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.

Bad days

30Sept,01Oct Marshalstown and Woodburn Reservoirs

When i started blogging, one of the aims was to record all the times i had fished. Recently this has changed to writing about only the days I did well on. This has had the side-effect of letting me think i am a better angler than i actually am. Thought I'd better even the balance. The last two days I've been presented with a bit of free time so I used it wisely and went fishing.

Admittedly the weather has been pish, but i still thought I'd do OK, damn over-confidence. Yesterday my getaway was obstructed by my five year old nephew who had decided that he was coming with me. I knew this wasn't going to be a great days fishing but his optimism was contagious, he wanted to see me catch a fish, the thought that i might blank hadn't even occurred to him. So off we went.

I opted for Marshallstown reservoir as it has some good platforms so as to not let the child fall in or get covered in mud. My expert adequate control of the flyline was enough to entertain him for about ten minutes. There-after his enquiries of "when are you going to catch a fish?" got him through another ten minutes. After which he tried to take matters into his own hands by throwing rocks into the water to drive the fish closer to me. Bless his cotton socks, he's ever so thoughtful.

Although no fish were caught, we all returned with the same amount of eyes we left with and no-one had been in the water for a swim.

Today I though I'd make up for the lack of fish and really put some effort in. I even managed to get to the water before noon. I begun at the wild fishery at the top of the three reservoirs at South Woodburn, there is rumoured to be wild trout in here so I thought I'd check it out. I've fished here before a couple of times but had only ever caught fingerlings in a spot we call the nursery. I would have started my day here apart from the fact that there was no water in it.

I took the opportunity to walk around the reservoir as the circumference is less with less water in it. I'm quite a lazy bugger. The wind had unfortunately decided to follow me about and no matter where I stood it blew into my face at about 20 knots. All in all, it turned out to be quite a nice walk despite not seeing any evidence of the mythical wild brownies and for once i actually arrived home before the time demanded suggested by wifey.

Murloc Angling and Rural Pursuits

Whilst running an errant in Aghalee I thought I would check out Murloc fishery. The fishery is situated within spitting distance of my old house so I was very curious about the setup. It is a newly constructed pond of about five acres and it only opened at the start of July.

As I hadn't a rod with me I was just going to have a nosy and bug the owner/manager if I could find him. I immediately bumped into Fred the boss man who was out enjoying a pipe and his randy dog Fly. Whilst chatting away to Fred and trying to avoid the amorous advances of his dog(who incidentally is an excellent fisher, check the photos in the lodge) I was able to experience the quality of the fishing. The beautiful clear lake was alive with activity, there were many anglers fighting with sturdy looking fish and even more rising on the lake. The fish stocked have a minimum size of 2lb and there are a number of doubles. All in all I was extremely impressed with the setup. The lodge looked very comfortable and the staff were really friendly and helpful.

Hopefully i can make up some excuse to be out in that neck of the woods again soon, but next time I'll definitely have some kit with me.

Murloc Fishery is situated halfway down the Old Church Lane which is just off the Soldierstown Road in Aghalee. You can contact the fishery on 07843632197

Aggh the dreaded caenis, Straid 21st July

Managed to escape for a couple of hours in the evening. Everything looked great, the was a slight breeze and the sky was clouded over. Confidence was high for an incredible night fishing.

Unfortunately their was a big hatch of caenis and the fish were on them solidly. Started off with my old favorite the f fly but these didn't even get a look in. Switched to a rat faced mcdougal and tried to fish in the holes in the weed at the far bank. This proved more successful and I was soon into a great fish that took me down to the backing, my backing hadn't seen daylight for a long time.

After the first fish the trout moved in close and locked onto the caenis. it was incredibly frustrating seeing them so close and have them refuse everything. After a brief conflab with the manager, a shuttlecock fly was used. This proved to be successful and another smaller fish was hooked. By this time the night had fallen in but we still pushed through till we couldn't see the water let alone our flies.

We had been at Straid about a month ago on a boat but as we were bank fishing this time, we were able to see what the new fishery manager has done to the place. The banks are very accessible now, with new paths cut in the long grass and new pegs. Whilst it was alwaays a great fishery, I feel it will get even better over the next year.