Quitting smoking finaly pays off

I've been a smoker for most of my adult life now. I always knew one day I'd give it up but I've dreaded it. I have not been blessed with good willpower at all.
Fortunately i was able to combine two of my major life goals; quit smoking and owning a Hardy demon reel. I have lusted after this reel since it's release two years ago, the only problem being that i couldn't justify owning one, the price of the reel was pretty much the same price as my current whole outfit.
This is where the big quit came in. I had only been dimly aware of the amount i spent on tobacco, for as long as i can remember the cost of my habit was borne as would bare the cost of food, utilities and petrol. Once the connection was made between not smoking and owning this object of desire, the rest was easy.
A couple of months later and I'm now the proud owner of a Hardy Demon Outfit and after a fly fishing packed Easter weekend, the sacrifice has definitely been worth it.

I plumbed for the Hardy demon 9'6'' 7wt rod as i would mainly fish small stillwaters and was looking for a rod that would allow me to cast into a decent headwind and yet still be subtle enough to present a couple of dries. The rod excels at both, i wouldn't be a great caster but the rod is definitely alot more forgiving than my previous Greys GRX one.

The smaller Demon 5000 reel was chosen as i would rarely need to go into the backing and I just thought it looked prettier more balanced. The drag is fantastic and the cartridges are easy to change. the only don side is that a rubber ring is used the cushion between the cartridge and the locking ring and I've almost lost this once already.

I matched the outfit up with a WF floating two tone hardy fly line. This final extravagance was the sweetener on the deal I got from the tackle shop and I'm really pleased with it. There is very little memory, you can easily tell when the running line starts and it picks up off the water brilliant.

So far I've managed to bring it out to two fisheries Woodford and Murloc both times there were active fish near the surface that were responding well to buzzers. The rod and reel have preformed admirably and whilst i struggle to justify the expense I am glad I went the extra distance and bought something i know I'll use and cherish for the next decade or so

If you're lazy...

If you're lazy and a little bit cack-handed like myself I thought i'd recommend The Fly Factory. I've ordered from them a couple of times now and each time I'm amazed at the prices they can offer. To top it off each order i've received has come in a plastic box with the flies arranged neatly on rows of foam. This is excellent for the hackled and the more delicate flies but also looks durn pretty.

They've recently started a loyalty scheme and offer some discounts to repeat customers and have a great postage time. The only drawbacks I've found so far is that with the amount of different flies on offer it can be hard to find specific types but the search function is very useful if you know exactly what you're looking for.

So until i figure out how to tie me own, I'm going to stick with these guys.

There are two activites that will make you go blind

The first is widely known.

The second is staring at a fishing float for two long.

As my buddy Ali has recently taken on a slightly less labour intensive job we decided we should celebrate by a wee fishing excursion. As usual the weather didn't play ball but as both of us had already received our day release passes from our significant others we were determined to make the most of the day.

The venue chosen was once again Murloc Fishery in Aghalee, I'm a big fan of this place, the lodges faculties are great, the owner Fred is always on hand to help you out if you're struggling and possibly because it's new the other fishers are even more friendlier to new faces.

To begin the day we started in the more sheltered side, left of the jetty. There was a slight breeze that was building up quite quickly. This enabled us to get our casting fine tuned and quite quickly I got into a plucky rainbow of about a pound on an apps bloodworm. After a fishless half an hour afterwards it was suggested that we try the opposite bank. Usually I'll avoid casting into wind as I'm a bit of wimp and it upsets me when my casts end up in a heap at my feet. It was a nice surprise to find that my casting must have improved as with a couple of tips from Fred and a little change in style i was almost able to get a decent cast out. Yay

Unfortunately the task of catching more fish didn't have the same progress as my casting. The remainder of the day was pretty much fishless for myself and was spent going cross eyed staring at my bobbing but not sinking pimp. Ali on the other hand was still in strong fish fighting spirits. With short casts around the weeds and the pontoon he managed to get two strong takes. The first he managed to lose after a knot gave way, bloody amatures ;), and the second he miss-timed the strike even after it had been pointed out by a passing fisher tsk tsk.

With the gusting wind we faced I'm not surprised we didn't get more fish. It was a day where everyone seemed to struggle. There was one noticeable exception one fella, John, had managed to crack the code and to get all the ingredients right, the wind seemed to be funneling the fish at him and whatever he was presenting to them (rumour was it was some strange leggy claret goldhead hopper thingy) was working extremely effectively. By the time we left he had a tally of around forty eight!!

A special mention I feel should be made to Alan Coleman, not only was he the fella who almost caught Ali his second trout, he's the first person to recognise me solely from this Blog. Cheers for your kind words and I hope the rest of the day was more productive for you.

It's a bit like waiting for a bus...

Murloc fishery 24th January

With the temperature rising, albeit barely, I figured a spot of fishing was in order. As Wifey was heading across town this gave me a perfect excuse to have a go at Murloc Angling and Rural Pursuits Centre. I've had a brief scouting opportunity here but this would be the first time fishing in Aghalee. I'll be moving house nearby soon so it would be great to check out my new local fishery.

A quick chat to the bosses and a bite to eat and I was soon on the water. Fred had filled in me in on a couple of possible tactics and also informed that an angler had just managed to catch 20 fish during the morning, things were looking promising.

Even so, after an hour of nothing I had settled myself into accepting the fact this could be quite a slow day for me. Soon after, Fred joined me to see how i was getting on, we talked through the rig I was using, apps bloodworm and black buzzer under a small bung, and he seemed sure that I was using the right tactics. It became clear what was going on after he twice noticed the bung going under in a very short space of time, true to form I hadn't noticed either take. Oops. The fish were taking the flies so gently the bung was just dipping under the water. It wasn't long after I started striking at the slightest movement that i started getting into the fish, although even though I was getting bites I still couldn't strike fast enough to set the hook.

I moved up a size of bung to let me see it more clearly and was advised by the ever helpful Fred to move to a better position and it wasn't long before i was into a fish. After striking and having a few nervous seconds praying the fish wouldn't slip off like it's brothers, it became clear the fish was securely caught and I could start bringing him in.

Within a few yard off the jetty it started getting a bit more complicated, I couldn't get him any closer to me to land him. As usual Fred and Fly were on hand to help as Fred grabbed a landing net it soon became clear why i was struggling to move such an average sized fish. There was a Monstrous Leviathan attached to the point fly. Yay a double Hookup! After quickly detaching the first fish from the line we manged to net the Biggest rainbow I have seen live, let alone caught. Fred assures me it was well over 3lbs, although if i was to use my tried and tested fishing measuring ability I would say that it was surely over 20lbs.

This was definitely the spot. Fred had positioned me over a deep hole where the trout were sheltering from the cold. After the excitement of a double hookup I needed a quick cup of tea so i retired back the lodge. In the meantime we directed another frozen fishless angler to the same spot and sure enough he was almost straight onto the trout.

After warming up in Murloc's luxurious log cabin I was back onto the jetty fishing over the same spot as before. And sure enough the rest of the day was spent with plenty of rod bending action.

A big thank you to Fred and his wife and of course Fly the springer for such a wonderful day, I can't wait to frequent Murloc more often.


inspired by my successful days fishing, that night i spent a couple of hours sorting out the crap in my portable ashtray and used line holder fly fishing vest. As you can see i tend to carry far too much stuff around in it





No wonder i can't find anything. Annoyingly once everything was sorted out, the jacket felt heavier than it was when i started. Also judging by the rate I've been buying tackle over the winter it could be set to become even heavier.

Fly fishing substitution

Okay I know i've posted this before, but after spending a great deal of time trying to substitute real life fishing with youtube videos. I still rate this as my favorite.



I hope to get out soon, I'm going a bit cabin crazy without regular fishing expoits.

Roll on 2009

As it was the last day of my DCAL license I figured I had to at least spent a couple of hours on the only public water still open nearby - Woodburn Reservoir.

I haven't been out for ages so I was quite excited at the prospect of spending a couple of hours by the water. One silver lining of being a father is that I'm getting slightly more used to getting up earlier. This led me to being beside the water at the ungodly hour of 10am. Blurgh, i didn't know you could fish this early. One of the downsides of being there that early was that it was c-c-c-cold. I wrapped up pretty good, I'd tonnes of warm Christmas presents but one thing that let me down was the fact that my hands were freezing. I'd gloves with me but wearing them I had absolutely no line control, so off they came.

From the outset i knew the day was going to be difficult but judging from the number of fish stealing bastards cormorants, there did seem to be fish in the water. These proved to be a mile from the bank though. I mainly stuck to sinking lines and lures, but if I'm honest all this did was highlight a couple of casting deficiencies as i struggled to cast to the horizon. For a while it looks like fish had moved in to the shallow end of the reservoir and in calm water too. I had a crack at them with a bloodworm under a pimp but alas the activity turned out to be a family of duckings practicing their diving.

Unfortunately this ended up another fishless day, which meant i still haven't had an opportunity to try out an ingenious invention by Steve Dobson the Dobson Clip which holds your rod securely allowing both hands to be used to unhook the fish.

After noticing the varnish chipping off near my rod rings this has further prompted me to get a new rod for 2009. At the moment I'm dreaming about a Hardy Demon setup, but as this is a little out of my price range I'll have to settle for something else.

Therefore from today I've put together my Fishing New Year's resolutions

1. Get a new Rod (something pretty, that makes me cast like an expert)
2. Get some casting lessons, I'm dreading this, I've a sneaky suspicion I'm unteachable
3. Post to Blog more frequently
4. Stop Blanking

I'm not too sure how I'll manage the last one, but the first two are quite obtainable. Stevie Munn is rumoured to be an excellent casting instructor who also happens to be a online tackle dealer, I'm hoping that besides trying to break me out of my self-taught bad habits he can bring along a couple of rods for me to try out.

All in all, I'm quite looking forward to the new fishing year.

Tight Lines to you all for 2009

A life on the Ocean Wave

7th Oct, Belfast lough
After a miserable week of showers and gales a small break in the weather was predicted for this morning, Da had mentioned that he was taking his boat Mufti for a spin so I jumped on board to experience a spot of sea fishing.
Soon after setting sail, my level of optimism was high, this may have been due to the fact Da had installed a new fish finder or that he was serving Irish coffee at half ten in the morning.

After a quick dash across the shipping lane in Belfast Lough we arrived at the first mark just off Bangor Bay. Da was soon into his first mackerel of the day

The first fish I managed to stick into was a very sorry looking herring, somehow the suicidal fishy had managed to impale himself onto the hook by his eyes. Upon removal of the hook both his eyes remained on the trace and he was left with a gaping hole right through his head. This was one fish that wasn't going to get put back in. After some more herring I finally caught up with Da in catching mackerel.
We were doing so well, I decided to handicap myself by using a fly rod with a fast sinking line, this proved to be near impossible as the boat drift didn't allow the line to sink, so I soon switched back to a heavy spinning outfit coupled with feathers. After a productive couple of hours we decided to head home. Whilst making our way back across the channel my galley slave Da prepared his speciality fried mackerel and a cup of tomato soup.
We managed to time our exit well, a mist came down and the winds, which had been absent for most of the day, re-appeared. Below, if you squint you can just about make out Carrickfergus Castle.Since the last time I was afloat Da's boat handling skills has improved a great deal, we managed to berth her again without even touching another boat, jetty or tender.
Hopefully after such a successful trip I can get out again soon, next time, though I'll have to make sure I make the coffee.