Sea Trout

effluent

Right lads I just want to know what the story is for fishing an esturay at night. Like what baits/lures do you use, can you just use the same tactics as per day. I've found Tazmanian devils to be the best spinner, along with smal mepps spinners. I've found a small strip of mackerel left to swing in the tide to be the best bait.

I've been fishing for sea trout for years with great success but have never fished during the night. Haven't fished for sea trout in recent years, got my licence today and I'm absolutly itching to catch one so I'm off to the estuary tonight:)

I've read a few of posts mentioning night fishing on a river but it wouldn't be the same story for an estuary. The spot I'm talking is rarley fished at night as sea trout are easily cought during the day. I'm thinking of either spinning or lobbing out worms. Any thoughts?

Northclare

effluent wrote: »

Right lads I just want to know what the story is for fishing an esturay at night. Like what baits/lures do you use, can you just use the same tactics as per day. I've found Tazmanian devils to be the best spinner, along with smal mepps spinners. I've found a small strip of mackerel left to swing in the tide to be the best bait.

I've been fishing for sea trout for years with great success but have never fished during the night. Haven't fished for sea trout in recent years, got my licence today and I'm absolutly itching to catch one so I'm off to the estuary tonight:)

I've read a few of posts mentioning night fishing on a river but it wouldn't be the same story for an estuary. The spot I'm talking is rarley fished at night as sea trout are easily cought during the day. I'm thinking of either spinning or lobbing out worms. Any thoughts?

Has anyone gone dryfly fishing for seatrout I have been catching seatrout since 03 on dryflies its some craic it happened by accident One eve on the feale was using dry flies during the day next thing eve came and it was dynamite the blue winged olive and red bellied baloon caddis are great before it gets dark

slowburner

Northclare wrote: »

Has anyone gone dryfly fishing for seatrout I have been catching seatrout since 03 on dryflies its some craic it happened by accident One eve on the feale was using dry flies during the day next thing eve came and it was dynamite the blue winged olive and red bellied baloon caddis are great before it gets dark

I have no real experience with sea trout on the dry fly but I do remember an English angler who used to fish the 'dead' pools of a Connemara river, during the daytime.
It was nearly always stuffed with sea trout but the tradition was to fish these pools at night or stick to the lakes further up the system.
He used to travel over once a year just for this and boy, did he catch fish!

The only other reasonably close experience was an old angler on Currane who used to dap with artificial monstrosities (their names escape me now).
He used to catch about as many as anglers with the usual team of three but the fish certainly seemed to be of a bigger average size.
Tell us more about your experience, sounds interesting.

280special

Hi,

Caught and released two Sea Trout last year, both caught in the middle of the day. Not huge, about 1-2 lbs but caught both on the dry, a Daddy long legs and a small Black Midge. I also had several on the hook that i reckon were Sea Trout and a lot bigger, great sport but they got off before being landed !

There was an article in "Flyfishing and Flytying" Magazine last October which debated Falkus and his ideas on Sea trout fishing, basically saying the "nighttime is best" thing wasnt right. On my own experience of last summer/autumn it isnt !

slowburner

I definitely don't think that very much of Falkus' thinking on sea trout tactics applies to the Western sea trout fisheries.

Niall Fallon laments the too traditional, too conservative, approach to Irish sea trout fishing in his book 'Fly-fishing for Irish Trout' 1983.

After all, if sea trout take during the day in a lake - why shouldn't they take in a pool on a river?
Stealth, I guess is a contributing factor. In a lake you have the advantage of the 'cover' of a boat.

Northclare

slowburner wrote: »

I definitely don't think that very much of Falkus' thinking on sea trout tactics applies to the Western sea trout fisheries.

Niall Fallon laments the too traditional, too conservative, approach to Irish sea trout fishing in his book 'Fly-fishing for Irish Trout' 1983.

After all, if sea trout take during the day in a lake - why shouldn't they take in a pool on a river?
Stealth, I guess is a contributing factor. In a lake you have the advantage of the 'cover' of a boat.

Stealth tactics work well over my way.....
There are some great rivers in Co Clare I won't mention them as they have made great recovery over the last few years they got a bad going over by foreigners during the boom but this year ill fish most of the more unknown rivers its some craic a day or two after a flood on the fly....

anthonyos

1 what flies would work well for sea trout around kilkenny? 2 how regular would they be hooked by a dry fly for a trout? thanks

realrebel

what river do you get seatrout in kilkenny on?
ive never heard of kilkenny getting seatrout but then again ive never fished there:D

whelzer

realrebel wrote: »

what river do you get seatrout in kilkenny on?
ive never heard of kilkenny getting seatrout but then again ive never fished there:D

The Nore gets a run. Standard sea trout flies work - a size 12 Teal Blue and Silver being my favourite. I've also had success with a spun deer hair fly. No real pattern to be honest - just a load of deer hair tied tightly (muddler style) and trimmed to a cigar shape...also on a size 12.

realrebel

jeez never know the nore get seatrout is it any good?
all the standard patterns will catch fish anyway like teal blue & silver, butcher, alexandra,white moth,dunkield,black and silver spiders
you can use from size 8 to 14 whatever u fancy, i prefer sixe 8 longshanks for all my seatrout fishing but everyone is different
dry flies i heard klinkhammers are very good for the seatrout

anthonyos

i fish the river dinin nice lil river i drive from dublin to it... hooked a sea trout last year on a dry but no net so didnt land it on the same evening i seen a big fish turn in a pool it was like a bar of silver so im going to target them this year and see how it goes...what are idea conditions

realrebel

warm muggy nights where you can stay in a t-shirt all night, plenty of cloud cover especialy if there is a big moon
you just dont with seatrout they play ball one night and the next night they wont take a thing, i find fishing a sink tip or inter with a bigger fly nearly always gets me a fish but if they are jumping around use a floater
you could try a muddler when they are active on the top but they dont stay active for long so make the most of it:D
why dont you try rivers closer home first

anthonyos

ye i fish the dodder but i like getting out in country side with nice sourouding you just dont get that in the city... what is the latest you would fish till for sea trout...do you know an smallish rivers nearer dublin worth a try

realrebel

what about the tolka? or is that in the city
theres a few in wicklow and dundalk too
there is a write up about the river in castletown in dundalk (i think its dundalk) its meant to be very good for seatrout
im not familiar with the east coast at all sorry im from cork
we have loads of good rivers down our way:D

realrebel

i fish up to october 12th for the seatrout and some nights can still be very good then
i normally start start of april but it can be quite tough june,july and august would be the better months

anthonyos

ye iv fished tolka i get a head ache from the smell of out of it is rotten...what rivers you fishing down ter i seen some great videos on you tube from cork... i bought a second hand bruce and walker 8 ft #5 from southside angling are they decent rods??????

realrebel

i only heard them becuase of salmon fishing never tried them
i use a 8ft shakespeare odessey for 30 euro it has done me proud landed trout up to 4lbs no problem on it, you cant go wrong with it
i go anywhere really for the seatrout i mainly fish the agrideen and glashaboy but also fish the owenabue,lee,bandon and illen for them

Northclare

anthonyos wrote: »

ye iv fished tolka i get a head ache from the smell of out of it is rotten...what rivers you fishing down ter i seen some great videos on you tube from cork... i bought a second hand bruce and walker 8 ft #5 from southside angling are they decent rods??????

The rod you bought should handle most river situations for sea trout I have a 9 ft xp Sage since 03 and it only broke once but I was lucky I got a life time guarantee with it.

I'm a sea angler really and god bogged down buying conoflex century rods all different rods and reels which cost me 4 figure sums if you add them altogether.

Don't get bogged down spending a fortune on fly gear......

realrebel

anthonyos
i sent you a pm

anthonyos

is getting a licence a good idea and if dont what happens ??what licence do ppl get i fish kilkenny mostly ???is their a club on the nore and how much is a licence

anthonyos

is getting a salmon sea trout licence a good idea and if dont what happens ??what licence do ppl get i fish kilkenny mostly ???is their a club on the nore and how much is a licence

Bizzum

anthonyos wrote: »

i fish the river dinin nice lil river i drive from dublin to it... hooked a sea trout last year on a dry but no net so didnt land it on the same evening i seen a big fish turn in a pool it was like a bar of silver so im going to target them this year and see how it goes

anthonyos wrote: »

is getting a licence a good idea and if dont what happens ??what licence do ppl get i fish kilkenny mostly ???is their a club on the nore and how much is a licence

If you're gonna fish for Sea Trout you need to get yourself the state Salmon/Sea Trout licence. You have a few options, eg All Ireland or District and different durations eg annual. Try here you might win one:)
http://www.facebook.com/#!/inlandfisheriesireland

You will usually also need a club permit too.

If you were found to be repeatedly fishing without a state licence you could get yourself an On The Spot Fine.

anthonyos

Bizzum wrote: »

If you're gonna fish for Sea Trout you need to get yourself the state Salmon/Sea Trout licence. You have a few options, eg All Ireland or District and different durations eg annual. Try here you might win one:)
http://www.facebook.com/#!/inlandfisheriesireland

You will usually also need a club permit too.

If you were found to be repeatedly fishing without a state licence you could get yourself an On The Spot Fine.

that sounds about for ireland:P

SeaFields

Reports down this part of the country say sea trout are starting to turn up in some fisheries. A friend of my father is after getting some nice sea trout already.

Anyone else getting similar reports? (without naming particular venues )

Zzippy

SeaFields wrote: »

Reports down this part of the country say sea trout are starting to turn up in some fisheries. A friend of my father is after getting some nice sea trout already.

Anyone else getting similar reports? (without naming particular venues )

Jeez, that's early! What part of the country are you in? (without naming particular venues! )

SeaFields

In Kerry. And its not in Waterville which does get a run of seatrout but two other places.

It could be down to our mild winter or, even more so, our mild February.

Eitherway I'm delighted. Must try and get out for them if we get this mild spell they are talking of next week.

Northclare

I was walking a river in Clare recently and seen some nice fish rising vertically right up out of the water,the only other place I see fish rising like that are the seatrout in the river Feale.

The old reliable rivers in Clare are on the way back to what they were like during the 80's

Zzippy

Might not be such a good sign...
There's also the possibility that these early-running sea trout are coming back in to freshwater prematurely to get rid of sea lice - its been a common phenomenon since salmon farming started causing problems in the 80s, fish becoming infested with a heavy sea lice burden and returning to freshwater to get rid of them. The mild winter may have also caused an upsurge in sea lice numbers on farms, and I've heard anecdotal evidence of some farms not having the cashflow to buy the chemicals to treat fish when the trigger level for treatment is breached... another symptom of the banking crisis! :rolleyes:

SeaFields

That's interesting. Hopefully it's not the case. We've heard the cuckoo down this way too so it appears we are a few months ahead on all fronts.

slowburner

Northclare wrote: »

I was walking a river in Clare recently and seen some nice fish rising vertically right up out of the water,the only other place I see fish rising like that are the seatrout in the river Feale.

The old reliable rivers in Clare are on the way back to what they were like during the 80's

Fish rising in this way could be trying to rid themselves of sea lice.