Freshwater Fly Fishing
Thatch Cottage Fishing Lodge is situated at the end of the Iveragh Peninsular
and is surrounded by many famous lakes and river systems.
Much of the surrounding countryside has changed little over the last 100 years.
Many of these rivers and lakes have excellent runs of salmon and sea trout
and there are numerous beautiful mountain lakes that are teeming with wild brown trout.
Because of the variety of freshwater fishing available angling pressure
is very light (some of the mountain lakes are rarely, if ever, fished, even though
they hold a good stock of trout).
The fly fishing season is a long one; starting on the 17th January and ending on the
30th of September.
River Inny
The Inny is about 15 miles long and has good fishing for about 10 miles of its length.
Salmon and sea trout are the main target as the brown trout tend to be small.
Salmon run the river from March to September but the main runs are from June to September.
The sea trout season is a long one, with the bigger fish running from March to May (2 to 4lbs)
and the smaller ones running during the summer. We have our own private beats just for our guests.
With just 2 people per beat there's always plenty of good water to fish.
All our water is perfect for fly fishing and most of the fish are taken on fly.
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Salmon: As well as the summer grilse (3 to 7 lbs) the Inny gets a run of big summer salmon
and we've had fish to 17lbs. Useful flies are Ally shrimp, stoat's tail, collie dog and all the normal shrimp patterns;
sizes 6 to 12 depending on river height. In very low water sea trout flies are used.
We do allow some spinning and a flying condom is the best bet.
Sea Trout: The early fish prefer big flies, 2 to 3 inch tandem
flies are best (the Hugh Falkus sunk lure is very effective).
During the summer smaller flies are better, bibio, zulu, teal blue and silver, and butcher.
Night fishing can be very effective in the summer, and some of our pools are very good for that.
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The Currane System
The famous Lough Currane is only 4 miles from our fishing lodge.
It is regarded as the finest sea trout lake in the British Isles, and every year produces thousands of
sea trout and hundreds of salmon to rod and line. Many of the sea trout are large, weighing 5 to 9 lbs.
The best salmon of recent years (March 2004) was 24lbs.
While many of the spring salmon are taken on the troll, quite a few are caught on fly.
Most of the sea trout are taken on the fly. Boats and guiding on the lake can be arranged for our guests.
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The Upper lakes: There are 5 other lakes in the Currane system that hold salmon and sea trout.
They are surrounded by the most stunning scenery anyone could wish for and on their day can give exceptional sport.
We would regularly take clients on some of these lakes. Na Mona and Cloonaghlin have just one boat on each,
so you have the whole lake to yourself for the day. Not bad in today's crowded world.
The photograph shows a fine sea trout
taken on Lough Cloonaghlin in 2003.
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