First trout on bohernabreena

bang2 · 29-03-2010 12:54pm #1

First time on the reservoir, flat calm , lots of small Trout rising to flies not taking any of my dries.

Switched to lures and went deep, nothing again, then a trout kept rising in front of me so I dropped the lure in his path and he took it.:D

First on this water and first this year .Happy.

ironbluedun · 29-03-2010 1:01pm

i have never fished there before. is there any wild trout in it? or are they all rainbows?

bang2 · 29-03-2010 1:08pm

ironbluedun wrote: »

i have never fished there before. is there any wild trout in it? or are they all rainbows?

I actually thought it was all browns , I was very surprised when I saw the rainbow yesterday, I called the fishery manager and he told me there were Wild Browns,Browns,Brook and Rainbow in one lake and brown only in the other.

ironbluedun · 29-03-2010 1:12pm

very good, i must give it a throw someday.

murphy125 · 29-03-2010 1:25pm

Can any one fish there?

bang2 · 29-03-2010 2:30pm

murphy125 wrote: »

Can any one fish there?

You need a permit my one is the Dodder trout anglers , €10 a year covers the river and 2 reservoirs.

http://dodderanglersclubdublin.wetpaint.com

fontanalis · 29-03-2010 2:55pm

bang2 wrote: »

First time on the reservoir, flat calm , lots of small Trout rising to flies not taking any of my dries.

Switched to lures and went deep, nothing again, then a trout kept rising in front of me so I dropped the lure in his path and he took it.:D

First on this water and first this year .Happy.

What did the rises look like?Did it seem they were bulging under the surface and there was no sign of fly life?

cj salmon · 30-03-2010 12:50am

@ bang2 well done on a nice fish,they can be fussy,my first year to fish it too,, have been up 3 times,had a single trout twice and blanked once.
lovely spot,a guy had a 4 pound fish the first day i was up.I usually fish the rivers ,but with it being a slow start,thought id give it a go up there this year early season.

@ fontanalis,,,i had an experience of this bulging of a group of trout down at the dam wall in bohernabreena last week but no obvious hatches,posted about it on another forum and got some good advice .there was a group of 6 or so bulging/circling and ignoring the dries .had the same situation a bit earlier but the fish followed a lure right in close and then took .would love to hear peoples opinions on what they where feeding on just below the surface,, midge pupa?? ,was an interesting learning experience for a novice trout-man like meself

heres some solution i was given on another forum...

When you are unsure of what they are taking (and in the absence of obvious fly hatches) you could try (local rules allowing) fishing a floating line with a "washing line" rig. In other words a bouyant fly like a booby nymph on the point and then two slim general nymph patterns on a couple of droppers (diawl bachs are ideal). A slow figure of eight retrieve through the area - or static drift may well get you a fish. If you are fishing catch and kill - it would then be worth marrow-spooning a fish after dispatching it. This will tell you what food the fish are taking - and also what stage of development (i.e. pupa, emerging pupa, adult flies, fry etc).

Also - there are many reasons fish will ignore a dry fly/emerger, not just that they aren't feeding on adult flies/emergers. Accurate presentation (judging the direction and pace of the fish and putting it a couple of feet in front of it) is often crucial. On stillwaters, sinking the last 18" of tippet using fullers earth/washing up liquid is also vital.

There isn't really space for me to cover this fully - but when fish are cruising near the surface - their rise form will "bulge" more at the head end. This tells you the direction they are travelling in. When fish come from a deep cruise depth the tail end will push more water out behind them (and tell you that the fish is travelling in the direction opposite the "bulge"). Head and tail rises are obvious because you see which way the fish is swimming (these can often be rises to emerging midges rather than full adult flies).

Finally, tippet material is important. I don't really like fluorocarbon for dry flies- preferring a low diameter supple copolymer of about 5lb breaking strain.

Good luck

fontanalis · 30-03-2010 2:17am

cj salmon wrote: »

@ bang2 well done on a nice fish,they can be fussy,my first year to fish it too,, have been up 3 times,had a single trout twice and blanked once.
lovely spot,a guy had a 4 pound fish the first day i was up.I usually fish the rivers ,but with it being a slow start,thought id give it a go up there this year early season.

@ fontanalis,,,i had an experience of this bulging of a group of trout down at the dam wall in bohernabreena last week but no obvious hatches,posted about it on another forum and got some good advice .there was a group of 6 or so bulging/circling and ignoring the dries .had the same situation a bit earlier but the fish followed a lure right in close and then took .would love to hear peoples opinions on what they where feeding on just below the surface,, midge pupa?? ,was an interesting learning experience for a novice trout-man like meself

heres some solution i was given on another forum...

When you are unsure of what they are taking (and in the absence of obvious fly hatches) you could try (local rules allowing) fishing a floating line with a "washing line" rig. In other words a bouyant fly like a booby nymph on the point and then two slim general nymph patterns on a couple of droppers (diawl bachs are ideal). A slow figure of eight retrieve through the area - or static drift may well get you a fish. If you are fishing catch and kill - it would then be worth marrow-spooning a fish after dispatching it. This will tell you what food the fish are taking - and also what stage of development (i.e. pupa, emerging pupa, adult flies, fry etc).

Also - there are many reasons fish will ignore a dry fly/emerger, not just that they aren't feeding on adult flies/emergers. Accurate presentation (judging the direction and pace of the fish and putting it a couple of feet in front of it) is often crucial. On stillwaters, sinking the last 18" of tippet using fullers earth/washing up liquid is also vital.

There isn't really space for me to cover this fully - but when fish are cruising near the surface - their rise form will "bulge" more at the head end. This tells you the direction they are travelling in. When fish come from a deep cruise depth the tail end will push more water out behind them (and tell you that the fish is travelling in the direction opposite the "bulge"). Head and tail rises are obvious because you see which way the fish is swimming (these can often be rises to emerging midges rather than full adult flies).

Finally, tippet material is important. I don't really like fluorocarbon for dry flies- preferring a low diameter supple copolymer of about 5lb breaking strain.

Good luck

The info you got on emerging midges is good, try a suspended buzzer pattern or a small parachute emerger, you want the profile like in the picture below.

ironbluedun · 30-03-2010 8:15am

they were probably feeding on small early season ascending buzzer pupae probably a few inches below the surface. the advice above cant be faulted. They must be fished slow and almost static to look like the natural keep the retrieve dead slow or the trout will ignore the flies

cj salmon · 30-03-2010 8:26pm

very good,i am going to give this washing line a try,its great to learn from these things,:),I have fished buzzers suspended by a dry on top dropper,then to buzzers underneath in the winter in rathcon,with no success,but i think i may have been too fast on the retrieve

lets hope the weather picks up again
cheers

ironbluedun · 31-03-2010 12:53pm

cj salmon wrote: »

very good,i am going to give this washing line a try,its great to learn from these things,:),I have fished buzzers suspended by a dry on top dropper,then to buzzers underneath in the winter in rathcon,with no success,but i think i may have been too fast on the retrieve

lets hope the weather picks up again
cheers

don't retrieve when fishing washing line or suspended buzzer, think of it like a float and bait under.

fontanalis · 31-03-2010 2:33pm

cj salmon wrote: »

very good,i am going to give this washing line a try,its great to learn from these things,:),I have fished buzzers suspended by a dry on top dropper,then to buzzers underneath in the winter in rathcon,with no success,but i think i may have been too fast on the retrieve

lets hope the weather picks up again
cheers

What you're talking about is the buzzer pupa, still a very important part of the midge life cycle and an effective technique.
What I'm talking about is the part of the life cycle when the midge emerges from beneath the surface. Think of a klinhamer fly and that's what I'm talking about, this is the stage where you will see the fish bulging. You want your fly to hang under the surface to almost give a J shape. Do a youtube search for "bugs of the underworld" and you'll see what I mean.

coolwings · 31-03-2010 3:48pm

Early Season Strategies at Bohernabreena
There will always be some trout picking midge pupae from under the surface film. They are doing it just about all year round. But at this time of year buzzer pupae would not be my first line of attack. Visible rising fish would zone me in on the emerging pupae.
In the absence of rising trout, I would bet on other bottom living "year round" forage creatures as my first choice of trout food.
Shrimp and water louse (hog louse) and cased sedge larva (stick caddis) are what I do best with March-April, until the black midge (duck fly) appear mid April.
Those shrimp and louse will be in proximity to flooded weeds. Living and dead weed beds from last season's growth are where to look, and the trout should be there too.
The cased caddis are best fished on a submerged gravel bed that was a beach last summer. Crawl a woolly worm over the gravel and expect gentle takes.
Of course last years minnow shoals will be hanging around somewhere too. Usually a sheltered location near an inflow. Find them and trout will appear at dawn and dusk, and whenever low light allows successful attacks on the fry.
Finally there are snails on the wetted surfaces of the dam all year round. A black and peacock spider would do the job there.

ironbluedun · 31-03-2010 4:49pm

good advice coolwings. you are right but in the circumstances described as there were no visible rises, i.e. fish not actually breaking the surface film it probably was small ascending pupae close to the underside of the surface film. And not buzzer trapped immediately under the film.
I agree shrimp, hog-louse and cased caddis are very good in shallow calm water and for smaller calmer still-waters they are a good bet this time of season, as the season progresses less so as later in the season there will be alternatives that the trout favour, larger more plentiful buzzers, sedge, on some waters up-winged flies etc, etc.

For anyone unsure the method of fishing these flies (cased caddis, shrimp hoglouse) it is very important, the correct speed and type of retrieve can make all the difference, hog-louse are a bottom dwelling slow moving insect and are not seen in open water, in fact they cant swim at all and only crawl around slowly a bit like an aquatic woodlouse so its important to fish slow and deep close to rotting vegetation that they like to eat. As with cased caddis they too will be on the bottom or on vegetation/structure, so slowly does it. shrimps are more likely to be found in open water in shallow rocky or weedy areas because of this they are somewhat easier to fish with, but again they like being near structure and should be fished slow and deep.

First trout on bohernabreena

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