The comment at the end of this excellent video of fishing in the twilight/dark, reminds me of probably my most memorable moment as a fly fisherman. In 1997 I was in Ireland for my annual mayfly visit and was fishing Lough Mask. I mostly fished from the shore and always caught as many fish as the ‘dappers’. One evening I decided to do something different and headed off for the very top of the Cong Canal. There is a rough track where you can access this part, which runs off the Ballinrobe Road. I arrived about 7.30pm and of course there were many other cars there as well. As it went dark most of the cars left and I was on my own. There is a low waterfall that leads across to an island and you can walk on the stepping stones if you’re brave enough, but you have to be back before the light fails ! Below this water fall there is a stream that runs into the canal and it held good trout, which only rise once the light has gone. I was fishing a size 14 Skue’s Little Red Sedge pattern, but was quickly loosing site of it in the dark. I decided one more cast, but couldn’t see the fly so I was fishing by sound and instinct . A trout rose at my fly but all I saw was the ‘white’ of the water as he rose, or maybe his mouth? I hooked him and a long battle ensued. It was now black and I couldn’t see to land him, so really struggled, but finally succeeded all by sound. When I finally managed to get the car headlights on him he was a beautiful trout of 2lbs, my very first on dry fly from the Mask. An adventure and experience I’ll never forget.
Better days. Fantastic piece of film. Thank you 😁
Absolutely brilliant stuff
Great to see trout of this size back in the good old days.Great video to watch.
The comment at the end of this excellent video of fishing in the twilight/dark, reminds me of probably my most memorable moment as a fly fisherman. In 1997 I was in Ireland for my annual mayfly visit and was fishing Lough Mask. I mostly fished from the shore and always caught as many fish as the ‘dappers’. One evening I decided to do something different and headed off for the very top of the Cong Canal. There is a rough track where you can access this part, which runs off the Ballinrobe Road. I arrived about 7.30pm and of course there were many other cars there as well. As it went dark most of the cars left and I was on my own. There is a low waterfall that leads across to an island and you can walk on the stepping stones if you’re brave enough, but you have to be back before the light fails ! Below this water fall there is a stream that runs into the canal and it held good trout, which only rise once the light has gone. I was fishing a size 14 Skue’s Little Red Sedge pattern, but was quickly loosing site of it in the dark. I decided one more cast, but couldn’t see the fly so I was fishing by sound and instinct . A trout rose at my fly but all I saw was the ‘white’ of the water as he rose, or maybe his mouth? I hooked him and a long battle ensued. It was now black and I couldn’t see to land him, so really struggled, but finally succeeded all by sound. When I finally managed to get the car headlights on him he was a beautiful trout of 2lbs, my very first on dry fly from the Mask. An adventure and experience I’ll never forget.
Wonderful stuff.
Oh! Do say! The mayfly is INDEED the queen. My kind of fishers: catch and . . . eat!
Using a double or triple hook on a mayfly - never seen that before - 21.20