Newsletter 2006

Newsletter 2006

Coming to the end of 2006 it is time to reflect on the past season. It seems that I could simply copy the report for the 2005 season and reproduce it for 2006. They really were very similar years, disappointing in general. Perhaps 2006 was marginally better than 2005. Yet again, no winter to speak of, little or no cold frosty weather. I am not sure how significant this is but the seasons do seem to be coming earlier and earlier.

Looking back over a longer period of time, say 20 years, the seasons are now running some two weeks earlier than then. The Mayfly now seems to peak at the end of the first week in May rather than at the end of the third week in May as it did many years ago. Duckfly fishing now seems to start in or about St. Patrick’s Day, March 17. At the time of writing, the big lakes have just experienced their highest water levels of the last 40 years. Those that are familiar with Grasshopper Cottage will be interested to know that the water level was some 3ft over the tops of the jetties – a lot of water! What effect, if any, this may have on the coming season I do not know.

The return of salmon/grilse to the lake last year was particularly disappointing though reports vary throughout the Corrib system with the Fisheries Board reporting that “the salmon were tripping over each other in Galway”. This certainly didn’t manifest itself in our section of the lake. At last, the powers that be have been forced to curtail drift netting at sea. The current government (which was never angler friendly) has seen fit to vent their anger upon the anglers as much as possible effectively doubling the license fee and curtailing catches and fishing opportunities throughout the country. All rather strange when you consider that just two years ago they were saying there was little or nothing wrong with salmon stocks. I very much welcome the banning of drift netting as I believe that it had a far greater impact than was ever admitted to. In fact, the few fish I have caught in recent years were all net marked and were lucky to have got in to fresh water at all. It is going to take a few years to evaluate this initiative and I certainly see some difficulties ahead with the equitable distribution of angling permits.

The stocks of trout do appear to be holding up pretty well and, yet again, Lough Mask enjoyed another good year particularly during July. The highlight of the year at Grasshopper Cottage has to be Peder Hansen’s magnificent trout of 19.5lbs. (ably assisted by Tom ‘Doc’ Sullivan). It wasn’t just the size of this fish but its fantastic condition which makes it perhaps the most incredible trout I have ever seen.Peder Hansen with Brown Trout 19.5lbs Because of the exceptionally high water, it has been difficult to assess the quantities of trout and salmon that went to spawn this season. What snippets of information I have managed to get have been quite encouraging.

Yet again, looking forward to the coming season and wishing you all the best for 2007.

Roy E. Peirce
December 28 2006

Newsletter 2004/2005

Yes, yes - I know! No fishing report since 2003. It is always easier to write about good fishing but the 2004/2005 seasons were, in general, quite disappointing. Yet again we were denied, what we would term “proper winters”, very little, if any, frost or snow. The 2004/2005 seasons were really quite similar and winter water temperatures must have been higher than normal. The seasons seem to be coming earlier and earlier and last year, 2005, saw duckfly well before St. Patrick’s Day, March 17. If anything, the quantity of duckfly last year was better than it has been for several years but, arriving as early as it did, there were not as many anglers about to take advantage of the fishing available. It would be nice to think that the increasing hatches of duckfly will continue and, if we could get back to the sort of quantities we had 15 and 20 years ago, that would be tremendous.

The olive hatches which followed were also quite prolific in 2005 but, following the trend of recent years, the trout appeared reluctant to come to the surface to provide that particularly exciting dry fly fishing which was par for the course up to 2002. Last year, 2005, I happened to be on the lake testing an engine on April 24. Without any prior indication, I came across a hatch of mayfly the likes of which I have rarely seen before in this part of Lough Corrib. Needless to say, at such an early date, there was quite literally nobody fishing on the lake. The best mayfly fishing of the year occurred during the first week in May and was effectively finished – except for some localised sections of the lake – by May 15. When I first came to Lough Corrib you wouldn’t consider coming to this part of the lake until after mid-May.

The now recovered population of perch in the lake, presumably combined with the warmer water temperatures, meant that we had perch/pin fry emerging as early as mid-May. Traditionally, perch fry have been blamed for the drop off in mayfly fishing. The return of grilse was very disappointing and reports of good runs of fish in to the Corrib system must have been made by people with very short memories. It was the worst season ever at Grasshopper Cottage as far as grilse fishing was concerned with just two fish recorded by guests.

Whilst the picture in Lough Corrib and Carra was of generally slow fishing throughout the summer and autumn, Lough Mask enjoyed one of its better summer seasons for years. In fact, the catches recorded at the annual World Cup Fly Fishing competition in August were so good that conservationists were complaining there would be no fish left in the lake. One of their best years ever this despite having had a very ordinary mayfly season. It really is very difficult to make any sense or reason of the fluctuating performances of these large lakes.

Buzzer fishing, and buzzer fishing techniques, were so successful on parts of Lough Corrib in 2005, catching large numbers of large fish, that we nearly had open war between the buzzer and non-buzzer fisherman! We anglers really must pull together, rather than bicker with each other, for the future of our sport. The lakes continue to provide some magnificent trout for the specimen fisherman. Most of these fish are caught on trolled roach dead bait. There is some concern in scientific circles as to the sustainability of the specimen fishing for ferox trout. The lakes continue to provide 6lb.+ fish to the fly with several people recording their best ever brown trout last season.

After the end of the season, the numbers of fish running to spawn in local rivers and streams appeared to be well up on average. Personally, I was slightly surprised by this as I had suspected that perhaps the actual stock of trout in the lake was not so good last year. I am glad to have been proved wrong. Whilst by no means as plentiful as I have seen them in the past, the actual number of grilse appearing on the redds quite surprised me. It just goes to show that we must be very guarded in jumping to conclusions whenever we come across poor fishing.

Whilst generally the angling for the last couple of seasons might appear disappointing anglers who are prepared to vary their angling methods, and to move the relatively short distances between Corrib, Mask and Carra, were well rewarded and enjoyed some quite good sport.

As I write, we are going through a more wintry spell of weather – snow and ice – but, yet again, an early year. The daffodils are out, water temperatures must be relatively high. Here’s hoping for the best in 2006 and wishing you all good sport.

Roy E. Peirce

March 1 2006

Newsletter 2003

December 28, 2003
A little older, a little wiser - 2003 has all but passed us by. Global warming really does seem to have settled in. For the last couple of years, we have seen little or no frost or snow - winter water temperatures must be considerably higher than was traditionally the case.

Following the trend of recent years, duckfly arrived around St. Patrick's Day, 17 March. As last year, the actual quantity of fly in this part of the lake appeared to be down. Fishing at times was excellent but patchy and the lack of egg-laying flies meant that the season was rather shortened. The olives followed on the duckfly quite quickly so that we did not have that awkward gap which can sometimes occur in mid-late April. Again, following the trend of recent years, the olive fishing was particularly good to deeply fished nymphs and wet fly fishing. Conditions for good dry fly fishing never appeared to be quite right.

Mayfly appeared early - at the end of April - and the first two weeks of May provided some of the best mayfly fishing ever recorded at Grasshopper Cottage. In mid-May it started to rain and rain and rain. The lake rose rapidly, some 6-8 inches, and the weather entered a cold patch. Whether it was the conditions, or for some reason unknown, the good mayfly fishing came to an abrupt end by May 20. Fishing continued on in fits and starts but many anglers, who had left their fishing to this later period, were disappointed. Yet again, reports of good quantities of grilse (albeit very late) were not realised in our section of the lake. Again, I would consider it to have been a poor year for salmon and grilse fishing.

The weather improved dramatically in June, in fact, it improved much too much and water temperatures became quite high as we basked in the best summer we have experienced for many years. Needless to say this did not help the fishing but, it has been so long since we have had what we would call a "summer" in the West of Ireland, that we simply lay back and enjoyed it! Early July normally provides me with some lough-style grilse fishing but, given the weather conditions, this was virtually out of the question. What salmon/grilse there were very successfully hid themselves in the bottom of the lake.

I always enjoy fishing Lough Carra at this time of year and this year it provided me with some excellent sport. Dry fly, sedges, dapping, fry imitating, evening sedge and buzzer fishing - all provided an excellent alternative to Corrib. Anybody who has not fished the Carra really ought to make the effort to visit this magnificent, marl-bottomed lake. The flavour of what it has to offer can be seen on "Corrib Seasons" Part 3 - Autumn - Sedges, Daphnia, Terrestrials.

Back on Corrib, patchy mayfly and olive hatches continued in very localised areas right in to September. Good conditions for daphnia fishing were rare as good daphnia fishing requires enclosed, dull conditions. However, when conditions allowed, some excellent catches were recorded. In the fine bright weather, dry fly fishing with large sedge patterns and Daddy-longlegs proved worthwhile. Charlie Platt's magnificent 5lbs.+ trout, caught on the dry Daddy, springs to mind.

All in all, from a fishing point of view, not the best of years. Anglers had to be versatile in their approach and be prepared to move, not only around the lake, but to adjacent venues to get the best fishing. The weather remained dry well after the end of the season and we were quite concerned, coming to trout spawning time, that there would be adequate water in the rivers and streams. Fortunately, the weather broke just in time and excellent runs of trout were a testament to the fact that stocks in the lake remain good. As I write, the grilse and salmon are on the redds, in better numbers than I would have anticipated.

Wishing you all the best for 2004 from all the staff and gillies at Grasshopper Cottage.
Roy E. Peirce

Newsletter 2002

Yet another year has slipped by - it seems like yesterday when I reviewed 2001. Apart from a very cold period after Christmas, the winter generally remained pretty mild and pleasant. Duckfly arrived on cue, however, I cannot help feeling that, progressively over the last four years, the actual quantity of fly hatching has diminished. This does not appear to have adversely affected the fishing as, anybody who has fished duckfly knows, you can frequently have too much fly with the fish gorging themselves. It did, however, mean that there were not large quantities of egg-laying females to prolong the actual fishing towards the end of April.

It started to rain and rain and rain, and rain again, which kept the lake at a higher than normal level right up until mid-August. This did not appear to bother the olives. Whilst the top of the water olive fishing was good the deep fishing, with olive nymphs, was at times superb. The main Mayfly season was good as conditions for fishing remained suitable throughout. Dry fly fishing was excellent with, what I call "drift on dries" where you allow the boat to drift on to relatively static dry flies.

Reports of good quantities of salmon and grilse were not realised in our section of the lake. As far as catch returns were concerned, I would consider it to have been a poor year for salmon and grilse. It is time that the Government stopped pussy-footing about and did what needs to be done - ban the drift nets at sea. Anglers, too, must play their part progressively exercising catch and release more and more.

New recommendations asking anglers not to kill more than four trout/boat/day are to be welcomed. Old habits die hard, however, and we must lead by example. It is hard to quantify it but I would guess that over 80% of fish caught by guests at Grasshopper Cottage are returned alive to the water. It is particularly gratifying to walk along the banks of the spawning streams at this time of year (October) and see fish spawning and to think that perhaps, maybe, just maybe that is one of the fish you returned during the year.

After the Mayfly (mid-June), fishing became more difficult than it had been for the last few years. One can only speculate on the reasons why: certainly there were considerably more perch fry this year than for many years. The perch population has recovered following their virtual wipe-out six or seven years ago. Trout feed heavily on this perch or pin fry making life for the fly angler very difficult.

There was also an immense amount of daphnia dispersed throughout the lake. I can only surmise that the feeding trout were also dispersed, as daphnia feeding fish could be located in relatively small pockets, here, there and everywhere. From mid-August condistions for good daphnia fishing were not there. Generally, it was much too bright and settled as we entered into an Irish form of an "Indian Summer".

We welcome back to Grasshopper Cottage Roy's fish of a lifetime. This incredibly marked fish has undergone painstaking restoration by Paul Douras following a botched job by the taxidermist. Thank you, Paul!

Much time this year has been spent filming the video, Corrib Seasons. This is in three parts - Spring, Summer and Autumn. Part 1, Spring, is now available and it concentrates upon Duckfly fishing.

The other major achievement of the year was the completion of our new rod-room facility - has to be seen to be believed! This proved to be a winner though Denis still has not provided the optics as promised! 2003 maybe? See you there!

Roy E. Peirce

October 2002

Newsletter 2001

What a topsy turvy year 2001 has been at Grasshopper Cottage. We had a premature beginning to our season as Sorcha and Roy spent a fortnight in South Island, New Zealand at the end of January/early February. This provided an interesting contrast to our fishing at Grasshopper Cottage (Anybody interested should see "New Zealand trip" ).

We returned to Grasshopper Cottage towards the end of what had been a relatively cold Winter and early Spring. Our fishing season opened on February 15. Early fly fishing was very slow but not totally hopeless. The lower sections of Lough Corrib appear to fish better at this time of year and it does seem that the colder the water temperature the slower the early fly fishing becomes.

Early March dealt us a devastating blow with the emergence of Foot and Mouth Disease in the United Kingdom. The over-reaction (in my opinion) of the Irish Government was to introduce a total ban on angling, including lake fishing and sea fishing, from March 3 to April 20. Such was the furore of the tourist industry that this ban was partially lifted allowing us to fish from March 23 onwards. However, primarily through ignorance, hysteria and mis-information in the local farming community, visiting anglers were actively discouraged from coming to Ireland and the situation did not rectify itself until May. Meanwhile, the duck fly season came and went. The actual quantity of duck fly was disappointing in our area, however, the quality of fishing was superb. Particularly successful was fishing deep with pupa patterns. Emerger patterns also performed well. Slightly disappointing was the dry fly fishing due, undoubtedly, to the low quantity of fly actually hatched.

The slightly cooler than normal conditions continued into early May. This resulted in a definite reluctance by the trout to come to the surface during the olive hatch. Slightly disappointing top of the water fishing during the above hatch was more than compensated for by superb nymph fishing, particularly weighted nymphs. The excellent stock of fish was always evident with some superb catches of trout - 20+ being recorded. Thankfully, the ever-increasing trend of 'catch and release' ensured wholesale slaughter did not take place.

The Mayfly hatch was quite superb over most of the lake, with the exception of the lower eastern shore of the lake from Headford to Galway. Do not ask me to explain why Mayfly should be prolific in one area and virtually absent in another - I cannot. This is not a recent phenomenon and is something I have witnessed over different parts of the lake throughout the last 40 years. I remember, as a child, collecting mayfly on Lough Derg to come to fish on Lough Corrib (where they were absent). The mayfly fishing was excellent with all disciplines of fly fishing - dry fly, emerger, wet fly and nymph - producing excellent results. Fishing conditions at this time of year are of vital importance. Hot, bright, north-east breezy conditions are the least favoured. A dull, moderate westerly breeze is the most favoured.

The annual Mayfly Competition (last Sunday in May), a light-hearted event, produced the most successful competition day for many, many years with most participants recording an excellent day's fishing.

Characteristically, the trout fishing slowed down after mid-June. The ever-recovering population of perch in the lake was evident this year with the emergence of much more perch fry (pin fry). This, coupled with the brighter sunny days of June, made fly fishing for trout extremely difficult during the daytime. Late evening and night-time buzzer fishing was very successful from mid-May onwards when the appropriate calm conditions prevailed. Lough Carra produced some excellent late evening and night fishing with some very large fish caught.

A much improved run of grilse (one sea-winter salmon) into the lake provided added entertainment for the fly angler. This was particularly so in July and August. When good conditions prevailed, i.e. wind, wave and not too bright at any stage, it was not unreasonable to expect to rise 3 or 4 grilse per day/rod or to land one, perhaps two, grilse to the boat for the day. With a couple of good sized trout this all added up to a respectable day's sport. The secret at this time of year is not to set your expectations too high, unless the fishing conditions are absolutely perfect. Be prepared to go touring or sight-seeing when the weather is fine and fish when the weather is not so good.

In recent years, September has produced some quite exceptional fishing, both over shallows and deeper water (daphnia feeders). This year the fishing was not so good. Whilst there were some large fish caught on the shallows, there did not seem to be the same concentration of fish feeding on daphnia in the deeper water. Whether or not the daphnia was at a deeper level than usual I cannot say. Some of the better daphnia fishing this year was over exceptionally deep water - 100 foot plus. The same was experienced on Lough Mask where September fishing, off the Tourmakeady shore, was very good indeed.

Ferox Fishing
A feature of 2001 was the greater effort deployed in fishing for ferox trout. I cannot remember a year when so many large trout were caught. Deep trolling using roach dead-bait was the most successful method. Indeed, many large trout are accidentally caught whilst dead-baiting for pike later in the season. Such was the case when Frank Costello, of Cong, landed a magnificent 25lb. trout after the trout season had closed on September 30. The fish was successfully returned alive to the water having been witnessed by two other anglers. Doubtless in 2002 we shall see many other anglers attempting to catch specimen brown trout from Loughs Corrib and Mask.

October saw excellent runs of trout in the spawning streams. Many of the local farmers reported more spawning fish than they had seen for many years. Sadly, pike continue to predate heavily upon these spawning fish as they enter and leave the streams. This is an excellent time to fish for pike as they appear to congregate at the mouths of the rivers. My best pike this October was 26lbs.

Wishing you all the best and tight lines for 2002.

Roy E. Peirce

December 30 2001

Newsletter 2000

The new millenium trout season opened on Lough Corrib on February 15. It was immediately evident that the extremely mild and wet winter had kept water temperatures above average. As a consequence trout fishing, but particularly fly fishing (normally quite slow at this time), was little short of spectacular. Early season bait fishermen recorded excellent returns whilst fly fishermen enjoyed probably the most successful start to a season that any of us can remember.

Fly fishing was particularly successful in the shallow, rocky areas where fish were found to be feeding heavily on shrimp and fry. Successful duck fly fishing normally begins around March 20. However this season, given the relatively warm water temperatures, duck fly appeared ten days earlier than usual. It would normally be considered good fishing on Lough Corrib if one recorded 5-6 fish per rod per day. I have had several reports of more than double these figures. Stocks of fish appear to be higher than I have seen for many years. This was also evident during a prolific spawning season in November 1999. As I write (March 18, 2000), duck fly hatches are well under way and we can look forward to three weeks of excellent top of the water fishing.

I have little news of salmon fishing except to record that Thomas Ryan of Cong, recorded a magnificent 17.5lb fresh run fish at Ashford yesterday, St. Patrick's Day. This is the first salmon I've heard of caught on the Corrib system this season.

We still have limited accommodation available at Grasshopper Cottage during the Mayfly season, up until May 12.

Tight lines for the season,

Roy Peirce

May 1 2000

The early season fishing was much too good to last. No sooner had I written the last report (March 18) when weather conditions and temperatures conspired to slow things down.

Whilst the very early duckfly hatches produced excellent sport the later hatches were less extensive than expected. In my opinion, the actual amount of fly that hatched was considerably less than previous years. As a consequence, combined with the cooling down of the weather, the quantity of dry fly (egg laying females) was disappointing. The effects of the very mild winter continued in so far as the actual hatches finished a week earlier than normal.

As the weather entered a cold snap at this time, the olives were slow to follow on. We were concerned about the quantity of olives we would get this year as they were virtually absent last year. Fortunately, our fears were not well founded and we are experiencing some excellent hatches of fly. Weather conditions are all important when fishing Lough Corrib and, to date, have conspired to give us only short glimpses of how good fishing olive hatches can be. Fishing dry olives has given moderate success whilst those fishing sub-surface have found the going difficult. At time of writing, we are experiencing bright, flat calms - I suppose it would be no fun if it was too easy!

The first Mayfly have made their appearance with a moderate hatch on April 28. However, one could not say that the "Mayfly is up" quite yet.

The Olives

There was much concern, following the poor hatches last season, as to what the olive hatches would be like this year. We need not have worried as early May saw tremendous hatches of olives, not only in areas traditionally associated with olives but also in areas where we are not accustomed to seeing many. Due to weather conditions, dry fly fishing may not have been as good as I've seen it in previous years, however, this was more than compensated for by some tremendous olive wet fly and nymph fishing.

Most disappointing this year was the buzzer fishing. Normally, late evening and nighttime buzzer fishing at this time of year (early May) can be superb with larger than average trout (3-6lbs.) being taken. However, the quantities of Campto Buzzer were very small and none existent in many places.

Magnificent Mayfly

What a superb season this has been for Mayfly fishing! Starting on cue, in the first week of May, there was the most prolific hatch of Mayfly I have witnessed in over 40 years of fishing this northern end of Lough Corrib. Not only were the hatches prolific but also prolonged, providing excellent sport through to June 20, a good fortnight longer than usual. Excellent fishing conditions at this time contributed to the best Mayfly season I have every seen. However, the adjoining loughs, Mask and Carra, did not seem to fare so well with Lough Carra having a particularly disappointing year. Because of the prolific Mayfly hatches, and appropriate conditions to hold the fly on the water, a feature of the Mayfly fishing was catching fish over relatively deep water (30-40ft.), areas traditionally not fished during Mayfly time. Many of these fish, when spooned, were found to contain not only mayflies but also daphnia.

Daphnia

From the end of June onwards, indeed to the end of the season (Sept 30), the daphnia feeding fish provided some of the most consistent wet fly fishing experienced on any of the Irish loughs. At Grasshopper Cottage we have recognised, certainly for the last five years or more, the value of daphnia feeding fish in providing excellent fly fishing over relatively deep water. However, this year it appears that everybody else has got in on the act resulting in one of the busiest angling seasons on the lake. The average size of trout feeding on daphnia is considerably smaller than those feeding on duckfly or mayfly. However, what they lack in size they more than compensate for in numbers. A myriad of different fly patterns appeared to be successful under varying conditions. In general, I have found that golden and orange flies, or flies containing fluorescent greens and reds, are most successful.

Grilse

Perhaps the most disappointing feature of the year has been the grilse fishing (one sea winter salmon). Despite reports of reasonably good runs of fish through Galway into the lake, for whatever reason, this did not translate into good catches. Fly fishermen were particularly disappointed, as these fish did not respond to top of the water fishing. Personally, located as I am on the lakeshore, I have not seen the number of leaping salmon throughout the season that I would normally expect to see. I believe that the run of fish was poor.

When all is said and done, this has been a reasonably successful year at Grasshopper Cottage. We were delighted to see an ever-increasing level of catch and release from our anglers, both local and visitors. The apparently excellent stock of fish, seen throughout the latter weeks of the season, augurs well for the future.

Wishing you all the best for the 2001 season

Roy Peirce

11-10-2000