If you ever should chose a group to go fishing with, you should definitely consider to go with Team Ireland! It seems like the “fishing god” holds a hand over them.
Last year and again this year they ended up having a super week, with conditions you could only wish for.
This Year “Team Ireland” was reinforced by a Scotch-man, an Italian and one who already had seen what was mentioned above, our veteran; John Gale, who despite of several threats of “I’m not coming back next year”, just can’t help it – he’s got the bug.
This week was a mix of what ever weather and water conditions imaginable, first the river was low (-15) then it rose (to +15) a rise of 1 foot, and water temperatures everything between 5 and 16C, hailstorm followed by thunderstorm, strong wind but mostly downstream though, and a decreasing moon, that was full last week, with high tides in the sea to follow. All in all what ever you could wish for, the fish just kept running.
It’s obvious what type of fish we’re catching, either it’s running fish or fish that stopped, it all depends on the pools where we catch them. This week was no exception, like when Robert Bryant caught 6 fish in the same pool in a morning shift, the guide just couldn’t persuade him to leave, he just wanted to keep on fishing that same pool, which left the rest of the beat for his fishing companion “Sam” T Glenn.
They might not have too many sea-trout down in Italy but Franco Sirtori seemed to get hold of the grip pretty fast, same with Doug Limburn who arrived directly from Rio Grande, he had to change the technique a bit though, ‘cause as he said “The fish seems to hold more on the seams, than in the deep pools here” an evaluation we’ve heard several times. We also fish lighter lines like intermediate or sinktips, and hardly ever full sinking lines. And not to forget our friends, from whom the name “Team Ireland” originated: Richard McDowell and Jonathan Murray, they had it going from day one, but quite unusual Jonathan had a slow period in the middle of the week, which seemed to suit Richard quite well.
Unfortunately the four members of “Team Ireland” chose to leave us on Friday morning, to go to “Jurassic Lake”. That of course decreased the number of fish for the week in total, since we only had three rods left on the river. Anyway the conditions looks perfect for the week’s to come, still much colder and more rain than ever in the lodge’s history, and February looks to be no exception, normally a month with warm weather and low water, but not this year.
No. of rods: 7
Top-rod: Jonathan Murray (27)
Biggest fish: Richard McDowell (17½ lbs)
Avg. weight: 8,4 lbs
Top Fly: Black Wolly-Bugger
