Where should you fish
in Ireland, right now?

Started early in Portacarron Bay and saw plenty of Mayfly and fish moving. Took one to the dries (a Wolff) before 9:30am and we rose a couple more. Moved on down the lake trying various locations from Flynn to Knockferry. As we worked our way down there was a steady hatch of Mayfly and we saw plenty of fish taking fly the whole way throughout the day. We took 3 more between two of us (CDC Mayfly, Wulff, one to Wets) in the boat and missed several others. 3 came to dries and one to the wets. When we reached Knockferry there wasn’t much fly to be seen or fish showing, so we headed back up the lake. The best of the rises were up until about 2:30/3pm. The fishing was still tough but the rising fish kept it interesting and enjoyable. Cold enough but lovely ripple for dries. Looking forward to when it warms up a bit.

Mayfly are up nicely and fish are moving to the flies. You’ll see some surface action to the Mayfly throughout the day which keeps our interesting. Buzzer didn’t really make an appearance though. We hardly saw any buzzers. Started on the Mayfly dries first drift and rose a few fish and caught one by 9:30am. It was a nice start but we wanted to see if the bigger fish were still making an appearance to the buzzers, so we headed down the lake. On the way down we tried another few dry fly drifts in different spots and took another to the dries. Missed a few also where they splashed at the dries but didn’t connect. Early afternoon we started buzzers down the lake. There were light hatches of olives but hardly any buzzers to be seen. It was very cold too but the bays were sheltered nicely, and not much boat pressure, so the drifts were lovely. But not a touch or fish moving down there. Eventually we headed back up the lake and took a few more, two to dries and one to wets. Fish were average size in general and good sport. So, looks like there’s plenty of decent Mayfly action to be had. Hearing great reports too depending on conditions, with plenty of boats catching. Buzzer remains sporadic and very condition dependant, and even then it’s a case of keeping the head down for your fish. Talking about Fly hatches… the yellow fly in the pic landed in our boat. It might be a yellow sally? 🤔 No idea . It landed in the boat and was very yellow and unlike what we’re used to seeing down there. Photo attached. Looking forward to the next trip.

We were buzzer fishing primarily down the lake (Burnt house/Killbeg Pier, Ballindiff, Wormhole areas). Boat partner had one trout close on 3lb. I lost a solid fish. It pulled the line hard, ran very strong to the side and then just popped off. Missed one on the dries that boiled below the fly but didn’t take it properly. Aside from that we didn’t have any action apart from a few perch taking the buzzers! In terms of fly life, it was bleak.We saw very little fly until late afternoon. It softened at about 2:30/3pm and then we saw some buzzers and olives start to pop but no fish moved. We hardly saw a fish move all day. When we got in we learned several boats had decent enough wet and dry fly action (6/7 fish to the boat) to the Mayfly around the mid lake spots. The fish were taking wets almost straight away in the morning and then slowed a bit. Apparently they had a good shower in the afternoon which brought on a strong mayfly hatch. They saw fish and missed plenty too where the fish came short to the fly. The fish are smaller than those on the buzzers but it’s better action throughout the day. It definitely sounded like the Mayfly action is much better than the buzzers, which I’ve heard have been tough going all week.So, it’s a case of tough it out on the buzzers for the big one(s) or hit the Mayfly for better all day action. Tight lines.