Some spring hairwings

Counting down the days here now till the 15th of February and the opening of the Bandon. The water is now dropping and looking at the long term forecast we might be in for a relatively dry spell which will be no harm as it will make it easier to try and find the needle in a hay stack that is a spring salmon in February! Good news on the Lee however as there was a spring fish caught on opening day weighing 8.5 lbs and sea liced. It was caught on spinner on the Cork Salmon Anglers stretch at Ballincollig Park.
Have not being tying too much lately as I feel that I have enough to do with for the spring months. For the time of year I would rather fish only a few patterns rather than have a box full of different flies.

The above flies are tied on size 6 Daiichi hooks which are very strong and sharp, highly recommended. Decided to tie these on singles as I'll probably come a cross quite a few kelts and there's no reason why I wouldn't get a firm hook hold with a spring fish if I came across one.

Above is a zonker pattern incorporating a black/orange over yellow tiger barred rabbit strip tied on a 15mm brass bottle tube for high coloured water. Can't wait to see the movement of this one in the water. Botched the head up a little though with a few too many wraps of thread and the whip finish kept slipping, especially as I was trying to add in some hot orange ice wing to the head. Must sharpen that part up! 

Here now is a green butt park shrimp tied on some plastic tubing, with a conehead placed just in front of the tinsel. I added in the conehead for some weight and it will add to the movement of the fly.

Lastly a Garry Dog variant tied on a 22mm brass tube for high and clear water. I'm hoping the fluoro green butt and antron tail along with the pearl rib will add to the pulling power of this fly and attract the attention of a running fish. 

Lastly, for anyone reading this who may not already know, a big march is taking place on Saturday the 2nd of March in Galway at 12.00 p.m. We are meeting at Eyre Square and marching to Salthill to a BIM sponsored event at the Galway Bay Hotel. 

1st cast of the year

And what a chilly one it was! Last week I got a call from a great buddy of mine, James Barry, to come over to Waterford for a cast! Couldn't wait as it was going to be my first cast of the year, my first ever in January. Looking at the weather forecast it looked like we might be timing it just right as some high pressure was moving in, at last.

We were to fish off a saltwater mark on the Waterford coast, specifically targeting bass and a chance of a possible sea trout. Before I continue, note that if you are specifically targeting sea trout you need a state license. Also, we were not fishing an estuary or anywhere near a river so close season does not come into the equation.
Hoping to fish the dropping tide, we knew it was going to be an early start. We reached our destination before first light and it was bitter, with a very light northerly wind and frost everywhere. Our plan of attack was to use fly and lure. Rigging up I begun with a savage gear psycho sprat  of 28g weight to bang across to the far side of the channel. Fishing our way down with the tide dropping sport was slow, with just one dropped fish on the fly for a friend.

As the tide hit rock bottom it was time for lunch and to try and warm up...we were frozen. I think the big difference between air and water temperature was a big contributing factor towards the lack of action that morning. Sandwiches eaten and a glance at the water told us to get our asses back in gear as the tide was on the way in again. At least now the sun was up and air temperature was on the rise.

At this stage I had switched back to my trusted kilty lure, an old reliable that keeps on producing. Concentrating our efforts on a particular spot one of the lads let out the roar of fish on! The fish played well and kept quite deep and it wasn't until it was beached that we saw that we had a sea trout.

A lovely fish about 2lbs weight. The photo mightn't show it properly but she was reconditioning well after the rigors of spawning. However you can see her body isn't exactly pristine and we put this down to net marks, with several lines along her upper flanks. The big lesion, which was also on the other side, may have been caused by coming into contact with a net before entering freshwater, which would have taken the scales away. This vulnerable area than picked up an infection in freshwater but looked like it was healing now its back in saltwater and feeding. James didn't catch the fish, another friend of his did and it was returned to continue feeding and hopefully make it back to the river to spawn again. The fish was caught on a P boy metal lure. Interestingly, he was using an "assist" single hook up at the head of the lure and took off the treble hook at the end. There is a reasoning behind this madness though as he believes fish attack the head of a lure rather than the back and so uses this method with all his metal lures. Food for thought for the future...

A lift in confidence for us all now and the hope of more fish to come spurring us on, apart from Usna dropping a fish after brief contact, that was to be it. Great to get out again though to dust off the cobwebs!  

On the river front, it has now been confirmed by IFI that the Bandon will be open for salmon fishing from February 15th. Fishing for sea trout below Innishannon Bridge is still prohibited until March 17th though, and rightly so. 

Spring Coneheads

Well not long now at all to the new season and with more rivers open on January 1st hopefully a few fish will be caught, water permitting. The river Bandon is open thankfully, just waiting to see if it will be open for spring fishing as for the past few years the river has been catch and release from February 15th until May 12th. With a quota of 1,162 fish for the year there is a good chance it will be open, we shall wait and see.

Having tied a few coneheads for coloured water, it was time to tie a couple for clear water.

All tubes above are 15mm brass tubes with brass coneheads. No fear they'll get down nice and deep. Bound to get some cold weather this winter yet so fishing deep will be a necessity. Looking back at the photos now should have wet the silver doctor a tad, looking well fluffy! Can't wait to fish it though, hopefully it will do the job and it is very much a proven pattern. 

Lately I have also been toying around with bodyless coneheads. These are composed of feather and fur materials tied on a small length of plastic and a cone put in front.

As the tube is so small and not wide enough to fit a hook into I'll use the swing tube at the back.

As you can see here it is simple to change the appearance of the swing tube by adding any material to it you like. This in itself gives the conehead a body and hopefully with the quick movement of the swing tube, the glint of silver, pearl, green, etc will act as another trigger point for the onlooking fish. Very much looking forward to seeing the movement this set up will achieve. Another advantage it will give is that it will be useful to carry if you happen to be fishing for trout and come across a salmon, especially during spring. These are light enough to cast on a trout fly rod but heavy enough to achieve some depth.

Lastly, 3 patterns tied on bottle tubes which will be useful in slower water.

Some sea trout flies and salmon farming

Below are 3 sea trout flies that I could never be without. Rarely have they ever let me down.

I find them very versatile and be they on the point, dropper or fished solo sea trout cannot resist them. Brown trout are also fond of them and for some reason the Executioner seems to winkle out some of the better brownies. 

Another fly I tied lately, and will be the last conehead for coloured water that I'll tie in a while, is the Calvin's Conehead. Cannot wait to try it!

Went for a walk along the river yesterday and in less then a 500m stretch I counted 4 trees out in the middle of the river. The last big flood seems to have caused some damage and one of the trees was ripped from bank, leaving it very unstable. On a bright note I did see some redds so spawning is well underway! To have the chance of seeing salmon spawning live, click here. It is an underwater camera situated on the Suldalslagen River in SW Norway.

One change I've made to the blog is the addition of the new camera in Bandon town. This is a live feed and is very useful to check out the level of the river before venturing out! You can see it on the left hand side of the page.

Lately there has been a lot of talk of the current proposal of salmon farms on the west coast of Ireland and along the south west also. The proposed farm in Galway Bay is to produce 15,000 tonnes of salmon which is huge. Another farm is proposed for Bantry Bay and if these get the nod many more are in the pipeline. We are currently trying our best to stop it from going ahead as the sea lice associated with these farms will have disastrous consequences for migrating salmon smolts and coastal roaming sea trout. Basically, our current population of both wild salmon and sea trout will collapse.

 A protest is being held on main street Carrigaline on the 15th of this month outside of Minister Coveney's office. If you can make it and show your support brilliant, it will give Mr. Coveney something to think about while eating his Christmas turkey! A petition is also online here, do please sign it. To read more on the subject a website has also been set up, http://www.nosalmonfarmsatsea.com/. 

If you would like to submit an appeal, send your submission off to www.bim.ie. Closing date is December 12th.

Do please show your support as everyone's say on the matter can make a difference.