway.

I parked at a quiet bridge and decided to fish upstream, even though I could see some nice water below the bridge. I worked my way up river fishing the fast runs, as the water was low and clear. It wasn't long before I hooked a couple of small parr, which fought hard for their size. I never seen trout parr so silver so I took a photo of them.

I fished right up up the next bridge so I returned to the car, and continued on downstream through the fields, with the intention of fishing it back up. I reached some nice water and entered the river downstream of a small weir. On my approach I could see a decent trout rise on the right-most run.

I decided against a dry and fished the runs with a size 14 tungsten bead nymph, without a touch. My normal approach is to fish consecutively heavier flies until I feel that I have covered all the depths including very close to the weir. I thought the fish weren't going to play so I reeled in to move on. As I lifted the fly from the water for the final time there was a hefty swirl which had all the signs of a decent fish. I cast out against fishing the left hand seam of the run to the right of the weir. This time, instead of my normal dead-drift, I retrieved the fly just faster than the pace of water. On my third or forth cast I was into the biggest trout of the day.

I put on a size 12 tungsten bead nymph to get down quicker and fish more of the bottom. This soon paid off as I was hooking fish after fish, with each bigger than the previous. Along this seam, the water must have been 4ft, and it took the heavier tungsten bead to present my fly in front of the fish. They also preferred a fly that was moving faster than the current. The size of the fish in this pool were phenomenal, fat as anything, I'd seen nothing like it.

When I fished right in close to the weir I hooked my biggest. It was an instantly angry fat brown trout that initially fought deep but soon took to the air. After three or four leaps it parted from the end of my line. I estimated it to be over the magical pound mark, and would have been my best fish this season. I didn't mind it coming off, it adds something mysterious.

It was an educational day. While I may think that I have things pretty much sussed, it helps to vary techniques and change up from the methodical, mechanical way that I normally fish. It also instilled further that observation and presentation are key.

Carrick Lough

Today was wet and windy so I decided to skip the river tout and pursue some pike on the fly. I chose Carrick Lough as the venue as it is close by and reputed to hold some pike, at least. I arrived before noon and was quickly casting a fly between the platforms to entice a pike. DCAL class this lake as 'free fishing', that is, you only need a DCAL license in order to fish it: no permit required. For a 'free' lake, it is well setup by DCAL with good platforms around 2 sides of the lake.

Reading anglers spoor, I noticed that the lake had been fished recently by a lot of anglers, probably just last weekend. It seems that a lot of anglers fish the lake judging by the amount of rubbish left behind. DCAL actively clean the bins around these lake, but it seems that it is too much to ask that anglers should put their rubbish in them.

I was fishing for about 20 minutes before I nipped my first pike. Albeit small, it kept me interested. I turned another 4 at various platforms before one finally stuck. A nice jack pike.

I turned another fish before landing a smaller jack.

I would not expect to catch many large fish in these lakes as they have been quite heavily fished by anglers who like to kill and cook their catch. Although this is not something that the locals like to do, I do not condemn anglers who wish to do so, as long as it is within the fishery rules. The rubbish and damage to the platforms is another matter.

Remains of where a barbecue burnt into the fishing stands. Quite common at Carrick Lough.

I finished the day with two small pike. It was a cold affair but well worth it.

Ballinamallard River at Riversdale

I have been wanting to fish this river for quite a while. I purchased my DCAL permit online this morning and after an hours drive I arrived at Kilgortnaleague bridge around noon. I setup my tackle quickly and crossed the busy road to make my way down along the riverbank. What I first noticed about the river was that the banks had been worked at extensively, within the last year. I walked about a hundred yards from the bridge and began fishing down and across with a tungsten bead nymph to see if there were any trout about. Not a sniff! I walked further down the bank, fishing as I went, to no joy.

I walked about a mile downstream to investigate. There is a nice mix of fast riffles and deep pools along this stretch of water, although it does slow up near the end of the DCAL stretch. I noticed that there had been anglers on the river within the past few days, which may have contributed to my lack of success. The work carried out on the river was no small project. About 400 yards of river bank was rebuilt and stone structures were placed under the waterline to control the water flow (and create pools). I am not sure what these type of structures are called, but they create a good flow and look like they might create good holding water for the fish. They are clearly visible in the photo's below.

I couldn't help but notice that there were no fish rising where this work had been carried out. It wasn't until I walked up to Kilgortnaleague bridge (an area where the riverbank hadn't been 'fixed') that I seen a couple of trout rise to small upwings. It was here that I caught a half dozen small trout that saved a blank. 

It was a pleasant afternoon. It was mild and sunny. There was plenty of bird song to listen to and I spotted a couple of peasants. They were tame, which might have something to do with the pheasant hatchery well downstream. I will be back to fish this river, but I may have to try the angling club waters and give this part of the river a chance to recuperate after the extensive work that was carried out.

Ballinderry River at Kildress

Today was the opening for the 2012 fishing season on a lot of Northern Ireland's game fishing rivers. It has been a long winter and I was looking forward to this day for quite a while. I finished my first bamboo rod  and a few flies tied in preparation for today.
It was a mild morning and the thermometer read 10.5C. I decided I would fish the Kildress Angling Club waters of the Ballinderry river, which is very local to me. I arrived at around 11am and there was a sparse hatch of large dark olives coming off the water. I fished a number of pools and dropped a few trout before going up to the top corner. Here the LDO's were lining up in the current and the trout were moving a lot of water to get at them. I managed a few trout on a folded wing CDC dun.

I went back down to fish the fast water of the steps with an olive biot nymph and managed to hook the biggest fish of today. A lovely brown trout with an unusual colour around it's spots.

Overall I had an enjoyable day with too many trout to count. The fish were feeding on the LDO's right up until I left at 3pm.

One thing I did notice about the Streamlite was the handy polymer spacing for the reel seat. It has rounded edges and protects the tippet when hooking flies onto the stripper for storage. A nice feature.

Greys Streamlite 3/4

Last week I ordered a Greys Streamlite reel for my new bamboo rod. It arrived this morning and I am very pleased with it. I have read that the pawl was easily broken on these reels but I know that if I do have a problem that Greys will replace the part without much hassle. The reel seat of the Greys is a bit awkward on the REC CRNS reel fitting but it does stay on and hopefully will continue to do so when fishing. I am just waiting on my Barrio fly line and then I'll be tackled up for the new season.

Building Bamboo: Part Four

As I suspected, this was the most labour intense part of the build. After a few hours, I finally got the guide feet and ferrules wrapped neatly with white Pearsall's. I am happy with the result but some wraps had a turn or two too many. Hopefully this won't be that noticeable when they are covered with Flex Coat.

It's not long until the trout season starts here. I have a box load of flies to tie first!

Building Bamboo: Part Three

I had already done all the hard work of sanding the blank to allow the ferrules and reel seat to fit so it was just a mater of mixing the epoxy resin and hardner and fitting the components. It was a relatively painless affair and took a few minutes. The trickiest part was to align the reel seat with the direction the guides were to go on.

With the epoxy allowed to cure for a few days, I have already taped on the guides. I can see the next part being more difficult: whipping on the guides.

Building Bamboo: Part Two

I had to wait a few days for the Cascamite I ordered from eBay to turn up, but when it did, I got straight to gluing the cork rings onto the blank. It was a simple enough affair.

Today I shaped the handle using a simple drill set up. I have access to a workshop and I started by making a support for the blank to protect the rod when turning the handle. I have seen a few of these set-ups online and I thought it was they way to go. After creating the V shape stands I realized that I didn't need them. I put the blank into the drill chuck at high RPM, the blank balanced itself nicely and turned straight. I got to work with 120 grit sandpaper to give the rough cigar shape and finished it with 180 grit and a final rub of 360 grit to give a nice smooth finish. I am very happy with the outcome.

Next step: Glue on the reel seat and ferrules.

Bamboo Building: Part One

I know that it is a bit late to be starting a winter project with the trout season just a fortnight away but it was necessary. I don't have any small stream fly rods anymore, only my Orvis 8 weight sits in the tackle room. I sold all the others to free up some cash for a move, which has yet to happen. Last week I decided that I would finally build myself a small stream bamboo stick. This evening I spent the guts of three hours sanding the 6'6" 3-4 weight Fosters English taper blank, that I purchased from Chapmans, to make the ferrules and reel seat fit, which they do very nicely. Next step: glue the cork.