Angling guide and casting instructor Dan O’Neill covers a range of topics in the latest edition of his River Whispers blog:
“Each cast could be the beginning of your next fishing story.”
For this edition, I start by looking at rod choice again; I want to look at a rod that will handle predators, cast larger flies and which has crossover applications. I also speak to Jack Keenahan and Nikita Greidans about their angling journeys. Our expert this week is George Burdess, and he talks about tying a simple but effective pike fly. I revisit a very special small river where I spent most of my summer holidays as a child. The competition winner from our last edition was Phoebe O’Toole, who had a great day at Ardaire Springs chasing Rainbows.
Fly rods for larger flies/species
When we began some time ago, we looked at the “Vanilla”, which in this case was a 9ft 5wt fly rod. How about if we want to go chasing predators or throw a cast into the mighty ocean? I tend to choose a fly rod on what it can do for me, the more the fly rod can cover, the better chance it has of being part of my fly-fishing arsenal. For pike, I tend to look at 8wt to 10wt, depending of course, on where I’m fishing. Recent seasons have seen me lean towards a 10wt.
What do we need to consider when choosing – let’s start looking at what we are casting; the flies won’t be very aerodynamic, so something I like to speak about is a saying you will hear at various demos and may see on the internet. ‘Mass moves mass’, what does this mean? – Let’s allow physics to jump in here and use a visual demo or breakdown to help us understand. Let’s take a red brick and stand it on the ground so it stands tall. Now, I am going to take a ping pong ball and throw it at the brick; the ping pong ball does not have enough mass to turn the brick over / knock it down so it just bounces off it no matter how hard we throw it. Now let’s take a cricket ball, the cricket ball has much more mass than a ping pong ball, I now throw the cricket ball at the brick and it turns it over / knocks it over. So mass moves mass. Now let’s imagine our ball is our set-up: with the ping pong ball being our 4/5wt and our cricket ball being our 9/10wt. The brick is our not-so-aerodynamic bulky fly, so we need mass to move mass. Does this apply to fly line tapers? A question I get asked a lot, and the answer is yes, it can apply to fly line tapers. We discussed in previous editions what a taper is and now know that we have aggressive and progressive tapers, think of progressive taper in this situation as a tennis ball i.e with a bit more mass than a ping pong ball which would most likely knock over a red brick if thrown hard enough. Of course, if we were using a smaller fly or lighter brick, our tennis ball (progressive taper) would be sufficient. Let’s think of our aggressive taper as the cricket ball; the shorter, more aggressive taper turns over the large pike fly with ease. Rods – So when using the 10wt line, I need a rod that’s rated for a 10wt line. My go-to is a 9ft 10wt. It has plenty of fish-playing power when I need it. The rod also makes casting larger flies effortless when teamed up with a short, aggressive taper fly line. It also handles a Spey line quite well, which is perfect for when I am fishing grilse in the summer months, which adds to the rod’s versatility. Of course, I can fish for sea bass with it-, too, so this set up serves me well and makes sure it doesn’t sit in pasture for too long, if at all. Reels – When using a heavier rated line, it is, of course, thicker, so the reel will have to be able to accommodate the line as well as sufficient backing. Most lines are 85 – 100ft, which is a big number but a short distance. Make sure you have enough backing of sufficient breaking strain. Make sure the connecting knot between the fly line and backing is very well tested.
Fish care equipment – When fishing for predators, it’s important for the fish’s welfare and also our own welfare that we have some items with us to assist us. A long nose forceps is important so when unhooking, we are able to keep our hands back from the fish’s mouth and allow the forceps to work. A landing mat is also essential to have with us. When we think of predators, we think of this extremely tough fish that can handle tough conditions and a bit of heavy handling. This, however, is not the case; we must be as delicate as possible and always have wet hands when handling the fish. There are some items for deep hooked pike also, and these are readily available in tackle shops. It’s important that we treat the fish with respect and ensure their safe return to where they belong.
Our safety – When fly casting, wearing eye protection and a cap is essential. Most of us wear polarized lenses, and it gives us an advantage as it reduces the glare on the water, allowing us to see more. Pike hooks are large and can cause severe injury. Always be aware of your surroundings and passersby, which includes your fishing buddies. Life jackets now come in many different varieties, so when on or near the water, wearing one is a must.
Jack Keenahan and Nikita Greidan from Blackwood Bait and Tackle
This edition I get to speak to Jack Keenahan and Nikita Greidan and ask them a few questions on what they like to fish for and what are their plans in angling for 2025. Jack and Nikita own Blackwood Bait and Tackle which they started up as part of their school enterprise.
- Where do you usually fish?
Jack – I usually fish at the Finamore Lakes or Grand Canal in Tullamore.
Nikita – I usually fish at the Finamore Lakes, the Grand Canal at Tullamore or the R. Shannon.
- What is your favourite species to fish for?
Jack – I enjoy fishing for Tench.
Nikita – I love to fish for perch.
- Favorite method to use?
Jack – At the moment, the waggler is my favourite method, but I recently bought a pole, and I am looking forward to using that and learning more about it.
Nikita – My favourite method is using light spinning gear; I enjoy using a small wobbler or soft plastic on a drop shot or jig heads.
- Method you would like to learn more about in 2025?
Jack – I definitely want to learn more about the pole, I’m not 100 per cent confident with it just yet.
Nikita – I would like to learn more about fly fishing as I want to start fly fishing for carp in 2025.
- You started a business recently and designed a web page, what made you decide to do this and was it always something you wanted to do?
Jack – We both decided to start our tackle company as we both have a passion for fishing and wanted a fresh idea for the student enterprise program.
Nikita – For the same reasons as Jack, we always fish together and really wanted something new for the student enterprise program.
Tight lines everyone,
Jack Keenahan and Nikita Greidans
Tying a Pike fly
George Burdess is a fly tyer with Fulling Mill and also pro staff with Deer Creek. Georges’s pike flies have caught me many pike over the years so here he is to tie one of his favourite patterns with a twist.
A simple(ish) guide to tying pike flies:
Tying pike flies is an area of fly tying I absolutely enjoy, it’s a change of scenery from tying lough flies, or size 18-26 dry flies for the rivers. There is no particular set of rules to tying them; add as much or as little material as you want, and tie it on various hook sizes from 1/0 – 6/0. However, there are three main contributions needed to tie a decent pike fly. Structure, profile and weight. Structure helps keep your fly from folding in while being worked in the water. The main material which I use for this is a very stiff bucktail. Profile gives shape to your fly, often starting long at the tail, medium in the centre and then shorter profile at the head of the fly. Weight really comes down to the material used to create the profile of the fly. I try to keep my flies as light as possible because if you’re casting heavy flies all day you’ll feel it in your shoulders the next day, the main materials I use is the Deer Creek gliss n glint. So, with that all in mind, here is my simple step-by-step guide on tying Stuart Smiths’s jack pike pattern with my own twist.
Hook: Fulling Mill FM-2461 #4
Thread: Heavy-duty Kevlar
Tail: white bucktail, Deer Creek Gliss n Glint white
Mid-section: white bucktail, yellow bucktail, green flash, Deer Creek Tangy Orange Gliss n Glint,
Head: Deer Creek Jack Pike Gliss n Glint, black gliss n glint, white gliss n glint, black gliss n glint, Deer Creek 10mm eyes
This type of tying can be frustrating the first few times and like all fly tying takes a bit of practise but if you follow my three contributions you won’t stray far.
Tight lines, George Burdess.
Humble beginnings
It seems like only yesterday I went with my dad to John Mealy’s tackle shop in Kilkenny and picked my first-ever fishing rod. It was yellow with black wrappings and 2 sliders on the handle to clamp the reel. The reel was a cormorant reel black in colour. With this set-up and an edition of Trout and Salmon, there was no fish safe. I spent most of my time when I got home with my fishing rod in the sitting room, watching a passion for angling. It was not long before I was in the garden practising my casting with a small spark plug as my weight. I would prop the rod up against a chair in the kitchen and pull on the line to watch the tip indicate a “Bite”. I remember my set-up being 6 pounds for the rod and 12 pounds for the reel, which came with a line. It wasn’t long before I began fishing the little river at the end of the field, which was the Gowran River. I would watch the trout under the bridge and think “this will be easy, look how many trout are there”, it wasn’t long however before they all cleared off. My approach and tackle were far too heavy, but I didn’t understand.
One day, I was in my fishing spot, taking a break. A Touchdown bar and a small bottle of Cadet, how I miss that. I heard people talking downstream of me, which was unusual as I never saw anyone there before. I moved forward to the bridge and peered through the arch. There were two people fly fishing; each cast made lovely loops; I was fascinated. I watched for a few minutes, and one of the guys hooked a nice trout. I was very shy when I was younger and always reluctant to ask questions. However, this was for fishing, so I had to go up and ask. I made my way to the man and asked him what he was doing, he explained fly fishing to me and asked me if I wanted to try a cast. I did try, to no avail, but the walk back to the house saw me swinging my rod around pretending to fly cast.
Once back at the house, I looked through the Trout and Salmon magazine and noticed the reel sitting back near the end of the rod. The line seemed thicker, too; how does this work, I wondered. I headed out to my dad’s shed and found some white string, I threaded it up through the rod eyes and began trying to fly cast. The string would go a certain distance and become dead. Although I could manage this, this could work. I tied some monofilament onto the string, and away I went a couple of days later with my new fly rod, I had wound some string onto my reel and adjusted the clamps back so it now looked a little like a fly rod.
As I got to the river, I began trying to cast. To my surprise, I could get the line out; it was by no means perfect, but it went out with some persuasion. For a fly, I was using something I found in a tackle box at home and looking back; I’m sure it was from a set of mackerel feathers. Did I have a hope of catching a fish? Probably not. I was extremely happy trying and it is a memory so vivid I often revisit it and smile.
I have gone back to the Gowran River since and caught some great trout in the wilds of the woods it flows through. We all start somewhere, but it was that man’s kindness that day that led me to not be afraid to ask questions; it was also his allowing me to try a cast that got me “hooked” on fly fishing.
Competition Winner
Our competition winner in this edition is Phoebe O’Toole. Phoebe was chasing rainbows at the fantastic Ardaire Springs. Well done, Phoebe, and your Yeti cup is on its way. I look forward to seeing some of your future catches.
Thanks
So, this is the last edition of 2024. I want to thank everyone for taking the time to read my articles, support me with kind words on the riverbank as well as coming to my classes and demos. We have a great community and it’s growing as time moves on. I see more and more kids out fishing on my travels, and it’s a very positive thing and a credit to all the people putting the time in with the youth of angling. Thanks to Myles Kelly, Paul O Reilly, Shane O Reilly, Markus Muller, Kevin Crowley and all the team at IFI for editing my bad grammar each edition 😊 , I will improve for 2025, promise.
Merry Christmas, everyone, and Happy New Year.
Dan O’Neill
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