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