Adventures in one of my secret Connemara hotspots

One of my adventures last summer brought me to one of my favourite Connemara lakes. Connemara lakes are great for trout, and some also have salmon but you’d have to be extremely lucky for a salmon to bite.

We called in to say Hi to my granny who lives in Connemara. She minded my little sister while dad and I took off fishing with a packed picnic. It was a warm overcast day early in the summer holidays. There was a lovely smell of flowers in the air.

We parked the car and while my dad got all the gear out of the boot I made friends with two donkeys who wanted to be rubbed. We then had a bit of a walk over fields, crossing walls. At one stage we had to climb over a boat.

I was spinning while my dad was fly fishing. As I was about to do my first cast I saw a nice size trout jump out of the water. I cast in his direction. No bite.

After a little while I got some bites but lost the fish every time. My dad had better luck. He hooked a nice size trout on a fly he made up and tied himself. I asked him could I reel it in. Dad handed me the rod and I reeled. My dad netted him. I was feeling so happy because there was my trout for lunch.

 We took a break at this stage to have our lunch. While we were eating we were listening to some moorhens who were making very loud noise. It sounded almost like dogs barking.

When we started fishing again there was no bite for ages. I start feeling a bit bored when there’s no action. I then got my rod into a tangle and had to give up casting. I spent a bit of time throwing rocks into the water and singing a few songs.

Only as it was nearly evening my dad finally got another bite on his fly. I had to run quickly for the net to give to my dad and as I did I almost fell in the water. So much excitement!

My dad handed me the rod to reel in the second fish. The fish was very strong and went into the weeds where I almost lost him. My dad directed me how to bring in the fish. Finally I succeeded. By then, it was time to call it a day.