Trout & Salmon Anglers Association
Hi,
Had a great evening on the Griese with my father who fished the river 40 years ago. Had lots of fish on dries and nymphs. Biggest over 1 pounds. Fantastic to finally fish the river my grandfather and father fished so much before I was born.
Thanks,
Carl
Be back out very soon I hope.
Note
Carl was fishing with a Blue winged olive klinkhammer.
They caught the following trout –
Whilst I am writing this post I have to first give thanks (again) to Peter Churchill – our guest angler from America for getting me out of the house and making it such a fun time. If you remember Peter was over last year and spent some time on the Greise and Liffey as well as other rivers in Ireland (see previous post). Well this year he did Mount Juliet and Thomastown first (by himself!) before we linked up down in Clonmel for a couple of days on the Suir.
We joined up early on the Thursday morning @ the Clonanav Fly Fishing shop in Ballmacarbry in the Nire Valley. Peter had done exceptionally well navigating down from around Kilkenny but for some strange reason had chosen the ‘take me along the smallest farm roads in Ireland’ option on his SatNav. I don’t remember his hair being white or standing on end last year!
I’ve been to the Nire Valley before with the family and knew just how beautiful it is down there – but had never fished either river. Peter had booked a guide for the day and despite my initial misgivings (typical tight Brit!) it turned out to be money very well spent. Andrew Ryan (the owner) was very helpful and we kitted up in the shop (out of the rain!) and both of us decided to take advantage of their very kind offer of using their ‘guest’ rods. These were #3 weight Hardy’s as we were both looking at trying out lighter rods than usual.
They also sorted out a selection of flies to use – and were strongly recommending using Klinkhammers with a small emerger as the dropper. Neither of us were experienced with this method and I was more than just a little nervous of getting into some serious tangles (based upon my previous experiences trying more than 1 fly). Interestingly – all the flies Andrew had on sale were barbless and I have to say that this really added to the challenge.
The guide took us to the Nire River first of all and helped us with setting up the rods. Peter was ready first and nipped down from the Bridge to the river to try a few test casts out whilst I struggled with the set up. 2nd cast and he was into a decent sized brown trout! Needless to say there were no more questions about whether the fly selection or leader set up was right.
The guide was great and it really helped having local knowledge of where the fish were likely to be – as well as providing much needed feedback on our casting techniques (or lack of in my case) and tuition to correct the inevitable bad habits that creep in (again and again!). Finding your way up an unknown river on the look out for fish without help will often lead to missing out on the good chance of actually catching – we were both successful on several occasions as we moved further up this beautiful river.
The guide took us back to the shop for lunch and a look at the selection of rods, reels etc. on offer. I had been so impressed with my ‘guest’ Hardy rod that I determined to buy one – although I couldn’t afford the top of the range that I had been using! On production of my River Griese club card Andrew did me a deal on a very nice 8ft. #3 weight rod and accompanying reel. Andrew offered to set up the reel with backing line etc. so that it would be ready to use later on.
Next stop the River Suir…..
The guide drove us along the Suir and before taking us to the chosen beat also showed us several spots where we could fish on the Friday without him guiding. Again really good to have the local knowledge so readily offered. We parked up on their own private land close to the Suir and once more got down to business.
Peter discussing tactics – where are the stinging nettles!?
Peter developed quite a close relationship with the guide – although I never managed to catch them actually holding hands as they walked along the bank.
Once more we were straight into the fish – to the extent that Peter later proclaimed it to be the best day’s brown trout fishing that he’d ever had! He was standing in the river casting across a pool and practically every 3rd cast was drawing a good sized fish. My section wasn’t so prolific – but the fish were even larger! However it was now getting late in the day and although myself and Peter would have kept fishing (as the fish showed no signs of going home!) the guide needed to get back to the shop.
Going back to the point about barbless hooks – we both lost many fish that were ‘hooked’ and played but managed to lose the fly. It certainly highlights your technique for actually catching and landing your fish. A fish running at you really makes you work when you know that the hook will shortly be coming out if you don’t do something!
Did you see that one??!!
At this point Peter decided to show me a new technique he was trying in the States – I’m not sure whether it will catch on over here but the fish should be happy. It appears that the trick is to hold on to the line tightly and try and hit the fish by throwing your rod reel first.
We finished the day happy (and wet – my waders leaked) and looking forward to Friday. We were staying locally (Andrews mum runs the excellent local B&B only 2 mins away from the shop) and went to Clonmel for dinner. Walking alongside the Suir that evening we saw plenty of fish of all sizes just waiting to be caught!
After an excellent breakfast we went back to the River Nire to fish until lunchtime – there were several large brownies that we had seen that I was determined to get on the bank. Despite several near misses we were not as successful as on the previous day – and we both wanted to move on and try the Suir again.
On the Suir we did catch – but not to the same extent as to the day before. The wind was stronger and I was determined to go with my new #3 weight – I probably should have gone back to my trusty 10ft #5/6 weight to get across the wind and out further into the current.
We once again stayed the night at the B&B and ate out in Clonmel – and on the Saturday morning drove across to Thomastown for a few hours on the Nore. Peter had fished there earlier in the week and enjoyed it. However there appears to be a problem with access downstream from the bridge and along the river round the GAA pitches so we were restricted to the Bridge and upstream.
Both of us caught small brownies with sufficient ‘action’ to make it fun. There were large numbers of fish to be seen – but they were not interested in flies at all. The path along the river is used by families and walkers a lot and I suspect that the fish there are used to readily available picnic leftovers.
We finished up early afternoon and then headed back home – completely fished out!
The more perceptive of you will have noticed that there are no pictures of actual fish in this posting. My excuse is catch and release – it’s far easier to get the fish quickly back into the water than struggling to get the camera out and then dropping it in the river. Peter did sent me some pictures – but I’ve managed to lose them somewhere.
My thanks again go to Peter for being such an enthusiastic guest and great entertainment. The challenge now is to return the effort and get over to his part of the world.
Additional thanks go to Andrew Ryan at Clonanav Fly Fishing – a professional and friendly team who clearly love what they do.
Tim Pullen
Frustrating day at work – went home early and just needed to fish! Called Dermot Page and popped down to Rathcon just before 6pm. Only myself and another fishing – perfect!
Some early action and then it went quiet but some fish were rising at odd times for flies (not mine though). Kept at it and a small rise started around 8pm’ish – lost 1 large one (and the fly as I had on only a 3lb leader). I put on 6lb and had several false takes before a 3-4lb brownie took it on the retrieve. A bit of a struggle and it went into the net.
Good fun spent trying to tempt another but eventually moved from the ‘dam’ end of the lake towards the clubhouse. Once again the rise started and this time a rainbow took the fly on the retrieve.
Had a bit of a chat with Dermots father late on and he reckoned most of the action was still sub-surface. However – the water is crystal clear at the moment and I get a feeling that with more insect life to come and the evenings sorting themselves out there should be great action for dry flies!
Hi Tim,
It was great to meet you all for the tannyard cleanup, and I hope the old tannery becomes a lively place. It certainly has potential!
I went fishing by bridge across the entrance to Kilkea. There’s a stile there what leads, a bit precariously, to a glorious pool over what was a millrace or leat? nice hatch there, but the water being limpid and slow, the little trout, 6-8 inches long, were very nervy& wary. I saw a dozen rises for little brown/beige flies (my entomology is wanting). but no takes.
I also went back the Quaker mill, which is becoming one of my favourite spots. The water levels were high and the flow speedy, which has me perplexed as it has not rained. No luck in the pool just after the bridge, but in a slower vortex after the dropoff, on the edge of the riffle, I caught this little brownie on a tiny orange body elkhair cadis, size 12.
good times.
all the best,
francis
Peter had contacted me several months ago about coming over on a fishing holiday and including the Griese in his itinerary. I though “this man is mad! It’ll never happen” but true to his word Peter kept up a steady stream of emails asking questions about the river and the bug life and the best techniques for catching trout – and then finally informed me that he’d booked into Buddy & Evelyn Kavanagh’s B&B in Moone to arrive on the 25th May for a couple of days. Now the only fly that I am familiar with is Seamus’s famous “Whyckam Fancy” and my technique is very much from the “cast and hope for the best” school of angling. However after conferring with the Club Sage (Seamus) I was told that it was down to me to uphold the honour of our Club and at the very least buy the poor misguided american a pint!
And so it came to pass that I accidently answered my phone on Friday morning – I thought that it was a call from work – only to hear this american accent saying that he was just leaving Carlow and would be arriving just before lunch. As I was staring at a diary that had 3 solid hours of conference calls followed by an afternoon of dealing with the latest project crisis and chasing up unpaid invoices – was there ever any doubt what I would do? I told Peter that he’d just made a grown man very happy and that I’d meet him at Buddy’s around 12:30.
Just so that you know in advance that the story has a happy ending – Peter is the one on the right after a hard afternoon fishing.
God only knows where he found the other two!
At this stage I have to come clean and say that it was an absolute pleasure meeting Peter and spending the next 2 days fishing with him. He stopped and talked with everyone and was a credit to the angling community. His enthusiasm for fishing was infectious and young and old, male and female, townies or countryfolk – he made time for everyone and talked until they moved on. I was amazed that he spent so much time over the course of the week actually fishing!
The man really made me rethink my cynical view of the world (OK – America) – it is far too easy to generalise when you’re just getting your information from the press.
However back to the fishing!
We kitted up (spiffing new chest waders for Peter and leaky old thigh waders for me) and went along to Moone Bridge to take a look at the river downstream – thinking that we’d end up there later on. It’s a nice stretch and I wanted Peter to have something to look forward to as we planned to do the scenic Kilkea Castle as a starter. I’d left messages for the local farmer/landowner just to make sure that everything was OK. We parked up and walked down to the river – admiring the opportunities and planning out where we’d go. At this stage we were joined by a couple of cows – who seemed pretty friendly. As is by magic a small herd materialised out of nowhere – and on closer inspection we noticed that they were heifers, increasingly ‘friendly’ heifers. Fair enough – it’s their field – but we’d come back later and settle into some fish. As we turned to go Peter felt a nudge in his back and it now seemed that our four legged friends had decided they would hurry us along a bit. There now followed an anxious walk back to the gate – backwards – keeping our attention on these beasts – clearly they were in training for the Bull Run in Pamplona! I’m sure that this made a great impression on Peter – our first attempt on the Griese leading to defeat and retreat…
Next up – Kilkea Castle – what could possibly go wrong here? Well, thankfully nothing – apart from Peter discovering stinging nettles – apparently they don’t exist in America (he did discover that rubbing Dock Leaves onto the affected parts doesn’t work – he did not get much consolation from people telling him that they make nice soup and wine…). I’m afraid I was so enjoying my own fishing (great host that I was!) that I completely forgot to take any photographs at Kilkea. Peter has promised that when he’s out of hospital (stings and rashes department) he’ll send on his shots for me to post up. Again – I have to say that we had a great time – every golfer was friendly, chatty and pleased to see us. It’s a wonderful location (see other posts) but tough fishing – there is so little cover and the fish didn’t seem to be interested – even my Whyckan Fancy failed! But – there are loads of fish there and we saw fish to 1.5 lbs.
Peter got talking to a passing golfer and I eventually joined the conversation – hoping to rescue Peter so that he could actually do some fishing. As it turned out it was a local landowner who owned the land upstream from Kilkea Castle. We had a good chat and he suggested that we try out his stretch when we had exhausted ourselves at Kilkea Castle. Mid afternoon we again jumped in the car and drove out of the Castle grounds and around the corner to the bridge. We kitted up again and walked down the steps alongside the bridge into a jungle! Peter was very kindly leading and once again managed to find all the stinging nettles… once through this barrier there was a pleasant walk upstream along the left bank looking for likely spots to try our skills. The breeze had got up and we quickly realised that perhaps walking up the right bank would have been better as the wind was coming straight at us… accurately casting short distances into a stiff, swirling breeze made for quite interesting fishing – I learnt a few choice american expressions from Peter.
This is a typical stretch encountered – narrow, fast flowing & deep with plenty of plant growth in the water. The banks are over grown and steep making your approach difficult – a false step will having you pitching into the river! Plenty of overhanging trees and low hanging branches made ideal hiding spots for the trout – several times I saw large brownies dart out to grab insects/flys on the surface and dash back into the cover.
We both tried several spots up the river – again seeing several large trout up to 2 lbs but they were only intermittently rising and once again despite frequent changes of fly – we had no luck at all.
Peter in action….
Time was getting on – and with the fish clearly not playing ball we felt that we had earned a break. At this time I had a call from my wife (as in my excitement I had completely forgotten to call her as agreed when I met Peter several hours previously) checking that Peter and I were OK. More importantly – we were both invited to a BBQ later that evening when we’d finished fishing! So off we went again – Peter again checking that the stinging nettles still worked (they did) by testing them on the inside of his armpit this time. Strange people these americans. I thought that it was about time for some light refreshments and so we stopped at Moone High Cross Inn – a Guiness and a Smithwicks later and we were happily chatting away to Declan and his Belgium sheep dog Jacques. I have to say that we got more sense out of Jacques….
At this point we considered our options – more fishing along the Griese or maybe try a bit of rainbow fishing up at Rathcon Lake in Grangecon. Considering our success over the last 5 hours or so we concluded that it was a home win to the River Griese as once again it had refused to give up any fish – Peter was actually delighted with his fishing as towards the end he had started to get to see fish approaching his fly. As ever the joy of fly fishing doesn’t always come from actually catching something. Rathcon did sound attractive – I was certain that we’d catch fish as Dermot Page has both Rainbows and Brownies now stocked – and both fight very well.
However, with beer o’clock well and truly ringing we eventually settled on a drive back stopping to look at the river and enjoy the beautiful countryside and scenery. Ballitore Old Mill and weir looked particularly fishable – but common sense prevailed and we headed for the BBQ.
I won’t go into too much detail but a great evening followed with Ciaran and Maura being their usual great hosts/chefs/entertainment. It turned out to be a FISH BBQ – the only fish that Peter and I had seen out of water all day!
I stuck to the water (and chocolates). Please note that the glass of water in front of Peter remained untouched throughout the evening. Peter is seen below showing Maura his collection of stinging nettle rashes.
Maura and Peter below – making plans for Saturday night.
I dropped Peter off very late at the Kavanaghs – it could even have been the next day… Despite not drinking I still managed to drive into the wrong house – my sincere apologies to Buddy’s neighbours…
Saturday
I couldn’t fish in the morning as Sinead was tied up and I was entertaining our 2 boys (getting up late, watching TV, playing XBox, etc. before popping out to Kilkullen for brunch). Peter and I had spoken the previous evening and he thought that he would try the Liffey. I suggested Ballymore Eustace but in the end he went with Buddy’s suggestion of fishing around the bridge at Kilkullen. Strangely enough I still had all my fishing stuff in the car so a session with Peter was again on the cards. As it turns out Peter was nursing a massive hangover and so had just started fishing himself when I caught up with him.
Who’s that under the bridge?
Ahh… thank god for zoom lens..
Someone else was fishing – and in a great spot!
At last – a river you can lay out some line in….
Using the rock as cover? or a place to sit and recover from the previous night?
Concentration – Surely that’s a fish?!
You might think that Peter is unhooking a trout….
But on closer inspection he’s just checking his investment portfolio….
My sincere thanks to Peter Churchill for a great time fishing and making friends. It was a great time and one that we’ll all treasure.
The planned saturday night out didn’t happen as there were several other sore heads (Sinead, Maura, Ciaran?) and Peter had to get up early for more fishing and a lengthy drive on the wrong side of the road up to Donegal. We did catch up by phone again before he flew back to the states on Tuesday and we promised to keep in touch. I’m looking forward a trip to the US seeing what REAL rivers are like…..
Tim Pullen
