Fly fishing for wild brown trout in Ireland

In May 2004, Fish & Fly rod tester Pete Sutton enjoyed a long-promised week fly fishing in Ireland when he stayed at the Clonanav Fly Fishing Centre in Ballymacarbry, Co Waterford.

It was something that I had been promising myself for nearly as long as I could remember; a fishing holiday in Ireland. Originally it was dreams of massive shoals of huge bream, but in later years my thoughts turned to fly fishing for wild brown trout and the river that caught my imagination was the Suir, famously mentioned in Fly Fishing by Edward Grey (Viscount Grey of Fallodon) as containing trout that were “Unapproachable”!

It wasn’t difficult to decide exactly where to go because APGAI colleague Andrew Ryan runs the Clonanav Fly Fishing Centre in Ballymacarbry not far from Clonmel in Co Waterford and he has fishing on the rivers Suir, Nire, Tar and Anner plus some mountain lakes. So my pal Ben and I decided to make a booking for one week at the end of May. We flew from Stanstead to Cork where we picked up the hire car and made the drive along the coast to Dungarvan and then north to Ballymacarbry and the Clonanav Fly Fishing Centre.

River Nire

During our stay we fished one day on the river Nire, which is a spate river running close by the Clonanav Centre; another day on the river Anner which is a small spring creek a short distance the other side of Clonmel and two days each on the Rivers Tar and Suir.

All of these rivers were low and clear because of the lack of rain during the days and weeks preceding our visit. The Nire was affected the most because it is rain fed.

These conditions made the fishing quite tricky and though there were plenty of fish in all the rivers they were far from easy to catch and easily spooked by a clumsy cast or a careless shadow thrown on the water.

The Tar had quite the most spectacular growths of ranunculus that I have ever seen anywhere and so thick was it in places that you wondered that the fish had any room to swim around. However we were to discover that the number of fish seemed to be in direct proportion to the amount of weed, in other words there were plenty.

River Tar

The Anner is another lovely little spring creek, small, secluded and quite heavily wooded in places. Again there were plenty of fish and it was in this river that I saw the best rises.

Andrew told us that there had been a period of very cold weather in the spring and as a result the fly hatches were about two or three weeks later than normal and rises to dry fly were spasmodic and short lived.

The evenings were quite cool whilst we were there so although we had fish in the evenings the daytime proved to be better.

River Anner

We fished the magnificent Suir on two of the days we were in Ireland and at two different places. The first of these was known as the Roxborough Fishery and was only a short drive from the Centre. The river here was wide and deep with high banks and a powerful flow, so powerful that wading had to be undertaken with great care. This part of the river undoubtedly holds some very big fish although neither Ben nor I was lucky enough to catch one. In warmer weather I am sure the evening fishing would be top class and there were some good spots for wading close to the banks.

On our last day we fished another part of the Suir, which was a fair drive from the Centre and much further up the river valley. It had rained quite heavily the previous night and this had freshened things up a lot, the river was full of fish and they were feeding! Between us Ben and I caught close to 50 fish on this day, and I can put my hand on my heart and say that the day spent here is one of the best day’s fly fishing for trout that I have ever had.

If you fancy a spell of fishing at the Clonanav Fly Fishing Centre I recommend that you take a pair of chest waders with you because many of the riverbanks are sufficiently over grown to make bank fishing either very difficult or impossible. The wading is very easy and safe in the main although there are some deep places to be aware of. Breathable waders are obviously much more comfortable and convenient than neoprene, but make sure that the ones you have don’t leak.

The only line you will need is a floating one and I would recommend a five weight if you take only one rod. If you take more than one rod then a four weight is nice to have available. I suggest a rod of eight foot six inches or nine feet but the second rod could be an eight footer if you wish. Fine leader points are essential here and I went down as fine as 8X on occasion but view 6X and 7X as the norm.

A River Suir brownie

Make sure you take a good selection of both dry flies and nymphs in sizes ranging from 12 to 22. We found the most useful dry flies to be those in the size 14 – 20 range and the successful patterns were Klinkhåmers, F Fly, Sparkle Dun and various CDC concoctions. The most successful nymph by far was a size 18 flash back, gold head, pheasant tail, which we often fished under a Klinkhåmer. Mostly the fish took the nymph but sometimes they took the Klinkhåmer.

Andrew Ryan knows all of these river like the back of his hand and will give you the very best advice about where to go and how best to catch fish. He also has a very well stocked shop which sells all the tackle and flies needed for fishing his waters so don’t worry if you are not able to take everything with you.

The accommodation is simple and plain but comfortable with a warm, relaxed and friendly atmosphere. A decent breakfast is served every day. There are many local pubs and restaurants, which can provide both evening and midday meals, although Ben and I found the breakfast was sufficient to sustain us until the evening meal and never found the need for a lunch. The countryside is beautiful, and the rivers are full of fish. The average size of the fish is not huge but they are quite challenging and a good presentation of the fly is needed to be successful. There are, as always, some monsters and a few of these are caught each year. Unfortunately neither Ben nor I were so fortunate – but perhaps next time?