Tough fishing

Fishing on the Faughan has been extremely hard work since last week.  I haven't seen a single fish since Friday.  I was fishing on Monday, after another good rise on Sunday and couldn't help but feel that it all felt a bit like 2009 all over again.  That was the poorest year I ever remember on the river when there was no fish being seen and I only hooked one fish all year, which I lost.  2009 is the only year since 1994 that I didn't land a salmon. I blanked.

I then started thinking, or overthinking as I usually do.  This is the second year since the major fish kill in Claudy.  Could we be beginning to see the effects of the loss of all that spawning stock we lost in the summer of 2016?  The 'One Sea-winter' fish, grilse, should have been returning this year so perhaps many of those were lost in the polution incident?  How bad is it going to be in future years then after the losses we suffered in the massive floods in the summer of 2017?

This will be my 32nd year fishing the Faughan.  I am lucky in that I grew up with knowlegable anglers who had fished the river for many more years than I have now.  I grew up taking onboard what they were saying and storing and processing it over the years.

From all the things I've learned and listened too over the years, I wasn't expecting anything major to happen on the first water we got after 12-14 weeks of dry, warm and even exceptionally warm weather.  Firstly, "...when them auld fish lie in the dam for any length of time at all, a bomb wouldn't shift them out of it...".  I've heard that time and time again over the years.  I have heard it said that some of those fish in the dam will lie there till November before making their way to spawn.  I don't know how true this is but it certainly does seem to be true that there are fish in the dam very late in the year.

We had some water in the first week of the season, around 25th or 26th of May and then nothing worth talking about until 19th August. Around 14 weeks altogether.  The Faughan is a unique river too in that is has a very short tidal stretch.  With the dam at the Pumping Station keeping the tide out, once the fish pass into the dam from the tidal stretch, they lose the help of the tide to refresh the water twice a day.

In those 14 weeks, the river got to the lowest I ever remember it, running at almost 5 inches below 'normal' level and with temperatures not unlike a bath. It must have been a tough existence for those fish laid up in the dam in, basically, stagnant water.

Those fish lying in the dam got battered almost night and day too with flies, spinners and worms.  How often have you heard the phrase, "...the dam's full of fish but they're looking at nothing..."?  They get fed up looking at the same things day in and day out that when water does come, they still will not take in the same way that fresh fish will.

The fish really haven't had a chance to settle yet either.  Our first water came on Sunday 19th August and the entire week after seen showers and heavier rain and river has been up and down every day.  If we got a few dry days and the fish got a chance to rest up in the pools, on the next water, a lot more fish would be moving at the same time.  As it is, one fish might decide to push on while others will rest up.  The river going up and down day after day makes for poor fishing.  Especially when the good water coincides with bright sunny days.  I don't ever remember seeing a good run of fish in clean water on a bright sunny day.  Again, one or two might move but probably not as many.

"That's not a fishing day...". Another of those phrases I've heard over the years.  A cold wind and squally showers usually mean that the water will most likely rise again and the fish seem to switch off.

I remember years ago talking to a very old man at the river who swore blind that fishing was a lot harder work when low pressure systems were moving in.  He spoke at length about the fish being very sensitive to barometric pressure and he had come to the belief that it was a waste of time fishing when a low pressure system was approaching from the Atlantic.  He believed it so much that he didn't even bother fishing when the pressure began to drop significantly on his barometer at home.  He always seemed to hook fish when he did fish so perhaps he was on to something.  He didn't say it was impossible to catch fish in these conditions, just that it would be much harder work.

Those fish that did leave the dam seem to have shot straight through to Claudy and beyond.  The ones still in the dam that didn't move at all means that there are fish at the top and bottom of the river and not so many in between.

I started off this blog by mentioning 2009.  That year, I truely feared for the river.  I honestly thought the river should be closed to give any fish in the river the best chance possible to spawn.  Since then though, we haven't had too many bad seasons and we had the bumper season of 2012.  I don't feel as alarmed or fearful for the river this season though.  Yes, fishing is a struggle but fish have already ran the river and those fish in the dam will run when they get the urge to.  You would hope also that a few fresh fish will still enter the river before the end of the season and indeed after it.

This is a season I will not remember fondly.  I feel very fortunate to have got one fish but I didn't get the chance to fish for grilse the way I like most.  Low water and small flies and fish up  breaking the surface after them.  There was plenty of low water but no fish in the pools until very recently and they are very hard to tempt.  I will fish for a few weeks more but I just don't enjoy dangling a fly and waiting for the line to tighten in the same way that I love to see the flash of silver and the boiling of the surface as a fresh grilse heads back to the depths having been tempted by a tiny fly.  There is just no comparison between the two types of fishing in my own opinion.

Simply put, it is just a bad year for fishing the Faughan. For whatever reason, the fish seem to have switched off and are not as keen to take.  However,  I still feel that the river is healthy, will have a decent run of fish and will be fishing well enough again in the coming seasons.  We can't have weather like this year, every year? Surely not!

A fishing report - for a change!

Week of 19th - 25th August 2018

Finally, after almost 10 weeks of record high temperatures, long sunny days and barely enough rain to fill a thimble, we finally got a decent lift in the river.

Rain on Saturday, into Sunday morning, finally put some water in the river.  The height peaked around 6am on Sunday morning at 1.53 metres on the Hydrometcloud river level guage at Drumahoe.  Given that 'normal' level is roughly 0.9 metres, this meant that there was rougly 63cm at it's height. Just over 2 foot.  Not a lot of water in the river for the amount of rain that fell to be honest.

As expected, after such a long dry spell, the river was running very dirty.  However, it cleaned a lot sooner than I was expecting and I was out fishing that afternoon.  I was at the river shortly after 5pm and the river had already dropped almost by half and was just around a foot in height.  I fished the neck of one pool local to me but there really wasn't enough water on it to fish it right.  I then went to the next pool down.

I fished the stream down to the neck of the pool when, finally, I got the pull.  It seems such a long time sinch I last had a fish take a fly.  Well, it is a long time as it was August last year that I last landed a fish.  It is still a wonderful feeling.

The line swinging gently in the current and then seems to start to slow down.  Oh, I wonder... then the loop of line starts to go, the reel starts to turn and you lift and, hopefully, feel the weight on the rod.  Yes, fish on!

The fish was up splashing about on the surface and then headed straight for me.  I was winding on line as fast as I could when the fish took off downstream before coming straight for me again.  I couldn't get the line back on the reel quick enough and by the time I did, the line was slack again.  Fish gone.  It got the old heart pumping again anyway.

When I got the leader in again to check the flies, my point fly was gone.  It didn't seem that big of a fish.  Whether it was foul hooked or there was a wind knot on the leader or something, I am not 100% sure.  I'd just had my first proper take of the season and it felt great.

I fished on for a couple of hours but other than seeing a very odd fish moving, there wasn't much to write home about.

I went back to the river on Monday morning for a few hours and saw a few fish moving but no big numbers and I didn't get a touch.  Tuesday, I didn't see a single fish nor did I get a touch.

We had more rain on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning and the river was rising again.  By around Mid-day, it was back at around 2 feet but was very coloured.  I wasn't all that bothered as I was doing some work at the clay shooting ground.  I thought, from previous experience on the river, that the water wouldn't clean until the next morning and the water would be gone again.

I wasn't back from the club until after 6pm and by the time I got my tea and took my dogs out a run it was going on for 7pm.  I took the dogs down the field and couldn't believe the water.  A nice height of very fishable coloured water.  Not just 100% clean but nothing I would think twice of fishing.

The dogs got a very short run and I came back up, got the gear on and went back down the field again.

A nice version of a Fiery Brown that I used on Wednesday evening this week.

I was about half way down the pool when the line tightened and line started coming off the reel.   After a few splashes on the Surface.  The fish headed to the bottom and sat there.  I waded on down until I got directly opposite the fish.  I started putting more and more pressure on the line and finally the fish started to move.  It put up a good fight.  I fish for the take, rather than the fight and I had the fish in the net in the shortest time possible.

I got the fish, in the net, to the shallows at the side of the river and laid the fish on it's side.  I got the hook out with the forceps and then laid the rod beside the fish and took a photo.  From the reel seat to just before the first eye on the rod is 30 inches.  This fish could have been an inch or two longer.  When I looked at the the Tweed Association's length to weight reference chart, 30 inches would put the fish at 10lb weight.  The fish was definately a double figured fish and I was more than happy.  The fish had been in the river a while and was not what I would consider to be clean.  A big cock fish with a well formed kype.

My first salmon of 2018. A long time coming.

I slipped the net over the fish again and supported it in the water until it had recovered sufficiently.  Not that long altogether I am happy to say.  Then a few kicks and he was away.  The fish was never once removed from the water during that time.

Finally, I'd got one to stick and managed to land it.  It is a long time since my first fish of the season wasn't landed until the end of August, or was as coloured.

My lovely Fiery Brown after the chap above was done with it!

I went back to the river for a few hours on Thursday afternoon but I never feel really comfortable in bright conditions and I only saw one or two fish and didn't get a touch.

I was back again on Friday morning and didn't see a thing but did get a take that took the loop of line out of my hand and one turn of the reel and the fish was gone again.

These past few days have been the coldest days since April or May probably and we're catching plenty of heavy showers.  The river is being held up rightly but I've never felt that water going up and down so much over such a short period of time, makes for particularly good fishing.  Of course you can be lucky and run into a fish but this is an exception rather than a rule.

There is heavy rain forecast for Sunday so I'll leave the river now until Moday probably.  I'll spend Saturday and Sunday sorting out and stocking up the fly boxes again which have become a terrible mess.

I could just take a notion and head to the river at some stage but I've no real urge or intention to do so at the minute.

Good luck and tight lines to anyone who gets out for a cast over the weekend.

How important is colour?

We're all drawn to certain flies for salmon fishing.  We all have our own ideas, opinions and preferences in the size and shape of flies we like to fish.  Some prefer Irish Shrimps, some like the Scottish Longtail shrimps, some like hairwings, etc.  One area that I haven't mentioned above is colour.

I think we get drawn to pretty looking things and colour plays a major part in that.  There seems to be a fascination with bright coloured salmon flies and when I think of bright coloured flies I automatically think of flies like the Cascade, Park and Calvin's Shrimps, Wilkinson Shrimp etc.  There can't be many salmon anglers out there that don't have a Cascade in their box or have at least fished with one at some stage.  This is nothing new though and if you look at some of the beautifully constructed winged flies popular in the past, many of those were extremely bright and colourful too.

We all have ideas too of what colours work best at different times of the year.  Yellow and Green are generally considered as Spring colours.  Blue combined with silver is thought to be a great combination for grilse in Summer time and then as the season moves into the latter stages of the season in September and October, we start to think more of reds and clarets.  The only colours I can think of that you see throughout the seasons are orange and black.

Yellows and Greens associated with Spring

I have to say that I was always the most successful from September on.  The flies I tied seemed to suit the season better with red, orange and claret flies seeming to come into their own. The more I think back on it now, I was probably more successful with those colours in the later part of the season as that is the time of the year I started fishing with them.  Had I used the same flies in July, would I have caught any more, or indeed, any fewer fish?

I remember quite a few years ago,  I was out fishing in July.  My dad had been in Donegal for a few days and brought me a few flies back from a shop in Donegal Town.  One was a Green Highlander Hairwing.  The moment I saw it I said to myself, "Spring fly, when am I going to fish that".  I tied the green fly on that day in July and hooked four grilse before I got home.

The Summer time blues

I remember looking through Peter O'Reilly's book and seeing the 'Faughan Shrimp'.  Claret and Orange, I automatically classed it as an autumn pattern but then reading the remarks, "It is highly regarded as a Spring fly...".

I also remember reading a thread on the Salmon Fishing Forum where someone had asked for recommendations for Autumn flies and someone had responded recommending the Curry's Red Shrimp.  The Curry's Red was my go to fly for grilse.

So, is the colour of fly or the season we associate them with, in any way important?  There is a lot of reading and information online on how salmon see colour and how the colour may look different depending on the depth of the water and the amount of UV light that penetrate the water those depths and how this changes depending on the sun at different time of the year. To be honest, I haven't read up on this at all as of yet.  I've bother enough with the amount of thoughts already in my head to take on more information that will make me overthink things that I am already overthinking!   However, it would appear, to me anyway, that colour may not be all that important.

I'll throw another spanner into the works here.  Jungle Cock.  Does a fly need Jungle Cock?  Generally, to catch fish, no, definately not.  Being a zealot for fly patterns and respecting those who tied them,  if the pattern states it has Jungle cock then it will have Jungle Cock.  If it states that it does not use Jungle cock then it won't have it.  If I am tying some of my own patterns, particularly for water that might be carrying some colour, I do tend to add Jungle Cock.

What led me to do this was that about 8 years ago, a friend of mine was running a function to raise money for the Foyle Hospice.  I said I would tie him some flies that he could sell and put the money to the charity.  I tied him 10 or 12 shrimp flies on trebles and when I tied a fly I stuck them on a piece of foam and had them sitting on the bench.  There was all the usual shrimp flies including Bann Special, Curry's Red, Apache, etc.  All the colours under the sun.  At that time I was tying in our old shed.  The bench was at the back away from any natural light.  I remember going into the shed one evening for something off the the bench.  It was getting dark outside too so the light at the bench was really poor.  As I appoached the bench, something drew my attention out of the corner of my eye.  When I looked, I could see something almost glowing. When I switched the light on, it was the line of shrimp flies I'd tied and it was the Jungle Cock I'd seen.  I couldn't really believe it.  Out of all the colours used for hackles, tinsels used for bodies and ribbing, the only thing I could distinguish in that poor light was the Jungle Cock.  Since that evening,  I have had no hesitation in using Jungle Cock.  In clear water and good light conditions, where a fish can see a fly easily, I do not believe that Jungle Cock will make much difference in a fish deciding if it will take a fly or not.  In spate conditions where you might just need that something extra to draw attention, I believe Jungle Cock is the best natural flash that there is.  In saying all of that, you still need to put the fly in front of a taking fish to have any chance whatsoever.

More reds and clarets as we move towards Autimn

While I enjoy tying many of the bright patterns, and fishing them and catching fish on them, my own preference now has been to move to more subdued colours.  Drab patterns using more brown and black in them.  The Foxford Shrimp has probably always been my favourite pattern for salmon anyway and now along with Peter O'Reilly's Green Peter Shrimp and the John Anthony Shrimp, these duller flies probably account for most of my fish now.  Again though,  I am catching fish on these dull patterns more because I am using them more.

A few more drab patterns

So, by all means, stick with your yellows and greens in Spring, the oranges and blues in summer and the reds and clarets in Autumn.  You will certainly catch fish if there are fish there to be caught.  However, don't be afraid to try a different colour outside of the seasons that they are associated with.  It is us who have made up our minds that these are the colours that are associated with the seasons.  A salmon doesn't even know what a fly is for goodness sake. Never mind that it can only take a certain colour at a certain time of the year.

I suppose I could have shortened this whole post by just saying, tie on the fly that looks good to you.  A salmon might just agree with you!

'Faughan' Flies

There are a few flies around that have the name of my river attached to them.  Faughan Purple, Faughan Shrimp etc.  I am not sure who first created them and I can't really find out that much about them.

The Faughan Purple is probably the most famous of them all yet I am not sure who actually attached the name of my river to the 'Purple Wool Body' pattern that E.C. Heaney gives in his book, "Fly Fishing for Trout and Salmon on the Faughan", in 1947.

The Faughan at the time was a Sea Trout river with Salmon Fishing not all that popular by many accounts.  An old article I have found from "Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News" from September 1908 states that, "The Faughan is the best free Sea Trout river in the North of Ireland".

Even Heaney states the following:

"The Faughan for obvious reasons cannot be regarded as a first or even second class salmon river ; to state it as a fairly good salmon river may also be very wide of the mark."

 So, how did the name of a poor quality salmon river get attached to salmon flies?

Heaney gave a list of Salmon flies in his book and the pattern of materials needed to tie them.  He stated that they were 'Mourne' flies but would also catch salmon on the Faughan or anywhere else.

He gave a pattern for the 'Purple Wool Body', this is the No. 2 version given.  The No. 1 version had no amber hackle:

Tail: Mixed strands of tippet, red ibis and Peacock sword
Body: Two turns of golden olive pig's wool, remainder dark purple pig's wool
Ribbing: Flat silver tinsel
Hackle: Blood Red with Amber over
Wing: Strands of G.P. Tippet, red ibis, peacock sword, dark mallard over

This was my own attempt from the pattern given above.

Purple Wool Body No. 2 as given by E.C. Heaney

Heaney says of the 'Purple Wool Body No. 1', "No other pattern is so well known on the Faughan as that above".

Purple Wool Body is a bit of a mouthful.  Perhaps as the purple pattern was so popular on the Faughan the name of the river was affixed to it just by locals?  I really don't know.  Heaney's writings were first published as articles in the 'Londonderry Standard' in 1946 with the articles combined in book form and published in 1947.

Heaney also gives a pattern for the 'Purple Body' as a sea trout pattern with an description as follows; "...a very old Faughan pattern that needs no further comment." It is a much simplified version than that above.

Tail: Strands of G.P. Tippet
Body: Purple seals fur (a reddish purple)
Ribbing: Flat or oval silver tinsel
Hackle: Blood red
Wing: Mallard

I have found mention of the 'Faughan Purple' in old angling reports in the 'Londonderry Sentinal' in the 1950s but no actual pattern to see what was being referred to as a 'Faughan Purple' by then.

The first mention of the 'Faughan Purple' with a pattern is in E.J. Malone's book, Irish Trout and Salmon Flies.  It was first published in 1984. He gives the pattern the same as Heaney's Purple Wool Body No. 1 with a second version as I have tied above.  Malone also lists a 'Purple Body' as a trout fly as descibed by Heaney.

Stuart Donaghy, in the chapter "Angling experiences on the Faughan" in Olly McGilloway's book "Along the Faughan Side" states the following:

"...perhaps the best all-round fly for sea trout and salmon that I know of.  That fly is the Faughan Purple; so well known here, as a salmon fly, that the colour of purple used to be a source of debate among anglers and the secret of the correct dye was something that was only passed from father to son..."

He then gives the following pattern.  A different one again;

Tag: Flat Silver
Tail: Golden pheasant tippet
Butt: One turn golden olive wool
Body: Dark purple wool tied in immediately in front of the golden olive, both ribbed flat broad silver tinsel
Hackle: Crottle with amber over
Wing: Bronze mallard

He then states, "The crottle hackle is what is now known as Hot Orange..."

I had a go at the fly above and what I understood to be an amber shade, did not look that much different to the hot orange.   I instead used a more golden red, from a cape dyed by my good friend Paul Slevin, to get some contrast between the two hackles.

Faughan Purple as given in 'Along the Faughan Side'.

I was contacted by a man a few years ago who said he had an old Faughan Purple that had been given to him when he was doing work at the Pumping Station at Campsie during the 1960's.  He asked if I'd like to have it.  I wasn't long in accepting his offer and I sent him a few shrimp flies in return.  This is one of the flies I recieved:

A Faughan Purple tied in the 1960's

As you can see in the pattern above, the hackle is much more of a claret shade than the red used by myself and many others today.  I might have to start experimenting with dying, something I have never even attempted before.

Stuart Donaghy also gives a pattern for a sea trout fly that is similar to Heaney's Purple Body Trout fly.

I remember Stuart fishing on the pools local to me when I was quite young.  I wasn't much into fly fishing or probably hadn't even started tying at that time.  I don't ever remember having a conversation with him but from reading his remarks in 'Along the Faughan Side', I think I would have found him very interesting and would dearly love to have some of his knowledge and ideas on both flies and fishing.

This brings us on to the shrimp flies.  Looking at the pattern above, given by Donaghy, It is easy to see where the 'Faughan Purple Shrimp' came from.  Extend the butt to form a rear body, use purple for the front body, the obligitory GP tail and split the hackles.  Again,  I have never used the Faughan Purple Shrimp, that I can think of anyway, but it was pointed out to me recently that these 'Faughan Shrimps' were on sale in Tom's Tackle on the Ardlough Road for many years.  I bought very few flies in Tom's so I can't really remember if they were there or not.

The Faughan Purple Shrimp really only came to my attention relatively recently.  I was given a very generous gift of Chris Mann's "The Complete Illustrated Directory of Salmon Flies" in January 2013.  The number of times I have looked at this book since and found a pattern I've wanted to try.  It has been a great help and interest to me and I can't thank the generosity of the person enough who bought it for me. Thank you once again!

Chris Mann states of the Faughan Purple Shrimp, "This is a Northern Irish fly from Albert Atkins which has the intense colouration typical of many of his flies. It is intended for use towards the end of the season when there is some colour in the water after a spate."

Albert Atkins' Faughan Purple Shrimp from Chris Mann's book

 I tied the above with denser, softer, cock hackles to give it more presence in a spate with a bit of colour still in the river.  I am not overly fussed on very bright flies myself so I decided that I would 'tone down' the Faughan Purple Shrimp by using more drab shades of Orange and Red.  Both capes dyed by Paul Slevin.

A more subdued attempt at the Faughan Purple Shrimp using golden olive seals fur, burnt orange and golden red hackles

I have not tried any of the last two patterns yet and have tied them just for this blog.  With the way we seem to miss the rains that fall, they might never get wet.

The next fly to have the Faughan name attached to it is the Faughan Shrimp (light).  I only knew this pattern, or indeed the dark version, existed when I bought a copy of Peter O'Reilly's 'Trout and Salmon flies of Ireland' around 20 years ago.  I had never seen or heard of the pattern either before or since and I have never seen anyone fishing with it.  Apparantly it is a good 'back end' fly on the river Roe.

It looks quite and old pattern and I can't think of another Irish Shrimp fly that uses GP Tippets in the way they are used here.  I can't really find another pattern that this fly could be based on.  I really cannot offer anymore thoughts or opinions on the pattern.

Faughan Shrimp (light) on the left and a Faughan Shrimp on the right.

I cannot really offer any help or insight to who may have created the Faughan Shrimp either.  Again, it was one I was not aware of before I saw O'Reilly's book.  Even then, my respect for patterns was quite evident in that I could never tie a Faughan Shrimp as it was stated in the book that the middle hackle should be a burnt orange and not a hot orange.  Purely because of this, I never attempted the pattern.

I could be wrong, but I believe what we now know to be the 'Faughan Shrimp' to be a variant of a Laurence Cunnigham Pattern given in 'Along the Faughan Side' as the Orange and Purple Shrimp.

The pattern for Cunningham's fly is given as follows:

tag: Fine gold oval tinsel
tail: A red feather from the body of a golden pheasant wound on as a hackle
body: First half orange floss silk ribbed with fine oval gold tinsel, then a double orange and claret middle hackle with the claret hackle over.  Second half of the body purple floss silk ribbed with gold oval tinsel slightly broader than the fine used on the first half, with a large purple, or claret, hackle over.
sides: Two medium sized jungle cock feathers
head: Black varnish over tying silk

Here is my attempt at the pattern using claret front hackle:

An attempt at the 'Orange and Purple Shrimp' from Along the Faughan Side.

I could be completely wrong but there is more than a passing resemblence between the two.  Leave out the claret for the middle hackle and the two patterns are more than similar.  More similar again depending on the shade of purple that is used for the front body.

A Faughan Shrimp (top) and an Orange and Purple Shrimp (bottom)

.

 As can be seen from the picture above.  There is very little difference between the two.  The claret used here is a lovely shade of soft hackle dyed by my good friend Gary Welsher.

Could it be that a shrimp designed by a well known Faughan angler and fly tyer took on the name of the river it was tied for?  I remember growing up and people telling me to tie a Green Silk as it was a great fly for the Faughan.  No one could ever show me one though.  When I did actually get to see one, I had the pattern all along in Along the Faughan Side as the the 'Green and Black Shrimp'.  Perhaps the Faughan shrimp was a similar overlook on my part?

So that is a look at the patterns that are well known in the angling and fly tying world.  There are other flies out there that I believe to be variants of the Faughan Purple shrimp but others believe they are Bann Special variants so I'll not start any fuss on that.

I've really enjoyed writing this and hopefully a few other people will enjoy the read.  If you have any comments or remarks, please feel free to leave a message either below or on the Fly & Clay Facebook page

If nothing else, I now have a few flies to add to boxes.