Good morning from a very mild Foxford. Following on from all the wind and rain we have had a few relatively pleasant days. Water levels are still high though and the chances of seeing any fish spawning are not great. Still a few weeks left and we might get a few video clips over the Christmas. Im looking forward to getting out for a few walks and seeing what’s about. I was chatting with a man yesterday who suggested that I should include a little bit more about nature in this blog. We chatted about it for a few minutes and he’s correct. It’s something I had not really considered but as anglers we have an interest in and enjoy watching what’s going on in nature. A few pictures of birds or animals will add to this blog, I’ll try. It has been a busy few days in the fish shop so I have not had time to prepare anything other than a little bit about this week’s fly.

“The Faughan Shrimp”

I’ve caught and seen a lot of fish caught on this fly. Definitely one to have in the box from March onward and in a size 14 in the summer months it’s hard to beat. Its name always makes me smile when I think of a particular group of anglers from the UK that I was guiding for, it’s probably fifteen years ago now. I had this group for a few days and although we all spoke English, we had probably gone to different national schools… Well, the difficulty was on their side.  I could understand them perfectly but they were having difficulty with my accent. We were fishing the upper part of the East Mayo Anglers waters on a falling flood. I took one of them upstream and set him up with a Faughan shrimp. As I was setting him up, I told him the name of the fly and that it was a good pattern for the conditions. After a short while he caught a salmon and soon after another. We headed back down to his friends to have some lunch. On the way down he asked me what did I call the fly, I replied “the Faughan shrimp”. When we got back to his friends, they congratulated him on his success and asked what fly he caught his fish on, to which he proudly announced “A Fuckin Shrimp”. I didn’t bother correcting him and we had lunch and fished on. Later that evening we went for a pint in a local bar where the Lady behind the counter asked the lads did they catch any fish to which she got the reply “Oh yes I had two on the Fuckin shrimp fly”. He went on for the next few days telling every angler he met all about the Fuckin shrimp fly and how good it was for the current conditions. By the end of the week, we had anglers coming into the shop looking for the “Fuckin shrimp fly”. Pronounce it any way you like but have at least two in your fly box next July.

Hook: Esmond Drury

Thread: Orange, Black

Tag: Oval Gold tinsel

Tail: Golden pheasant Red breast feather

Rear Body: Burnt Orange floss

Rear Body Rib: Oval Gold Tinsel, medium or fine

Mid Hackle: Dark Orange cock saddle

Front Body: Dark Claret floss

Front Body Rib: Oval Gold tinsel, fine

Wings: Jungle cock

Front Hackle: Dark Claret

Head: Black

Thats it for today folks, next week it will be the Stoats tail “Tiernans Variant”