I have a great dislike of bushy flies. And also of flies that float like an unsinkable battleship. Jan Schreiner (Sportfishing in Ireland).

Ireland, november 2000

Fridaymorning early out of bed and on my way to the airport. Quickly a car is rented and within half an hour I am driving through the Irish landscape. It is great to be back again, the last time was 5 years ago already, that was with my son Bob. After two hours driving the car is parked just before the bridge. Nothing has changed, fortunately. The ruins of the old mill are still dominating the place, heavily overgrown with ivy.

The water is high, obviously, in this time of the year. No trout are showing, I hope they are still there. Well, trout season is closed anyway. It is great to meet my friends Kevin and Madeline again. In the afternoon Kevin and I are going for a look around. At the red bridge somebody is fishing, he catches several roach. The fish are deep, with this current it could be difficult tomorrow to get my nymph down.

In the evening the pints of Guiness in the pub are tasting great. Next morning I grab the little travel fly rod and go to the bridge. Unfortunately, I dont get a single take. The nymph is probably not getting deep enough to reach the roach. I move about along the bank, try it here and there, but this time I can't catch a single fish. Rainshowers are coming down regularly, but a bit later the sun shows up. In spite of the fact that I don't catch anything, I'm still enjoying myself. It is lovely to be at the river once again. In my memories I go back to 1974, when I went to Ireland for the first time and ended up in this area (I have never been the same since). Now, more than 25 years later, I walk by the river for the umpteenth time. Little has changed in all these years, lovely that is. The river is still weaseling slowly through the landscape. Memories pop up from the swamp of oblivion. Once I got my first-ever trout here, a fish of about 6 inches. Got it, on Kevin's advice, with a black headed worm. Flyfishing was not my most succesful method then. With this running water, flyfishing was a lot more difficult than fishing for rudd and roach in the canals and ditches in Holland, with their still water. Was I happy with this little fish though.
Years ago I saw my first and only otter here. Walking along the riverbank at midnight on a summer evening, I saw it moving in the shallow water. It swam towards me, making a bowwave, when I stood hidden in the shade of a tree. It surfaced three yards in front of me, it felt the animal was looking straight to me, then snorted, and was gone again. It was a wonderful experience.
Memories of Lough Ree, where my father and I once got a lot of perch. Perch of a nice size. We had a great day. We moored the boat at the farm of Mr Johnston. A very nice person. He bottled milk at the farm, with a layer of cream that I had never seen in Holland.
Thinking back of the day that I got 50 trout in the river Moy. And found out the next year that everybody though that the trout were taken. Which was not right, for every trout had been released. However, the nice stretch for trout was now "for locals only". I did not stay and went on to some other rivers. Little rivers, hopping down from the hills. With little pools where I got beautiful, small, wild, brown trout on a regular basis.


Thinking how beautiful the river Suir looks, at Holycross. With the bridge with the arches. In the last week of the season, I had some good fishing.
My flyfishing has started in Ireland, when I look at it. I brought a flyrod and kit with me when I came to Ireland for the first time, but had never made a cast with it. Rob Vermij was staying in the same hotel and we went flyfishing one evening. Soon after getting in the water I heard his voice: "You have not done that often, is it not?". No, I had not, I couldn't fish a fly at all. After we got back in Holland, Rob taught me how to cast, and how to tie your own flies. So everything ended up well in the end.
Later I have been back more often. Sometimes alone, with my backpack and with the rodtube. It was a surprise where I would end up. But one of the last times I had rented a car. It was real great to be able to go where you please. Via Dublin I first went to Newgrange. I wanted to see that for a long time and found it very interesting. I went to my friends, but the water in the river was too high then, and I moved on to have a look in Connemara, at Maam cross. Then on to the Moy at Foxford, but here the waterlevel was too high too, so I went on to Donegal which looked pretty neat. Enjoyed the fishing in the little rivers Owentocker and Owenea. Just a remark, I have never fished for big trout at the loughs and haven't got any at the rivers either. The biggest trout I ever got here was definately under 15 inch. But I've always had a lot of fun catching the smaller trout. To me, Ireland is a beautiful and interesting country with very nice people, fantastic music and tasty beer. At some places it is so quiet and unspoiled, that you can hear a bumblebee from ten yards away. The number of shades of green and brown are unbelievable.

Clonmacnoise

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