Trout for beginners

.red.

Hi lads,
I'd like to fish for trout and I'm looking for some advice.
I'm a shore angler who cant get out as much as I used to and have a supposedly good trout river(the Bride) near home that I'd like to fish a bit.
I'm pretty clueless so what should I be looking for? Fast water? Deep water? Bends or straights?
I've been down a few times in the last week and had a few tiddlers on my first day. The second time was after heavy rain and it was very fast and like chocolate. Am I wasting my time when it's like that?
I'll be using mainly worm and maybe a few small spinners or jellies.
Ill probably try a few stocked lakes too but prefer the idea of trying the Bride as it's literally walking distance from home.

Any advice welcome.
Thanks.

Wibbs

It's been a while since I've gone worming for trout but I had my best fish from deeper runs and pools and anywhere fast water ran off into slack. The trout sit there waiting for food to decelerate from the fast flows. The larger they are the less energy they want to expend so... Very generally speaking the fast riffles are most commonly populated by the tiddlers.

Another spot I found was great was directly behind larger boulders in other wise fast stretches. Can be tricky to get a worm in there, but letting it free drift from the fast into the slack behind the boulder often produced bloody good fish for a particular river(works with minnow and flies too).

When rivers are in spate/flood with much faster muddy water like that it's a hard slog. About the only time I had any sport was with worms alright, but when it was in the process of rising or falling, not in full flow, and keep your bait close to the riverbank, because the fish will head in there to get out of the heavy current. Or if there are any tributaries running into the main river as they usually calm down before the main river and fish will often head up them to get away from the current.

Better advice will likely come along Red. That was just my take and to be fair going on memory of many years ago. I've fished the Bride again may moons ago. I remember it as a lovely river actually. With some lovely runs, for fly fishing anyway, but the same would be generally true of bait fishing too I'd imagine.

Ultimate Seduction

Wibbs wrote: »

It's been a while since I've gone worming for trout but I had my best fish from deeper runs and pools and anywhere fast water ran off into slack. The trout sit there waiting for food to decelerate from the fast flows. The larger they are the less energy they want to expend so... Very generally speaking the fast riffles are most commonly populated by the tiddlers.

Another spot I found was great was directly behind larger boulders in other wise fast stretches. Can be tricky to get a worm in there, but letting it free drift from the fast into the slack behind the boulder often produced bloody good fish for a particular river(works with minnow and flies too).

When rivers are in spate/flood with much faster muddy water like that it's a hard slog. About the only time I had any sport was with worms alright, but when it was in the process of rising or falling, not in full flow, and keep your bait close to the riverbank, because the fish will head in there to get out of the heavy current. Or if there are any tributaries running into the main river as they usually calm down before the main river and fish will often head up them to get away from the current.

Better advice will likely come along Red. That was just my take and to be fair going on memory of many years ago. I've fished the Bride again may moons ago. I remember it as a lovely river actually. With some lovely runs, for fly fishing anyway, but the same would be generally true of bait fishing too I'd imagine.

Great advice!

.red.

Cheers lads,
Tried to take than onboard and went out again this morning for an hour and caught 2 more tiddlers.
The river itself, where I was anyway is pretty shallow, maybe 4/5 ft at its deepest. There was one section that was deep enough for a local riding schools horses to be neck high but there was work done for flood relief and it's pretty shallow there now.
Its early yet so hopefully as it gets warmer, the fishing will pick up too.
I'm just glad to be out catching a few fish again, I'd rather numbers at this stage over size. It's been way too long.

shortcircuitie

Is that the Bride near Rathcormac/ Castlelyons?
I don't mean to be a killjoy but I think you are meant to be a member of one of the angling clubs in order to be able to fish the river.

Benny Biscotti

On the subject of permissions, I'm just starting out river fishing. I'm trying to understand the just of it.

For seatrout and salmon I need a licence + permit, etc.
For coarse fishing I need a permit or club membership in most rivers and lakes.
Does a club membership include a permit, or would I need a permit on top of club membership?

shortcircuitie

Once you are a member of an angling club, you typically do not need a permit to fish the waters controlled by the club. The permit is normally for non-members and is fixed duration (day permit, weekly permit etc)

For fishing for brown trout, you do not need the government licence, like you do for salmon and sea trout.

Some rivers are regarded as "free fishing". This means that the fishing rights are not controlled by a club. In these situations, you are meant to ask the permission of the landowner for access- in reality I'm not sure how much this actually happens.

ardinn

The best advice I can give you is to take up fly fishing. You wont look back - Itl take a year before you have any confidence in yourself and every year after you will look back a realize how clueless you were and how much you have improved.

Anyway - im linking you to an article on reading the water, which for trout is probably the most important part. Its fly fishing based but you will learn where trout sit and why, a very good read, if not just a little technical.

Actually ill link you to 2 articles, one relating to fishing the flood.

You are correct in saying you are early, fishing will improve into the summer.

Linky 1

Linky 2

SeaFields

Benny Biscotti wrote: »

On the subject of permissions, I'm just starting out river fishing. I'm trying to understand the just of it.

For seatrout and salmon I need a licence + permit, etc.
For coarse fishing I need a permit or club membership in most rivers and lakes.
Does a club membership include a permit, or would I need a permit on top of club membership?

If you are fishing for sea trout or salmon you need a state licence. It's about 60 for the season for a county one or 120 to cover you for the whole country.

After that (and for every other species also) really you need to have permission to fish the particular river or lake. That can be via a permit, club membership or it can be free fishing ( albeit with permission of the landowner to access the land). There's actually plenty of sea trout and salmon fishing in the country that's 'free fishing'.

.red.

shortcircuitie wrote: »

Is that the Bride near Rathcormac/ Castlelyons?
I don't mean to be a killjoy but I think you are meant to be a member of one of the angling clubs in order to be able to fish the river.

Different River Bride, it runs along the Cork/Macroom road before flowing into the Lee near the end of the Ballincollig bypass.
Only been down a few times but I've already met the fisheries officers, who had no issues with me drowning a few worms.
I was fishing beaches 15 years and never even seen an officer, let alone got approached by them.

SeaFields

.red. wrote: »

Different River Bride, it runs along the Cork/Macroom road before flowing into the Lee near the end of the Ballincollig bypass.
Only been down a few times but I've already met the fisheries officers, who had no issues with me drowning a few worms.
I was fishing beaches 15 years and never even seen an officer, let alone got approached by them.

From memory that river bride gets a run of salmon outside of the angling season. Probably why IFI officers were patrolling.

Ultimate Seduction

What's the estuary of the blackwater in Youghal like for trout? Is a permit needed around there? I have the national salmon license

.red.

SeaFields wrote: »

From memory that river bride gets a run of salmon outside of the angling season. Probably why IFI officers were patrolling.

Supposedly so anyway. I'd see them parked up there a good bit during the summer so they have it well patrolled. The fisheries office is walking distance away from where I was so I'd say they stop every time they see a car.
The 2 lads who came down were very nice, had a look at what I was upto and stayed a few mins for a chat. Gave a small bit of advice and went on their way.

SeaFields

Ultimate Seduction wrote: »

What's the estuary of the blackwater in Youghal like for trout? Is a permit needed around there? I have the national salmon license

The river bride estuary, which I think is actually in Waterford, used have a great reputation for sea trout. That's the bride running through north Cork as opposed to the one red is on about.

Rows Grower

.red. wrote: »

Different River Bride, it runs along the Cork/Macroom road before flowing into the Lee near the end of the Ballincollig bypass.
Only been down a few times but I've already met the fisheries officers, who had no issues with me drowning a few worms.
I was fishing beaches 15 years and never even seen an officer, let alone got approached by them.

I know the river you are talking about, the best bait to use on that river for brown trout is minnow, fish them exactly the same way you would fish the worm, i.e upstream casting with just enough bb weights to allow the bait move steadily along the bottom of the river.

There are some fine trout on that river and the salmon fishing is good too, Foley's Hole was always a top spot for both salmon and trout and the farmer that owned the land was sound out and a keen angler himself.

When the water is chocolate fish in at the sides, even under the banks just at your feet. The best time to fish that river is after a flood when the water has began to drop but is still not normal level yet.

Rows Grower

Ultimate Seduction wrote: »

What's the estuary of the blackwater in Youghal like for trout? Is a permit needed around there? I have the national salmon license

I'd say it's really only fishable by boat because of how muddy the banks are, I think there are still lads who have the old seine licences for netting that estuary.

shortcircuitie

.red. wrote: »

Different River Bride, it runs along the Cork/Macroom road before flowing into the Lee near the end of the Ballincollig bypass.
Only been down a few times but I've already met the fisheries officers, who had no issues with me drowning a few worms.
I was fishing beaches 15 years and never even seen an officer, let alone got approached by them.

Ah. That Bride is free.

I often thought about fishing it but I always found access to be not great, and to be tight for casting (I would be fly fishing). Were you fishing the bit near Ballincollig?

shortcircuitie

Ultimate Seduction wrote: »

What's the estuary of the blackwater in Youghal like for trout? Is a permit needed around there? I have the national salmon license

You won't be getting many brown trout in the estuary because of the saline environment. You will pick up the sea species as far upriver as the Abbey.

If you had a salmon license I guess you would be covered for fishing for salmon and sea trout. Your only issue would be trying to cover the water. That estuary is huge. You would nearly want to be trolling from a boat.

shortcircuitie

SeaFields wrote: »

The river bride estuary, which I think is actually in Waterford, used have a great reputation for sea trout. That's the bride running through north Cork as opposed to the one red is on about.

The Bride is catch and release only for sea trout and salmon.

I was fishing at Conna last year and I saw an angler* spinning and pulled in a fine sea trout which he promptly put into his backpack.

*A young lad in tracksuit,baseball cap and a bag of cans

.red.

I went back down the bride again this morning, water was very low as expected but I'd a handful of worms and I was bored so gave it a go on a deepish pool with a fallen tree on the bank for a seat. Nice and comfy with a fresh scone and a flask if the fishing was poor.
2nd cast in and I'd a fish on, decent scrap and my biggest trout so far, not a monster but I was happy enough, guessing about 27/28cms as the box is just over 30. Quick pic and he swam safely back.
2 tiddlers about 15cms came out after him and I packed up after about 2 hours.
Glorious morning for it and the smell of wild garlic in the air made it even nicer to be out.

SeaFields

Beautiful trout Red. Fair play. Assuming you are still talking about the bride in ovens direction, did you venture towards the old quarry at the start of the ballincollig bypass (ovens side)? I remember hearing it had big trout in it years ago. Not sure if you're actually allowed fish it tho.

.red.

SeaFields wrote: »

Beautiful trout Red. Fair play. Assuming you are still talking about the bride in ovens direction, did you venture towards the old quarry at the start of the ballincollig bypass (ovens side)? I remember hearing it had big trout in it years ago. Not sure if you're actually allowed fish it tho.

I haven't gone anywhere bar the few fishable spots near home which is up towards crookstown. I've picked another few places from Google maps towards Ballincollig but I'll leave it a while till I try them.

shortcircuitie

.red. wrote: »

I went back down the bride again this morning, water was very low as expected but I'd a handful of worms and I was bored so gave it a go on a deepish pool with a fallen tree on the bank for a seat. Nice and comfy with a fresh scone and a flask if the fishing was poor.
2nd cast in and I'd a fish on, decent scrap and my biggest trout so far, not a monster but I was happy enough, guessing about 27/28cms as the box is just over 30. Quick pic and he swam safely back.
2 tiddlers about 15cms came out after him and I packed up after about 2 hours.
Glorious morning for it and the smell of wild garlic in the air made it even nicer to be out.

That's a fine trout, fair play

shamrock55

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask but my young fella has been plaguing me for ages to go fishing, so I recently got us both spinning rods to fish for trout at our local lake, thing is I'm clueless on how to set up our rods, what do I need if I want to use mepps or maybe bubble and bait, how do I set up the rods for both, do I need lead weights, swivels or what how far do I keep the bubble from the hook, I don't know where on the line to put stuff, I've tried YouTube but the vids aren't great, please help my young lad has me driven nuts to get going

Ultimate Seduction

shamrock55 wrote: »

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask but my young fella has been plaguing me for ages to go fishing, so I recently got us both spinning rods to fish for trout at our local lake, thing is I'm clueless on how to set up our rods, what do I need if I want to use mepps or maybe bubble and bait, how do I set up the rods for both, do I need lead weights, swivels or what how far do I keep the bubble from the hook, I don't know where on the line to put stuff, I've tried YouTube but the vids aren't great, please help my young lad has me driven nuts to get going

Simply tie the spinner on to the end of your line, nothing else needed if it's only handy trout you're after.

shamrock55

Ultimate Seduction wrote: »

Simply tie the spinner on to the end of your line, nothing else needed if it's only handy trout you're after.

Thanks for that, I thought there would be more to it

SeaFields

Ultimate Seduction wrote: »

Simply tie the spinner on to the end of your line, nothing else needed if it's only handy trout you're after.

I would add a swivel to prevent line twist

Rows Grower

shamrock55 wrote: »

Thanks for that, I thought there would be more to it

If it's a two piece or three piece rod when you put it together look through the bottom eye and make sure you can see straight through the top eye before tightening the pieces. This will help when you are trying to cast that bit further or more accurately.

Check youtube for a good fishermans knot, nothing worse than hooking one and then he gets away with your spinner stuck in his mouth, bad buzz all round.

When you're using a spinner always pick a spot where you want it to land on the water and concentrate on getting it there or near it. As you get more used to it and more confident you can let it sink a bit before starting to reel back in.

With the bubble float you can get ones that have a little needle type piece of plastic that you thread with the line before you run the line through the float
They let you adjust how far away you want the float to be from the bait.

Like the spinning start fishing near the surface where there is less chances of getting snagged and gradually you can move the float away that bit more from the bait so you end up fishing in deeper water. You can use clip on weights a foot above the hook to help it sink, BB's are a good size to have. Same thing with casting the float, always pick a spot where you want it to land and try to get it there.

Be very careful with yourself and the young lad, always wear some type of flotation device. In my personal experience spinning is better on a cloudy or rainy day, the trout don't seem to take spinners as eagerly when it's too bright.

Tight lines and ye enjoy it.

Ultimate Seduction

SeaFields wrote: »

I would add a swivel to prevent line twist

Yeah I would too, but no need to complicate it I thought. I've caught hundreds of fish with just the spinner tied on

shamrock55

Thanks for the replies guys, we went to the Lake for a couple of hrs this evening, didn't catch anything though, to cast a little further can I put one of those little lead shot balls on the line near my spinner, the lines seemed a bit light and our casts weren't going any great distance, another thing which might sound silly but what speed should we be reeling in?

Ultimate Seduction

shamrock55 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys, we went to the Lake for a couple of hrs this evening, didn't catch anything though, to cast a little further can I put one of those little lead shot balls on the line near my spinner, the lines seemed a bit light and our casts weren't going any great distance, another thing which might sound silly but what speed should we be reeling in?

No. Don't put on any weights with a spinner. Simply get a heavier spinner.
A fish can swim faster than you reel so just try different depths and different speeds.