Brown trout opening day

dazza161989

Anyone else get out?

Thankfully the weather broke and I fished one of my little mountain streams and had these tiny little beauties on a self tied gold head hares ear, tried the dry fly but the flow was just too strong!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Doesn't open here until the 1st of March- lucky you!

dazza161989

Jesus Warm Clown wrote: »

Doesn't open here until the 1st of March- lucky you!

It opens on my local river on March 1st , but the Killarney area opens Feb 15th, thank god!

Flysfisher

dazza161989 wrote: »

It opens on my local river on March 1st , but the Killarney area opens Feb 15th, thank god!

I think in this day and age February 15 is a bit early to be opening rivers, but that's another issue.
Nice trout though the second one could do with a bit of scoff.

rpmcmurphy

dazza161989 wrote: »

It opens on my local river on March 1st , but the Killarney area opens Feb 15th, thank god!

March the 1st for me also. But if the rivers don't recede significantly i will be casting from the boot of my car...

Maybe we can use this thread to post images, tales of our opening day exploits!

dazza161989

Flysfisher wrote: »

I think in this day and age February 15 is a bit early to be opening rivers, but that's another issue.
Nice trout though the second one could do with a bit of scoff.

I shud have used the second one as bait for a bigger one!!:-) lol. It is possibly although would be no problem if everyone practised safe catch and release.

dazza161989

rpmcmurphy wrote: »

March the 1st for me also. But if the rivers don't recede significantly i will be casting from the boot of my car...

Maybe we can use this thread to post images, tales of our opening day exploits!

Ha ya, my plan was to fish the laune yesterday but unfortunately it looks like this!!!!

dece.ger

dazza161989 wrote: »

Anyone else get out?

Thankfully the weather broke and I fished one of my little mountain streams and had these tiny little beauties on a self tied gold head hares ear, tried the dry fly but the flow was just too strong!

Hi all got out for a few hrs sat and was surprised with the amount of trout I caught. I say it was between 20-25 trout. Five of them were over the 91/2 inch limit.

I was the only one out as the river was running high. Most of the trout were caught on a big gold head hares ear nymph with a 4 mm tungsten bead also self tied.

I was fishing check nymph style with a 10 foot 3 wt rod and barbless hooks. All the fish were returned safely

River is gone muddy again so prob won't get out this weekend going by the forecast.

dazza161989

dece.ger wrote: »

Hi all got out for a few hrs sat and was surprised with the amount of trout I caught. I say it was between 20-25 trout. Five of them were over the 91/2 inch limit.

I was the only one out as the river was running high. Most of the trout were caught on a big gold head hares ear nymph with a 4 mm tungsten bead also self tied.

I was fishing check nymph style with a 10 foot 3 wt rod and barbless hooks. All the fish were returned safely

River is gone muddy again so prob won't get out this weekend going by the forecast.

Fair play dats some good fishing, I was there was that many trout in the little stream I was refined to! Was it an orange tungsten bead or a dull one just out of interest?

dazza161989

Got out again today and had another huge trout! (Not);-) had it on a size 18 bronze ribbed gold head pheasant tail nymph, not bad considering the little stream I hav been fishing is pretty much non-existent when there's no flooding!

dece.ger

dazza161989 wrote: »

Fair play dats some good fishing, I was there was that many trout in the little stream I was refined to! Was it an orange tungsten bead or a dull one just out of interest?

It was a gold tungsten 4mm bead. What nymphing technique do you use and what set up. Your tippet looks to be very heavy but that's prob cos your fishing a small stream and probably load of things to get snagged up on

dazza161989

dece.ger wrote: »

It was a gold tungsten 4mm bead. What nymphing technique do you use and what set up. Your tippet looks to be very heavy but that's prob cos your fishing a small stream and probably load of things to get snagged up on

Today I was using my 7ft #3 rod, floating line , to floating leader , to high float .017 mm 3&1/2lb tippet , casting up and across leaving nymph trundle along with upstream mends in the line. If it was a clock face casting to 2 o clock lifting at 10 o clock. Wbu?

dece.ger

dazza161989 wrote: »

Today I was using my 7ft #3 rod, floating line , to floating leader , to high float .017 mm 3&1/2lb tippet , casting up and across leaving nymph trundle along with upstream mends in the line. If it was a clock face casting to 2 o clock lifting at 10 o clock. Wbu?

I was using a 10f 3 wt rod with a long 9 metre camo tapered leader no fly line out the tip of the rod. I then tie a slighter/indicator to that witch is fluorescent mono (green and red).

To that I tie 8 feet of 3 lb fluorocarbon tippet I tie a dropper tag two feet up from that for my second fly.

I cast the heavy nymphs up stream and dead drift them back. I do lots of casts cos the drifts are short ( 10 foot max)

It's a very effective method in slightly coloured water. Or for fishing riffles. I caught most off the fish sat in two feet of water.

dazza161989

dece.ger wrote: »

I was using a 10f 3 wt rod with a long 9 metre camo tapered leader no fly line out the tip of the rod. I then tie a slighter/indicator to that witch is fluorescent mono (green and red).

To that I tie 8 feet of 3 lb fluorocarbon tippet I tie a dropper tag two feet up from that for my second fly.

I cast the heavy nymphs up stream and dead drift them back. I do lots of casts cos the drifts are short ( 10 foot max)

It's a very effective method in slightly coloured water. Or for fishing riffles. I caught most off the fish sat in two feet of water.

Ah yes you really were Czech nymphing ! 9 metre leader sounds extremely long! If your making extremely short casts when Czech nymphing would you consider using braid for your leader??? I see a hell of a lot of international river anglers using it now for Czech nymphing as there is no stretch and bite indication is far crisper.

popsy09

Had this while spinning for salmon was about 14 inches would have been a nice trout if it was in good condition

Gave me a fright for a sec in the high water I taught I was in to a salmon ha

That was a size 5 flying c in his mouth that I made kinda hard to get the size in pic

experimenter

I use jig hooks, no snagging and better hook ups.

My home river opened on the 15th Feb, looking forward to trying out some new patterns.

dazza161989

popsy09 wrote: »

Had this while spinning for salmon was about 14 inches would have been a nice trout if it was in good condition

Gave me a fright for a sec in the high water I taught I was in to a salmon ha

That was a size 5 flying c in his mouth that I made kinda hard to get the size in pic

Real nice trout popsy! U should consider de-barbing the hooks though when using hooks that size it's does less damage to the fish if you plan on returning it.

experimenter

dazza161989 wrote: »

Real nice trout popsy! U should consider de-barbing the hooks though when using hooks that size it's does less damage to the fish if you plan on returning it.

I thought most salmon anglers stopped using treble hooks and opted for a single hook :eek:

popsy09

dazza161989 wrote: »

Real nice trout popsy! U should consider de-barbing the hooks though when using hooks that size it's does less damage to the fish if you plan on returning it.

thats the biggest hook i have on the biggest lure for the real heavy water didnt expect a trout to come take a chomp :eek: went back perfect anyway

Bromium

experimenter wrote: »

I use jig hooks, no snagging and better hook ups.

My home river opened on the 15th Feb, looking forward to trying out some new patterns.

Do the jig hooks really cut down on snagging? What size can you go down to on them (hook and bead)?

Cheers

experimenter

Yes for me it does, I go down to size 18's. It varies on the depth and flow of water... same for the bead, it depends on the situation.

I work off a general rule of thumb.


1mm, Size 20
1.5mm, Size 18,
2mm, Size 16,
2 / 2.5mm, Size 14,
2.5mm, Size 12,
3 / 3.5 mm, Size 10 & 8,

But it depends on the location, I do prefer bigger bead on a smaller hook, rather than sticking to the values above.





But I reckon all my point flies are jigs, and .010mm / 0.012mm leader, I don't go by lbs/ breaking strain and stick to the same manufacture of tippet, just a confidence thing really.

popsy09

experimenter wrote: »

I thought most salmon anglers stopped using treble hooks and opted for a single hook :eek:

well every single spinner i ever got in the tackle shop had a treble on it and i always have a treble on my own made lures and never killed or damaged a fish that i didnt want to kill

even trolling with rapalas you could have 3 trebles on a lure

experimenter

Ok.

dazza161989

popsy09 wrote: »

thats the biggest hook i have on the biggest lure for the real heavy water didnt expect a trout to come take a chomp :eek: went back perfect anyway

Trout are greedy feckers they'll take a lure as big a themselves!! I wouldn't worry too much about em being trebles id just de-barb them, better for the fish and as far as I can see fish stay on just as well as barbed hooks once played correctly.

dazza161989

experimenter wrote: »

Yes for me it does, I go down to size 18's. It varies on the depth and flow of water... same for the bead, it depends on the situation.

I work off a general rule of thumb.


1mm, Size 20
1.5mm, Size 18,
2mm, Size 16,
2 / 2.5mm, Size 14,
2.5mm, Size 12,
3 / 3.5 mm, Size 10 & 8,

But it depends on the location, I do prefer bigger bead on a smaller hook, rather than sticking to the values above.





But I reckon all my point flies are jigs, and .010mm / 0.012mm leader, I don't go by lbs/ breaking strain and stick to the same manufacture of tippet, just a confidence thing really.

Quick question....... Where do you get your jig hooks, can't seem to get them anywhere!!! They look ideal to tie baetis nymph imitations.

experimenter

dazza161989 wrote: »

Quick question....... Where do you get your jig hooks, can't seem to get them anywhere!!! They look ideal to tie baetis nymph imitations.

I use dohiku jigs, just Google them.

Also hanak competition..


https://www.czechnymph.com/en/e-shop/hooks/jig-hooks

Ebay...

dazza161989

experimenter wrote: »

I use dohiku jigs, just Google them.

Also hanak competition..


https://www.czechnymph.com/en/e-shop/hooks/jig-hooks

Ebay...

Cheers for that!

dece.ger

experimenter wrote: »

I use dohiku jigs, just Google them.

Also hanak competition..


https://www.czechnymph.com/en/e-shop/hooks/jig-hooks

Ebay...

Tiemco do great jig hooks there very good. You must use slotted beads for jig hooks

danbrosnan

Don't agree with this debrabing nonsense, I am a salmon angler and last year I lost four salmon while spinning and that's with brabbed hooks, there is a massive difference fishing for wild salmon in wild rivers then bass on the open shore, salmon are hundred times better fighters then bass and will break free of brabbed trebles in an instant...

I'm sorry but Henry glibly is not a salmon angler just because he suggests bass anglers use de brabbed hooks doesn't mean it's right or we all should follow like sheep...

I'm sorry I had to get that off my chest....

dazza161989

danbrosnan wrote: »

Don't agree with this debrabing nonsense, I am a salmon angler and last year I lost four salmon while spinning and that's with brabbed hooks, there is a massive difference fishing for wild salmon in wild rivers then bass on the open shore, salmon are hundred times better fighters then bass and will break free of brabbed trebles in an instant...

I'm sorry but Henry glibly is not a salmon angler just because he suggests bass anglers use de brabbed hooks doesn't mean it's right or we all should follow like sheep...

I'm sorry I had to get that off my chest....

Have to disagree dan, unless your keeping all fish u catch it's better for a fishes welfare to use de-barbed hooks, especially if the fish takes the hook deep.

No one mentioned Henry Gilbey or bass fishing, but while we're on the subject I lure fish, a lot, for sea bass and use barbless hooks for that also.

I have been using barbless trebles while spinning for salmon, and barbless flies while fly fishing for salmon, sea trout and brown trout. I have lost two salmon ever and they would have came off regardless. I rarely lose a trout or sea trout.

There's no statistics to suggest more fish come off on barbless hooks. If the fish is played correctly it will stay on, if it's not played correct it will come off regardless of what hook.

danbrosnan

dazza161989 wrote: »

Have to disagree dan, unless your keeping all fish u catch it's better for a fishes welfare to use de-barbed hooks, especially if the fish takes the hook deep.

No one mentioned Henry Gilbey or bass fishing, but while we're on the subject I lure fish, a lot, for sea bass and use barbless hooks for that also.

I have been using barbless trebles while spinning for salmon, and barbless flies while fly fishing for salmon, sea trout and brown trout. I have lost two salmon ever and they would have came off regardless. I rarely lose a trout or sea trout.

There's no statistics to suggest more fish come off on barbless hooks. If the fish is played correctly it will stay on, if it's not played correct it will come off regardless of what hook.

You have lost two salmon ever!!!

You must bring me out because thats some record, respect your opinion but don't agree with you at all, its very hard in river fishing i feel to hook salmon deep, unless you are worm fishing, i do see a point for barbless worm fishing but not for spinning....

when your spinning the fish and the spinner are going at such a speed the majority of the time you lip hook the fish, very rarely would I hook a fish deep..

I would lose a pile of fish spinning but the main reason for that is because i fish small spate rivers where the fish fight harder and the currents etc are way harder...

Bait fishing in the see should be barbless because that kills more fish then anything, again i think the whole argument is wrong, for lure fishing and spinning using barbless is a waste of time..

Bait fishing 100% barbless all the way....

dazza161989

danbrosnan wrote: »

You have lost two salmon ever!!!

You must bring me out because thats some record, respect your opinion but don't agree with you at all, its very hard in river fishing i feel to hook salmon deep, unless you are worm fishing, i do see a point for barbless worm fishing but not for spinning....

when your spinning the fish and the spinner are going at such a speed the majority of the time you lip hook the fish, very rarely would I hook a fish deep..

I would lose a pile of fish spinning but the main reason for that is because i fish small spate rivers where the fish fight harder and the currents etc are way harder...

Bait fishing in the see should be barbless because that kills more fish then anything, again i think the whole argument is wrong, for lure fishing and spinning using barbless is a waste of time..

Bait fishing 100% barbless all the way....

Maybe I'm just lucky, fish spate river myself( lower feale below finite bridge). Each to there own I guess but in the future I can see all salmon rivers making barbless compulsory. Happening on a couple of rivers in Scotland and Wales and the feale is now barbless until may 17th

danbrosnan

The feale is not a spate river i'm afraid...

I cannot see it happening tbh, barbless hooks well not catch on with the vast majority of anglers who want to keep a few fish...

I cannot understand this argument that the anglers need to do everything possible to try and save stock levels...

You fish the feale obviously, do you not know what is going on there? The river is poached to death, ye have seen the destruction of a river due to mismanagement and complete negligence from the fishery board...

I have seen it with my own two eyes...

The river feale is the biggest commercial fishery in the country and they trying to close it to anglers for a period while they grant licenses to kill thousands of salmon and you can double there quota because what they say they catch is not the truth...

I'm sorry but all the barbless hooks in the world won't help the salmon get up the cashen blocked with nets...

dazza161989

danbrosnan wrote: »

The feale is not a spate river i'm afraid...

I cannot see it happening tbh, barbless hooks well not catch on with the vast majority of anglers who want to keep a few fish...

I cannot understand this argument that the anglers need to do everything possible to try and save stock levels...

You fish the feale obviously, do you not know what is going on there? The river is poached to death, ye have seen the destruction of a river due to mismanagement and complete negligence from the fishery board...

I have seen it with my own two eyes...

The river feale is the biggest commercial fishery in the country and they trying to close it to anglers for a period while they grant licenses to kill thousands of salmon and you can double there quota because what they say they catch is not the truth...

I'm sorry but all the barbless hooks in the world won't help the salmon get up the cashen blocked with nets...

My apologies dan I meant it was tidal, I agree completely the feale has been completely decimated!!!

experimenter

Anyone going brown trout fishing this weekend? Heading home to Limerick and I've been checking waterlevel.ie so I am hoping the water levels will drop on my local stream!

dazza161989

experimenter wrote: »

Anyone going brown trout fishing this weekend? Heading home to Limerick and I've been checking waterlevel.ie so I am hoping the water levels will drop on my local stream!

Sure am, might do a bit of Czech nymphing.

experimenter

Have some good heavy bugs that I can't wait to try..I don't mind high water as long as it's not too coloured.

dazza161989

experimenter wrote: »

Have some good heavy bugs that I can't wait to try..I don't mind high water as long as it's not too coloured.

Ya the colouring can be a problem although I have had good success using a nymph called a grubber when the water is heavily stained.

If you haven't heard of the fly here's it's details:

Hook:size 14
Thread:Black
Bead: 3.3mm orange tungsten
Body:Hares mask fibres and olive seals fur dubbing.

A very basic nymph to tie, tied like a hares ear nymph, only difference is bead is in the middle and there's no gold ribbing.

A superb nymph for stained water fished on the point of a two or three nymph cast.

Flysfisher

dazza161989 wrote: »

Ya the colouring can be a problem although I have had good success using a nymph called a grubber when the water is heavily stained.

If you haven't heard of the fly here's it's details:

Hook:size 14
Thread:Black
Bead: 3.3mm orange tungsten
Body:Hares mask fibres and olive seals fur dubbing.

A very basic nymph to tie, tied like a hares ear nymph, only difference is bead is in the middle and there's no gold ribbing.

A superb nymph for stained water fished on the point of a two or three nymph cast.

It's interesting that you have the bead in the middle of the fly. Orange is good for coloured water as is yellow.

Flysfisher

experimenter wrote: »

Anyone going brown trout fishing this weekend? Heading home to Limerick and I've been checking waterlevel.ie so I am hoping the water levels will drop on my local stream!

My rivers still too high, looks like another few weeks yet.

dazza161989

Flysfisher wrote: »

It's interesting that you have the bead in the middle of the fly. Orange is good for coloured water as is yellow.

Yes it's a fairly unique pattern in that sense. I first seen it at a fair I was at and I later seen a vid with hywel Morgan using it so I said I'd tie a few and give it a whirl, absolutely brilliant in stained water for river brownies and it's supposedly a good grayling fly also.

gumbo1

Would anybody know where or how to get my hands on a full list of rivers and lakes in Ireland that hold trout?
Mainly a sea and pike angler but wouldn't mind finding out a bit more about where's fishable as I now have a new fly rod and an abundance of flies that need to be used!
I can understand if people don't want to put it out there in public domain so if your willing to share, not your personal marks but some info that could lead me in the right direction, by personal message I would be grateful!
Liam

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

gumbo1 wrote: »

Would anybody know where or how to get my hands on a full list of rivers and lakes in Ireland that hold trout?
Mainly a sea and pike angler but wouldn't mind finding out a bit more about where's fishable as I now have a new fly rod and an abundance of flies that need to be used!
I can understand if people don't want to put it out there in public domain so if your willing to share, not your personal marks but some info that could lead me in the right direction, by personal message I would be grateful!
Liam

You would need to be more specific on area as most rivers require club membership/permits.

The IFI website has good details of venues?

gumbo1

Jesus Warm Clown wrote: »

You would need to be more specific on area as most rivers require club membership/permits.

The IFI webste has good details of venues?

That's kinda why I was looking for a comprehensive list. I am willing to, and have done, some digging in order to find out who has the rights to the waterways and lands surrounding certain places that i've seen and thought about fishing. I've checked out the IFI website and several other forums to find out about some of the rivers and waterways for other spices and was wondering if it was documented formally at all.

floattuber_lee

peter o reily's book of irish rivers is very good. has done me proud so far!

experimenter

Trout in every river..

Just understand river craft, tactics and patterns.

Or get some lessons

gumbo1

Thanks floattuber, i'll have a look around for that.

experimenter wrote: »

Trout in every river..

Or get some lessons

I seriously doubt that there are trout in every river in Ireland, i've trekked up and down a lot of banks looking for swims and rises with not a lot of luck. I've had lessons in a few fisheries around dublin but want to try out a few waters where trout have been documented, without having to join half a dozen clubs.

SeaFields

floattuber_lee wrote: »

peter o reily's book of irish rivers is very good. has done me proud so far!

`

Its okay. I know a couple of rivers in it very well and according to the POR book, they are poor rivers, not worth fishing. They're not Im guessing in some cases that the locals gave the researcher a bit of a yarn to keep the outsiders away! But as a guide it is very useful.

gumbo1 wrote: »

I seriously doubt that there are trout in every river in Ireland, i've trekked up and down a lot of banks looking for swims and rises with not a lot of luck.

I've always been of the belief that there are trout in nearly every river and lake in the country. Now whether their numbers allow fishing to be worthwhile is another thing but its amazing the places I've seen trout, including in a tiny stream in my own back garden. There are instances where they are killed off by industry or agriculture but once this interference stops they seem to recover too.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

gumbo1 wrote: »

Thanks floattuber, i'll have a look around for that.



I seriously doubt that there are trout in every river in Ireland, i've trekked up and down a lot of banks looking for swims and rises with not a lot of luck. I've had lessons in a few fisheries around dublin but want to try out a few waters where trout have been documented, without having to join half a dozen clubs.

You'd be surprised! I don't think any river can be judged by walking along it. You really have to fish it to find out.
You don't have to find a few rivers. One decent one will do. You'll hardly travel the entire country just to fish for river trout. There should be something suitable in your own area.
You would still need to join clubs to try many waters. My own club for instance does not do day permits, only annual subscription.

experimenter

I seriously think there are trout in every river, I fish for sport so whether I get fish that are 8inches or 12inches it doesn't matter.

Walking banks of a river looking for fish is a waste of time.

Get down and do a kick sample see what kind of insects are in the river.

Do you nymph fish or are you using wet fly fishing??

I fish a small stream in limerick, locals say no fish but I am meeting fish all the time.

As I said change tactics and hit your local stream

Nymphing Setup/

danbrosnan

SeaFields wrote: »

`

Its okay. I know a couple of rivers in it very well and according to the POR book, they are poor rivers, not worth fishing. They're not Im guessing in some cases that the locals gave the researcher a bit of a yarn to keep the outsiders away! But as a guide it is very useful.



I've always been of the belief that there are trout in nearly every river and lake in the country. Now whether their numbers allow fishing to be worthwhile is another thing but its amazing the places I've seen trout, including in a tiny stream in my own back garden. There are instances where they are killed off by industry or agriculture but once this interference stops they seem to recover too.

Ya POR books are sometimes a waste of time, he didn't fish 90% of the rivers he writes about , as you said sea fields he just asked the locals and assumed they were telling the truth...

I do believe every stream river and lake will hold some brownies... I think the biggest crime in this country is the vast amount of rivers that run salmon and sea trout that will never ever be recognised....

I have been told hundreds of times by locals that there" no fish there" or "wasting your time" and they the ones at 5 in the morning pulling the nets...