Good morning from a dry and mild Foxford. The river looks beautiful and its amazing how many salmon are passing through Foxford at the moment, great to see. The weather has been great and we have been getting as much fishing done as possible. Last weekend we headed North with Foxford Angling Club for a very enjoyable weekend on a Put and take fishery. Before leaving the fishery “Birchwood” we were chatting with the man in charge “Michael,” I didn’t get his second name. We told him how impressed we were with the fishery, the quality of fish and the friendly and welcoming atmosphere there. Michael asked that, if possible, some of us might give a review on trip advisor, I mentioned this blog and said I’d write a little about Birchwood. I can tell you before you read it that its very favourable and its genuine. Michael doesn’t know me and I don’t really know him, we had a brief chat after what was for myself and other Foxford Angling Club members an enjoyable experience and I am happy to say I can highly recommend Birchwood.
The Away Trip
On other years we had the away trip planned before the end of the game season, this year’s planning started late, not much more than a month ago. No one was panicking though because if there’s one man we can count on to get these trips off the ground its our club secretary Billy. By now you have guessed it, i’m referring to our club “Away trip”. We do it every year, well every year since 2009. Along with been a good angler and all-round nice fella Billy is thorough in his planning and nothing is left to chance and even though it was a late start, this year was no different. Accommodation, fishing, food all top class.
At some point in the past Billy and I had discussed the possibilities of a trip to the North of Ireland. In particular, we had spoken about Birchwood. Birchwood is a put and take fishery set in rural Co.Tyrone and both Billy and I had fished it on a few occasions in the past. We were both impressed by the quality of fish, their size and fighting ability. It didn’t surprise me when at a meeting Billy mentioned that he had been looking into a trip to Birchwood and would have more details soon. It was not long before the plan was put in place. Two days fishing at Birchwood, overnight at a local hotel with a three-course meal and all for a very good price. Billy had once again worked his magic. A Whats App message was sent out to club members and I don believe I have ever seen replies come back so fast. Inside thirty minutes we were oversubscribed.
We were to head off on the morning of November second, less than a month away. It just so happened that around the time that Billy announced details of where our away trip was planned for, P.J and I had to visit a supplier in Donegal. Birchwood would be less than an hour out of our way so as part of our duty to the club we did a little recce. That was three weeks ago and we had a brilliant days sport. Im not saying we caught tons of fish but we did have a few, the quality was something else. I’m sure you have heard the expression “The Tug is the drug.” I do not think this could be truer than when describing Birchwood. The fish hit wits such voracity that they literally pull the rod from your hand and runs to the backing are common. There is a little competition involved in the away trip and we wanted everyone to have a chance of winning. We did the honourable thing and reported back to the Whatsapp group, I may have omitted some of the finer details 😁. They got the general gist though, lots of big fish, bring strong leader material, prepare for good fun. It whet the appetites.
Our little competition changes slightly each year we are away, this is due to the fact that we go to different locations and what works for a competition at one venue may not work in another. This year we decided that the winner would be the angler with the most fish from the specimen lake on day one . At Birchwood they have four lakes, three fly and one bait lake stocked with Rainbows and some browns. Fish sizes range from 2lbs to 20+ lbs. The two smaller lakes are stocked with smaller fish and the specimen lake as the name would imply has the big ladies. Its fair to say that the specimen lake is slightly tougher to crack and like all places one fishes, there’s no guarantee of success. The fish are there in numbers though and I would say that any angler who tries reasonably hard has an above average chance of catching. One drawback that appeared soon after our plans and booking were made was that because the time changed and the evenings are shorter the fishery opening time would be shortened. Its fair enough as the fishery owner must consider the safety of his staff and customers on small country roads but we had planned to fish our competition from 9am to 5pm, some alterations would have to be made. The biggest alteration was the time we would have to leave home. Anglers do not really care though and sleep is highly overrated, we would be on the road for 05.30 to be fishing at 08.30 finishing at 4pm.
The week prior to our trip was filled with anticipation. There was a lot of phone calling and discussions. At one point I received a notification saying I was Birchwoods top Facebook fan which was quite embarrassing, I felt like a stalker. Reports in general were that the two smaller lakes were fishing well, some anglers were having bags of 20+, the specimen lake was a little slower. That was ok, it was as we expected. There was not much info to be found on methods or flies that were working, Snakes, Minkies and dries seemed to be getting the occasional mention. There was thirteen of us going fishing, one of us would crack it.
8am last Saturday morning saw us arrive at the fishery. It was already looking busy with a few anglers already fishing and quite a few guys setting up rods. We paid a quick visit to the Fihery hut where we met John, one of the guys who helps at Birchwood. John was very friendly, welcomed us, offered us tea or coffee and gave us good advice on what was working recently and the prospects for the day ahead. We were eager to get fishing so declined the offer of a hot drink, we did take on board what he had to say about tactics. One of the methods he mentioned was “The Bung”
For those who don’t know what fishing the Bung entails I’ll try to explain. I think the word Bung comes from the UK where they use it as a term for a float. Its not for everyone and I know that there are “Purists” in the fly-fishing community who cringe at the mention of “The Bung.” Personally, I enjoy the method and have had success with it on both still and moving water. It’s basically a strike indicator. A piece of yarn or a small floating bead or such which floats on the surface above your chosen pattern. You can also use a very buoyant fly pattern which in essence is sacrificial but on occasions fish will take it. While fishing Birchwood I was using a fluorescent green polystyrene bead which I’m sorry did not have a hook in it. On a few occasions trout took it, ill be wiser on my next visit. What I like about the method is that you can easily control the depth your fly pattern is presented at and subsurface takes are easily detected. Once you start using this method you will soon learn that without an indicator you miss a lot of takes, no matter how good you think you are.
There was thirteen of us there, all keen anglers and I can say with certainty, the Birchwood trout were attacked in force. My first trout fell to a lure fished on a fast-sinking line, a technique I’ve had good success with in the past and I have faith in. To my detriment however, I put too much faith in the method and although I was not catching, I was slow to change tactics. Others in our group were having regular hook ups and while all were not been landed their scores were rising. By mid-morning it was apparent that I was doing something wrong. The guys on the Bung were doing well and I had a bit of thinking to do. I figured that all the easy fish were by now taken and it was going to take something different for me to catch up.
I opted for a dry fly and two Diawl bachs twitched slowly across the surface. A good move and I soon had another fish, quite a few takes and had hooked what was possibly my best fish. I say possibly because I don’t know, I didn’t see the fish. I was twitching the flies towards me and was watching what was happening around me, suddenly I felt the unmistakable “Tip” of a fish which very rapidly escalated into a solid take. I struck and all hell broke loose, the fish ran hard to my right-hand side and had me down to the backing in seconds. It was heading towards two other anglers’ lines and fearing an almighty mess up I tried to slow it down. The first thing that happened was the knob of my fly reel ratted my knuckles as the fish kept going, now twenty meters into the backing. The second thing that happened was, Guess? Yes, the leader broke. I held the fish too tight, a rookie mistake and if ever a man wanted to give himself a kick in the arse it was me at that moment. I looked at our secretary Billy who witnessed the event and he was somewhere between bursting out laughing and feeling my pain, we didn’t need to say a lot.
One very noticeable thing for me over the weekend was that the Birchwood trout were not stupid and soon coped on. If you fished a method or a pattern for a while you may have had success initially and then it stopped and so it was with my diawl bachs. Now well after lunch (which was burgers, kindly cooked by another Billy), I decided to try the Bung. I was of course late and the gap between me and the eventual competition winner was too big. Club member Stephen Browne had cracked it early in the day with the Bung and a particular fly pattern and by finishing time at 4pm had ten or twelve trout caught. I had six for my day and was very pleased, other club members had similar numbers. A few had opted to quit the specimen lake and head for the other lakes where they had great sport on dry flies.
We have a little cup that travels with us on the away trip, like the rest of us it showing the scars of several years and late-night celebrations. After dinner Stephen was presented with the cup while a son of one of the club members who had joined us for the weekend was presented with the newly introduced junior prize. This young man had nine trout for his day, eight from the smaller lakes and one from the specimen lake, quite an achievement and a worthy winner.
Sunday saw us up early, I won’t say bright eyed and bushy tailed. At breakfast the conversation was a little strange, cuddly toys and potatoes, obviously a reference to something that happened the night before but I’ve learned not to even ask. We were all present and correct, willing to give Birchwood another try and we did. We had a beautiful day; the weather was good and the fishing was tough. We all had fish but we all had to work for them. At 4pm the buzzer blew and I can very honestly say I was sad to have to leave it. Ten minutes before, a rainbow had devoured my dry daddy, as classic a take as you could imagine. A swirl on the surface, the flash of white as its mouth opened, a strike and the rod doubled as the water exploded. I’d go back today if I could.
