This is a busy time of the year for me. My sea trout season opens April 17 and I find myself cleaning rods, reels and boats.
There is an air of expectation and excitement as I now spend many hours at the bench experimenting on a variety of Snakes with new materials and… a new secret waterproof glue. All will be revealed however… if successful!
Each new season brings a sense of adventure as I spend the first few days looking for new eddies and flows in the ever changing channel. Last years hot spots will probably be sand banks after the winter floods and storms. To study the surface of the water is an art in itself. Something my good friend Peter O’Reilly made me aware of many years back. Try it sometime!
Water levels on the upper Moy and loch Conn are dropping, so, if we don’t get too much rain between now and the opening day I will catch fish.
Noellie (Shakin’) Maloney caught the first springer and two more were landed in Armstrongs Fishery.
We have never had a saltwater fly fishing competition on the estuary so I am toying with the idea of holding one this year depending on the weather. The big challenge for me is to take a fish on the bar with a fly. This has never happened in my lifetime so there should be a special prize for the first one.
2015 was a mixed bag of wind and rain but good fishing when we got the weather… fingers crossed for 2016!
If you don’t win the lottery I hope you catch bags of fish… Judd