Fly Fishing Report From An Irish Angler

Co. Wicklow, Ireland.


A fish of rumour and conjecture became reality to me when I met by accident Denis O'Toole outside the Woodenbridge Hotel, Co. Wicklow. A man approaches me, "Are you Ashley Hayden who writes the angling column in the Wicklow People". "Yes I am", I reply. "My name is Denis O'Toole". Before he could utter another word I said, "So you're the man who caught this mythical sea trout". "That I am", said Denis, and after that it was like we had known each other all our lives.

To cut to the chase, rumour had abounded as to the capture of a great fish but nobody had seen the evidence. Denis, a professional fly dresser was holding his powder because he did not want the river being overrun. The time however had come to filter out the story, and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. So in Denis's own words:

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

I and a fishing partner had been fishing on the Avoca one evening; we had caught several small sea trout and released them, the fish showed in the pool above where I was fishing, before it was fully dark, so I didn't try him straight away.

I fished some other pools while I was waiting for darkness to fall, at this point I did not know it was a sea trout.

I had fished down one of the pools when my fishing partner walked up to me and I asked did he want to go home or stay?? He said he would fish the pool that I had just been at as he had just changed his fly's.

Then I went down to the pool where I seen the fish move (Lucky Boy) I put on a 1 1/2 inch aluminium tube with a salar single (with the barb squeezed down) and started at the head of the pool, on my 4th cast while stripping the fly back he hit it with a BANG!! and all hell broke loose, all I could see was white foam on the water through the inky darkness, I thought I hooked FREE WILLY, the fish's 1st run tore off 20 or more yards of line downstream and he made 3 other big runs after this.

He was lying in only 3ft of water when he took, in total the fight lasted 20mins. He was then carefully weighed & measured and released back to spawn and produce more 16lb’ers.

I am a professional fly dresser and live locally, the tube fly he took was one of my own patterns called the Lava Tale, far too many big fish today end up in pictures with gill tags in them.


Tight Lines, Denis O' Toole.

Fly Fishing Report from An Irish Angler

Co. Wicklow, Ireland


Sporting early summer colours Lough Dan looked beautiful as we drifted along its eastern shore pushed by a stiff north/north west breeze. The unseasonal warm weather of recent weeks has morphed into a chilly showery pattern more akin with April than May. In between when the sun shines temperatures can reach 16 - 17 degrees, but boy when the wind blows and the grey clouds close in, it bites. Around lunchtime today a haymaker passed over bombarding Gary and I with hailstones, any wonder the trout dived for cover.

The lake has a personality that changes with the wind, fly fishing being totally at its whim. Last week we were drifting up the lake in front of a south east breeze, today a stiff wind from the north west pushed us in the opposite direction. Located high up in a steep sided glaciated Wicklow valley, Lough Dan, the largest natural lake in the county, is dog legged shaped and this feature allied to a number of conjoining valleys causes the wind to behave in mysterious ways. Respect is the key word on the water.

We had a great day, fishing a number of drifts all told we had a dozen trout to the boat supplemented with visual displays of every rise imaginable from boils and swirls to full on splashy rises to Polaris missile becomes flying fish. Now that was special, the trout clearing the water by at least six inches while arking over a metre through the air, missing the flies of course. I recast in the vicinity receiving an immediate savage take but failed to set the hook. Lough Dan trout are free rising and fight hard, give me this kind of lake fishing any day. You could drive to the west and flog away on more famous waters for one or two larger trout, or experience regular fireworks in a gorgeous lightly fished location less than an hour from home, for me it's a no brainer.

Fancy a days fly fishing on Lough Dan, contact Ashley Hayden on, +353 (0)86 869 7370 or email:anirishanglersworld@gmail.com.

Fly Fishing Report from An Irish Angler

Fly Fishing in Co. Wicklow, Ireland. Evening on Lough Dan.

Easing away from the beach around 16.30pm a strong north easterly breeze was blowing down the lake producing a nice wave. Heading towards the boathouse shore, Gary and I aimed to work a drift close to the tree line on the assumption that terrestrial flies would be blown onto the water. Gary fished a wet cell three with a Bibio on the top dropper followed by a Connamara Black and an Alexandra on the point, whereas I fished a floating line with a Bibio on the top followed by a Watsons and a Wicklow Killer on the point.

Lough Dan is home to free rising wild mountain trout averaging 6 - 8 ozs, plump and dark they fight well above their weight. Closest to the bank, about ten meters out, I connected with the first trout who took the Watsons. Sprightly and game on that first drift I landed four trout to Gary's one. We both rose a number of fish and close to a rock at the end of the drift I brought up one of the Lough's biggies but failed to set the hook. Motoring up for the second drift it became apparent that the breeze was easing.

This time around roles were reversed with Gary landing four trout to my one. Again plenty of trout rose to the flies, some head and tailing which was great fun to watch. On connecting the trout would jump clear, tail walk, and bore deep, great sport the action was non stop that is until the wind died. It took a while, we managed to eke out another drift, but by 19.00pm the lake was mirror calm and the trout lost interest. As the sun disappeared behind the mountains it got decidedly chilly so we called it a day. Twelve trout to the boat and plenty of rises, a typical Lough Dan foray.