Ireland on the Fly

Although it’s winter time it doesn’t mean you have to hang up your rods in the close season with a number of stocked fisheries around the country a great place to still catch fish - even if it is sometimes in near freezing temperatures.   But with stockies, it’s not just about chuck it out and pull em in as you’ll find out on our latest episode with Denis Goulding, a well-known Irish international...

On last week’s episode we spoke to Eoghain Maclean, a ghillie on Scotland’s famed Loch Maree which has collapsed as a fishery since the arrival of fish farms.   We wanted a ghillie’s perspective on it to sound a warning as to what could happen to other fisheries in Ireland being similarly affected.   And now, as a follow-up, we have a bonus episode from Wild Fish, the UK fish conservation group, w...

As fly anglers we have become all too aware of the environmental dangers and unwanted consequences of fish farming and what was once touted as an answer to more productive fish production has now been proved to be anything but.   Scotland is a case in point - the west coast of Scotland in particular, where salmon and sea trout runs have practically disappeared – much like what we’ve also seen with...

We wanted to start a bit of a book club here on the Ireland on the Fly podcast to discuss the best Irish fly fishing books and so, for this the 50th show, we’re beginning with an episode on Kingsmill Moore’s A Man May Fish, the seminal work on fly fishing in Ireland.   To help us give context and background to Kingsmill Moore, we spoke to Patrick Gageby, a barrister and fly angler who also co-wrot...

It’s officially winter and that means, for many fly anglers, the longer nights will see the vice dusted down and plans made for new flies to be tied for next season.   On this latest episode of Ireland on the Fly, we hear from one of Ireland’s finest fly tyers, Jackie Mahon, to get some of the secrets to his fly tying success – and he tells us the extent he will go to for just the right shade of m...

The 2022 salmon and trout season has come to a close and so, for this episode of Ireland on the Fly, we’re doing a review of the brown trout lakes around the country to find out how the fishing has been, what the conditions were like and, most importantly, what the catch numbers were on the different waters.   Paul Bourke is a name many of you might be familiar with through his forty plus years wi...

Keith McDonnell is well known in this country for being one of the early advocates of streamer fishing and his many incredible catches are a testament to his skills and use of the tactic.   And having seen his pictures of 20lbs sea trout from a recent trip to Iceland we had to get him on the show to talk about the trip and the experience and to also find out how the 2022 season went for him overal...

With International Women's Fly Fishing Day held recently, for this latest episode of Ireland on the Fly, we wanted to speak to young Irish female fly anglers to find out about their love of fly fishing, how they got into it and what can be done to encourage more inclusivity in the sport.   Almha McDonnell and Rebecca Moffitt McGinn have progressed from the Irish youths teams to currently fishing o...

We’re into the last few weeks of the salmon and trout season and for this week’s Ireland on the Fly, we’re joined by Peter Driver, founder of Piscari Fly in Kilkenny, and a highly accomplished trout angler who just recently captured the National River Championship.   Peter talks to us about the importance of mindset and mentality in enabling him to capture the national title, plus he talks tactics...

For this latest episode of Ireland on the Fly, we're focusing on, what some might say is a bit of an esoteric branch of the sport – tenkara - and the art of fishing on mountain streams with minimum line and no reel that first developed in Japan.     So, what is it, how does one do it and most importantly, how relevant is it to Irish waters?   David Anchell is a passionate fly angler in south Tippe...

This latest episode is a little bit different and a bit more far flung as I’ve recently returned from a week’s fly fishing for sea-run Arctic char in Greenland and what an experience it was.     You’re going to hear from the local Inuit, the Danish chef, the German camp manager and the Welsh guide to get an insight into what made the trip so special and what it’s like catching char in one of the r...

One key aspect of the Ireland on the Fly podcast is to also bring you information and insights into the different fisheries around the country and so, every few weeks we will be bringing you episodes focusing on fisheries from those who know them best. These fishery focus episodes will help anglers who are maybe thinking of visiting a new river or lough, to find out when it fishes well and where t...

River Suir angler George McGrath got in touch about an issue that has energised him and many of you in the Irish fly fishing community in recent weeks in relation to weed growth in Irish rivers and lakes that has been as bad in living memory.   So, what’s going on?  Who’s responsible and more importantly, what can be done about it?   George McGrath joins us to tell us what he has seen and fisherie...

This week’s guest is Garrett Fallon - someone who grew up in Ireland fishing the Boyne, Corrib, Deel and other rivers and lakes around the country but since the 1990s he has been in England working in publishing and design.    The last few years however has seen him combine his love of fishing, writing and publishing to create the very popular fishing quarterly magazine, Fallon’s Angler, which is...

The mid-summer St Johns Eve celebrations at the end of June signalled the traditional start of the sea trout run in Ireland and if you’ve read Kingsmill Moore’s A Man May Fish you’ll get some idea of just how magical and plentiful the sea trout fishing in Connemara once was.   So for this latest episode of Ireland on the Fly, we wanted to find out more about that time, what made it so special and...

It’s summer and while brown trout anglers might be taking a hiatus and salmon anglers complain of low rivers, these summer months are an opportunity to escape to the ocean in pursuit of a different type of silver – that of the sea bass.   Jason O’Riordan is a well known Dungarvan-based angler and guide with Mackenzie who throws a fly at pretty much anything that swims, including bass around the fa...

To hear how the mayfly season went this year on Lough Sheelin, for this episode we spoke to Eamonn Ross from the Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association.   Eamonn describes it as a tough time for him on the lake with the better days coming at the start of the mayfly period while it was hard to get the trout to move for the fly, he says, unless it was right on them.   Eamonn also talks about his...

To celebrate and raise awareness of the recent #WorldEnvironmentDay the IFI’s National Fisheries Habitat Development Manager, Declan Cooke, gave a webinar on ‘Habitat Restoration in Irish Rivers’. As a bonus episode for Ireland on the Fly listeners, this is the audio from Declan's webinar which you can also watch in full on the IFI's YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAniQ2RZbBc...

Darren Maguire is not just a good angler, he’s also the youngest captain of an Irish loughs team to date and for this episode, we spoke to Darren about his mentorship under his father, how he started guiding at the age of just 10 on Lough Melvin, and how his passion for the sport has remained undimmed since he first picked up a fly rod as a young boy. At 33, Darren represents the next generation o...

Plus we delve a bit into the why rather than just the how of salmon fishing….. Don’t forget to rate, review and follow the Ireland on the Fly podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts from, plus you can keep up to date on IrelandontheFly.com as well as on Instagram. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes,...

‘The mayfly is up’ – the four words that spark excitement and magic in a fly angler’s mind and it’s that time of year when the mayfly is now up on the jewel of Irish lakes, Lough Corrib. So to get a taste of how the mayfly action has been so far this year and to find out why it’s such an important time – both culturally and economically - for local communities, we’re joined on this episode by Roy...

For this latest episode we speak to Stan McArt, a hugely successful loughs angler who has been capped 29 times for Ireland and at 78 is still going strong on the competition scene. Stan talks about some of the highlights from his competition days and how new techniques and tactics have emerged from the meeting of other teams and other fly anglers, including the day when he first fished boobies for...

Paul Procter, the well-known UK river angler, whom you might recognise from his regular articles in Trout & Salmon magazine joins us on the latest episode of Ireland on the Fly. Paul talks about his early fly fishing career as well as his tactics for early in the season on the rivers near him in Cumbria. We also discuss the cross-over between lough and river fishing as well as the special plac...

With the rivers around Ireland having opened since St. Patrick’s Day, this episode of Ireland on the Fly is with Tipperary’s George McGrath of Gundog and Fly YouTube fame. George has fished for over fifty years on the River Suir and he gives us an insight into what works for him on the water, plus he laments how wet fly fishing has fallen out of vogue in recent years in favour of a culture of Euro...

If you've been following the Inland Fishery Ireland news recently you will be aware of their digital publication of the 1902 Cork Salmon Flies collection. These flies had been feared missing for over a century before the persistence and diligence of the late fly tyer and fly angler, Ted Malone, unearthed them in 2007 and was able to view them in person three years later. Now the IFI have brought t...