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Displaying items by tag: fly dresser

Denis O'Toole has spoken of his amazement at catching a record 16-pound sea trout from the Acova River in Co Wicklow.
The angling hobbyist and professional fly dresser told the Bray People how he had spent the day fishing with a friend in what has been described as 'the most polluted river in Europe' when he spotted the monster, and decided to take up the challenge.
"I went down to the pool where I had previously seen the fish move," he said. "I put on a 1 1/2 inch aluminium tube with a salar single hook (with the barb squeezed down) and started at the head of the pool.
"On my fourth cast while stripping the fly back he hit it with a bang and all hell broke loose; all I could see was white foam on the water through the inky darkness. I thought I had hooked Free Willy."
O'Toole continued: "He was lying in only three feet of water when he took and in total the fight lasted 20 minutes. My fishing partner, Dean Kennedy, netted the fish. He was then carefully weighed and measured and released back to spawn to produce more 16 lb'ers."
The Bray People has more on the story HERE.

Denis O'Toole has spoken of his amazement at catching a record 16-pound sea trout from the Acova River in Co Wicklow.

The angling hobbyist and professional fly dresser told the Bray People how he had spent the day fishing with a friend in what has been described as 'the most polluted river in Europe' when he spotted the monster, and decided to take up the challenge.

"I went down to the pool where I had previously seen the fish move," he said. "I put on a 1 1/2 inch aluminium tube with a salar single hook (with the barb squeezed down) and started at the head of the pool. 

"On my fourth cast while stripping the fly back he hit it with a bang and all hell broke loose; all I could see was white foam on the water through the inky darkness. I thought I had hooked Free Willy."

O'Toole continued: "He was lying in only three feet of water when he took and in total the fight lasted 20 minutes. My fishing partner, Dean Kennedy, netted the fish. He was then carefully weighed and measured and released back to spawn to produce more 16 lb'ers."

The Bray People has more on the story HERE.

Published in Angling

Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Yacht Race Information

The biennial Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race is a 320-miles race down to the east coast of Ireland, across the south coast and into Dingle harbour in County Kerry.

The race is organised by the National Yacht Club.

It never fails to offer a full range of weather, wind and tide to the intrepid entrants, ranging from a 32ft cruiser to a 79ft all-out racer.

Three divisions are available to enter: cruiser (boats equipped with furlers), racing (the bulk of the fleet) and also two-handed.

D2D Course change overruled

In 2019, the organisers considered changing the course to allow boats to select routes close to shore by removing the requirement to go outside Islands and Lighthouses en route, but following input from regular participants, the National Yacht Club decided to stick with the tried and tested course route in order to be fair to large and smaller boats and to keep race records intact.

RORC Points Calendar

The 2019 race was the first edition to form part of the Royal Ocean Racing Club “RORC” calendar for the season. This is in addition to the race continuing as part of the ISORA programme. 

D2D Course record time

Mick Cotter’s 78ft Whisper established the 1 day and 48 minutes course record for the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race in 2009 and that time stood until 2019 when Cotter returned to beat his own record but only just, the Dun Laoghaire helmsman crossing the line in Kerry to shave just 20 seconds off his 2009 time.