Lough Corrib - Reading The Clues

[mackiia1]

Hi All - I have just had a nice day and a half on Lough Corrib where I was reminded again of how clever the better trout are and how small changes can make a big difference to your day's fishing.
Last Thursday I arrived at Corrib at 2 pm only to be greeted by a big rolling wave and a squally / blustery wind. Not nice conditions to be fishing in but I had heard the Mayfly hatch was really starting to take off and was eager to get out .At about 3.30 pm, the hatch got going , the trout responded and boat partner and myself had a good afternoon fishing dry mayfly patterns - with the trout really hitting the flies hard in the big wave. We fished Green Wulff and Humpy patterns and all we had to do was put the fly in front of the rising fish and they nailed it - it was great fun.
Friday brought similar weather conditions and we were expecting a repeat of the previous day but just as the hatch got going the wind dropped off and the waves died - leaving us with a big Mayfly hatch , plenty of feeding trout and a small gentle wave - PERFECT.
But , now the fish were taking the natural fly in a much more leisurely manner and our flies ,which had worked the previous day, were being refused. Trout after trout came up for the flies but splashed , plucked  and boiled without committing properly .
Some people call this 'Coming Short' - but it is more correct to say that the trout are refusing the fly at the last second - in other words , Something is Wrong.
These are good Corrib fish and are no fools - so I knew a change was needed if I was to get them to take properly.
Fly size , leader type , or both are usually the problem in these situations so I changed my leader to 0.16 mm and put on a smaller fly - a Grey Wulff tied spent style which sat lower in the water.
The first fish I covered nailed the fly and so did the next 4 fish - I ended up with 5 nice fish to 3 pounds in the next hour and a half - then the hatch petered out and the fished went down - game over.
It might be easy to say that the change of fly was what did the trick - but my boat partner was using the same fly and had no fish.
The only difference between us was he used Stroft GTM 0.18mm which has a blue/grey tinge - I was using Asso 0.16 which is clear.
Its the small things which can mean a good day , great day or bad day.
I don't always get it right but I did that day  :teeth;

[Allan Crawford]

I've had a little bit of experience of this were changing the type of leader matieral, (same diameter) made a difference.
Sounds like some nice trout there!

[mackiia1]

I've had a little bit of experience of this were changing the type of leader matieral, (same diameter) made a difference.
Sounds like some nice trout there!

Last year at Mayfly time myself and my boat partner were enjoying mixed fortunes on Corrib - we were both fishing dries and using similar patterns - one of us was getting a good few trout while the other couldn't buy a fish .
Over lunch we inspected the 2 set ups and we discovered that while we were both using clear 0.18 tippet , they  were different brands.
On holding both up to the light it was quite apparent that the non performing tippet looked a lot brighter and reflected more light.
A quick change to the duller brand and the problem was solved - we both had good fishing for the afternoon.
Only for I witnessed the change of fortunes that day , I would never have believed the effect different tippets could have on your fishing  - it really opened my eyes to the fact that small things can have a huge bearing . :shock:

[mackiia1]

Interesting timing, i'm looking at trying the stuff below as an experiment...



I'm especially interested in the black, to see first hand if it puts fish off, sort of reverse research.

You may be on to something here Alan - the black line would be perfect  for night fishing after maybe using the orange one during sunset - you could probably get away with the luminous yellow one if you are ever fishing near Sellafield   

[Allan Crawford]

Hi Alan what you fishing for Tarpon ?

Mackiia1, I had a similar experience with my boat partner for the day catching and me, not using same flies. These days if fish are coming short and I can't think of any other reason why, as a last resort I'll tie up a new leader with a different material. Not something that has happened often but I'm convinced its made a difference once or twice.