Alan Felstead is an old friend from England who I have fished with for Mahseer in Southern India.This year he had intended to bring his son Adam there for an angling holiday..This was cancelled at late notice so Alan and Adam decided to come to Ireland to try their luck on the big western loughs.
We arrived in Clonbur during the stormy weather and it stayed that way for the week. Alan suffers with MS but is the most determined angler I have ever met. He never let the tough terrain in India get in his way to fish, and was not going to let the Irish weather do it either. Having fished here before on Corrib for trout, we decided to have a go on Mask this time. Although there was no sign of mayfly, we did come across a few olives.
The first day we spent fishing the sheltered areas around Kilbride and Ferry Bridge. Adam, who had never fly fished on loughs before rose a good fish but it came short. His dad was first to strike and landed a trout of just over 1 lb.Two or three more were risen but we connected with none.
Day 2 was even more windy. We took a fair wetting crossing Mask from Ross Hill to Maamtrasna Bay to seek some shelter. A few small fish were hit here but no good ones showed an interest.
We did meet one angler who had a couple of nice fish on dabblers, and had lost a trout he reckoned was 10lb plus. After a long lunch on the islands we decided to drift our way back towards Clonbur. As we approached Saints Island there was a lull in the stormy winds, so I decided to give the lads one last drift on the Ballykine rocks. The lads were tired and wet, but were up for one more throw, and right close in tight to the rocks, Adam rose the fish he was waiting for. After a dogged fight in hairy conditions, we slipped the net under a lovely fish of just over 3 lb. A size 10 Gorgeous George did the trick and made Adam a very happy man and his dad Alan was as proud as punch. [slideshow gallery_id=”17″]
With the trout out of the way the lads decided over a great dinner in Fairhill House to try for Pike for the next few days. rj