Trout

The fish:

The brown trout is native to Ireland's streams and loughs. Some of these trout migrate to the ocean to grow, returning to the place of their birth to spawn. While they are the same species, we call them seatrout. It is easy to tell them apart by their colouration:

VS.

Sometimes our Irish trout can get fairly large:

but the angler doesn't seem to mind.

Stream fishing for trout:

We fish for trout, both resident and seatrout, in both freestone streams and chalk streams (limestoners), in addition to fishing for them in the loughs.

Wet flies, as well as both dries and nymphs, are used as the conditions and the seasons dictate.

Lough fishing for trout:

Hiking up to a high and remote hill to fish a mist covered lough for brown trout is a much different game than prowling the banks of a salmon river. A much more peaceful pursuit, we'd say.

The trout can vary from hand size to pan size to 2- or 3-pounders, depending on the lough. Some loughs are more fecund than others and thus produce better size trout. A lough with two pounders may be just across the road from one that has wee finger size trout. A lough that has an outlet to a trickle of a stream, that wends its way to a river, that falls to the sea may have some salmon fry in it, and this can produce a grand size trout.

Of course, how to distinguish one lough from another is the trick, but your fishing guide will have that knowledge. If you are fishing without a guide, having a pint of Guinness in a local pub and asking advice often helps to take the mystery out of it.

At any rate, it's an enjoyable way to spend a day, right to the end.

The other common lough fishing method in Ireland is from a boat.

Most of the time, the guide has his own boat. If you are fishing unguided, you will want to hire the boat and motor, or just the boat if the lough is small, and do a bit of rowing and drifting for some trout.

Oh, and there is the occasional seatrout to be had:

While the basic setup for lough fishing is one suited to floating lines, and occasionally a sink tip, a lighter rod, in the 5 to 6 weight category, is most useful. And it should be a rod well suited to rollcasting a fair distance with a "cast" (leader) of 3, 4 or 5 wet flies on droppers. Hand twisting the flies back at whatever the best rate to entice a strike is the common method, although the day and the trout may dictate a variance.

A few locally used and effective flies are, from top left: Jungle Alexandra, Teal Blue and Silver, Connemara Black, and Mallard and Claret.