Going Fishing?

Fann Linn

Looking for some advice please. With a view to taking up, trying out fishing in the new year, I was wondering which 'road' to take initially.
I am lucky enough to live within an hour of the River Suck, River Shannon, Clare river and Lough Ree, Lough Key, Lough Arrow and many of the other lakes in Co. Roscommon and Co. Westmeath. I am not too far either from the coast at Galway, Sligo and Clare with the new motorway.
I have always enjoyed watching anglers in rivers fly fishing and it seems to be a sport where there is some activity going on.
In contrast however to coarse fishing, it appears to me, from observing fishemen along the Erne, that it is somewhat more relaxing.
My only experience of fishing was at Skerries, Dalkey and Dun Laoighre many moons ago!
With my close proximity to the above lakes and rivers would I be safe enough in getting some knowledge and investing in some fly fishing equipment, or would those same water courses be more suitable for course fishing?
I understand the season has practically closed now but I would like to get some info and a broad idea of which way to progress for 2019.
All advice appreciated.
Thanks.

ardinn

You have three basic strands of fishing.

Coarse

Sea

Fly

Coarse is probably the easiest and cheapest to get into - you can wander around with a spinning rod or sit on the bank and float or deadbait fish and enjoy the rain

Sea is more challenging, harsher conditions a lot of the time and quite expensive to get into.

Fly fishing is by far the most difficult to learn, and when you think you have it, you realize you will never have it - it is a life long learning experience that will (without sounding like a twat) change your life. Well, it has mine anyway and i'm not even that avid a fly man.

If your going to learn to fly fish, you need a year at it before you are anyway proficient, and dont expect many wild fish in that time either.

You can also start on the fly fairly cheaply.

Starting out you can get a decent enough setup with everything you need for about €60. I would recommend immediately joining a club (Not Oughterrard or whatever the hell it's called) and going out as much as possible with friends who know what they are doing.

Rivers are different from lakes, and sometimes require different setups - most people will use 9ft 5#(weight) rods for general river fishing, but for lakes move to between 10 and 11ft and anything from 6-8#.
Lines need to match this so in the beginning it's important to find out what you will be doing most of so you can get the best outfit. Not that you cant use
either in the beginning but it will make a difference to you down the road. So a cassette reel is a better option than a normal reel, if you need a sinking line you have your spare cassettes and dont need to buy another reel to house the 100 different lines you will end up buying.

If your interested in learning more, send me a pm and i'll link you to some helpful videos and articles to get you going.

Fann Linn

Thanks for that post. I'm just beginning to realise now how much is involved. Rayher than walking in blind and becoming overwhelmed between the different 'strands', I think for now I'll just explore the basics of course and fly fishing and then try and find one which I will concentrate on for know.

I've watched some videos on youtube and read a few articles on line. I think I'll just do a bit more research and then just bite the bullet and focus on one strand initially.

Is there any videos you might recommend on either coarse or fly that I might find useful? Thanks.

whelzer

Fly all the way (no disrespect to other strands!).

Species I have caught on the fly...

Trout
Salmon
Sea Trout
Bass
Mullet
Mackerel
Cod
Pollock
Wrasse
Pike
Perch
Rudd
Roach
Dace
Gudgeon

Numerous yokes in Thailand inc a(3-4lb) tuna/jack looking thing..was one my of my best all time catches!

Bats (4 times!)

Probably more.

*** Grayling
*** Arctic Char

There is tons of stuff youtube - Oliver Edwards would be a good place to start, if you go the fly route, get some casting lessons. I didn't for for about 2 years an it definitely helped a lot when I finally bit the bullet.

Fann Linn

whelzer wrote: »

Fly all the way (no disrespect to other strands!).

Species I have caught on the fly...

Trout
Salmon
Sea Trout
Bass
Mullet
Mackerel
Cod
Pollock
Wrasse
Pike
Perch
Rudd
Roach
Dace
Gudgeon

Numerous yokes in Thailand inc a(3-4lb) tuna/jack looking thing..was one my of my best all time catches!

Bats (4 times!)

Probably more.

*** Grayling
*** Arctic Char

There is tons of stuff youtube - Oliver Edwards would be a good place to start, if you go the fly route, get some casting lessons. I didn't for for about 2 years an it definitely helped a lot when I finally bit the bullet.

Thanks for that. I didn't think so much fish were possible with flies.

uch

It's also worth thinking about anything you might catch, catching 2 salmon a season could be considered a good return, where as catching 5 or 6 trout in one session is also good, Coarse fishing you could easily catch 50 - 100 in one session, but coarse fish can be very small, with Sea Angling catching anything can be seen as a success depending on when and where you are.

Basically what I'm getting at is if you get bored of several sessions of catching nothing you could very easily jack it in and never return, Personally I'd try and find an experienced angler/friend who could bring you to a couple of diferent venues and let you decide that way.
As Ardinn says above, they prefer Fly, and it is a matter of choice, for me even a 2oz Roach is an enjoyabe experience. I used to Match/Coarse fish all over this country, the UK and Europe and won some very large prize money over the years, but the joy can just be in your surroundings, as it is for me now.

flended12

whelzer wrote: »

Numerous yokes in Thailand

**too many jokes**