Last March my daughter called. She wanted to go on vacation to Ireland and wanted to know if I wanted to go with her. I only hesitated for a second and said, if we could include some fishing in the trip, I was in.
More than a decade ago I was interested in European fishing styles and flies. I purchased and read a number of books as well as researched the topic online. The British and Irish have very different styles of angling relative to the USA and I had always wanted to go. Learning a different way to fish for the same species we have here is interesting.
I started looking for the location and decided on the largest lake in Ireland, Lough Corrib. Lough is pronounce “lock”. It is one of the premier wild brown trout fisheries in Europe. I found a guide Patrick Molley and he recommended Midsummer Lakehouse, a bed and breakfast where he kept his boat. I booked two days fishing and three nights lodging for the beginning of the trip. Lauren booked the second half of the trip to see more cultural tourism venues.
I have fished a number of brown trout lakes in the Sierra and thought I had a pretty good idea how to catch these fish. I booked with Patrick because he guided fly fishing as well as trolling trips. I brought fly trolling gear as well as fly fishing tackle.
I asked Patrick about flies to bring and his reply was to bring some sedge (caddis) dry flies. I asked what size to bring and he replied, bring small ones, #10’s. For those not familiar with fly sizes these were bigger than anything we would fish in California by two sizes. This was a hint of things to come.
On day one Lauren joined for a day on the lake. The dress for fishing Lough Corrib is foul weather gear from head to foot. If the boat cutting through the wind blown waves doesn’t soak you the intermittent rain squalls will, unless properly dressed.
Patrick had us fly casting with “wet” flies because the big hatches of the mayflies had yet to start. We were fishing May 3 and 4, a bit early for the best insect hatch. We started fly casting “over the front”. Patrick set the boat upwind of rocky shoals, as we wind drifted over the shallows we cast down wind and pulled the line in to keep in touch with the sunken flies. We repeated this until we reached deep water then headed back upwind to start another drift. This is the standard technique for lough style fishing.
I have caught my share of browns in the Sierra using my trolling flies. Over the course of two days a total of half day was spent trolling my flies. I did not get a hit! As we were were trolling my flies Patrick started to troll his wet mayfly patterns and he continued to catch fish. They wanted to eat mayflies!
I had come to Ireland to learn something about their way of fishing and after a lot of thought I came to the realization that their style was a direct response to their fishery.
Ireland is similar to British Columbia’s position on the planet, the north eastern edge of a big cold ocean. The water never warms up to the extent that California lakes do. During my years as a fly salesman I noted that for midges and other insects, the farther north you go the larger the bugs are. Midges at Mammoth Lakes are #18 to #22 (micro) and the same bugs will be #12 and #14 in Southern Oregon, and #8 and #10s in Canada. The midges in Lough Corrib are the #8 and #10’s.
Our mayflies are small with the exception of the hexagenia mayflies in a few waters that can be up to 2’ long. The mayflies in Ireland are 1”+ but the number of them hatching and the length of time they are available has no equal in my experience.
The water in Corrib is brown from the peat soils in the area. The lake has numerous islands with shoals that provide large areas of shallows to support mayfly populations. With this many flies of such large size the trout key in on the insects to the exclusion of minnows and other food when the mayfly hatches are on.
I had also been curious about their boat style when many more modern designs were available. Their boats are about 20’ long and narrow with a deep vee bottom. These boats when drifting on the wind will naturally go sideways, allowing 2 or 3 anglers to cast down the wind. The fish key in on the insects near the surface where they are vulnerable. Casting flies on traditional floating fly lines presents the flies near the surface where the fish are feeding.
I came to the realization that the locals developed their techniques and gear through hundreds of years of experience and they work well.
Beyond the fishing, getting to spend a week with your adult daughter, one on one, was a wonderful opportunity. The second half of the trip was a tour of a beautiful island filled with interesting people. Spending two days on a boat with an Irishman was great fun as well. Their accent reminded me of the Irish Catholic nuns I had in grammar school.
When opportunity knocks for adventure, answer the door.
Trip advice Guide pricing and B&B accommodations are half of the cost of what we pay in the USA. If you have airline miles from your credit card this is a very affordable fishing vacation. If I did it over I would not have rented a car. I would have taken a bus or train to Galway from Dublin and used taxis for local travel. If you book accommodations directly and pay with cash rather than with a card, the price drops dramatically. About – Patrick Molloy (patrickmolloyfishing.com) Bed Breakfast Accommodation Oughterard Connemara | Galway | H91 W627 B&B | B and B Portacarron Bay (bandbireland.com) If you want to fish the peak of the mayfly hatch in the month of May you need to book 6 to 8 months in advance. {related_content_uuid}b9157a81-11ba-4d91-986f-1a6483cd565f{/related_content_uuid}