This season we’ve heard about the disastrous spring salmon run and there hasn’t been much to report yet for the grilse run – all in all, our worst fears about salmon numbers seem to be coming true – and not just in Ireland.
One of the worst culprits of course is aquaculture and the effects that sea lice from salmon farms has on migrating salmon, which the industry – and the Government via the State body, the Marine Institute – try to lessen by quoting from a dubious scientific paper.
However, the hugely respected fishery scientist, Paddy Gargan, has led and released what’s been called a landmark study which shows that, contrary to the Marine Institute and salmon farming’s stance, sea lice does have a major and significant effect on the mortality of salmon.
This paper has just been released and its implications will be far reaching.
Plus, staying with salmon, we also speak to John Murphy, from Salmon Watch Ireland. John is back from last week’s NASCO conference where the stark reality about the future of wild Atlantic salmon was laid bare.
For more on Paddy Garagan’s sea lice study:
https://salmonwatchireland.ie/2025/05/29/issue-number-14-30-may-2025-salmon-watch-ireland/
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
A week ago the Irish fly fishing team was in the Czech Republic getting ready for their shot at the World Fly Fishing Championships and with a very respectable sixth place last year in France, hopes were high for the team that they might even medal – something that has never been done before by an Irish team at the World Championships.
Team Captain, Dec Conlon, joins us on the latest show to tell us how Ireland fared.
And you can also check out Joe Quinn’s videos from the Championships at:
https://www.youtube.com › @JoeQuinnFollow_the_fln
Irish Youth Fly Fishing Team Fundraising Raffle
We wanted to also mention the Irish Youth Fly Fishing Team Fundraising Raffle with prizes of a lake boat, fly rods, engine, hotel stays, angling vouchers all up for grabs.
Tickets are €50 each and limited to just 500 and all proceeds go towards the youth team costs for attending the World Youth Fly Fishing Championships in the USA later this year, so all for a great cause and tickets are on sale now from Frank Dempsey on 087 2351830 or email fgdempsey@gmail.com. The draw takes place on June 21st.
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
We’re nearly into June and the mayfly is finally petering out. It’s hard to believe that it began at Easter time on Corrib, whilst recently, Sheelin has been described as being ‘polluted with fly’ where fly anglers have been left with pretty much only suntans this year.
So, this week, to find out more, joining us for our annual mayfly season review is Jackie Mahon, fly tyer and guide on Lough Arrow, and Ronan McWilliams, who embarked on a month long road trip taking in Corrib, Arrow and Sheelin.
But all did not go to plan as you’ll find out in the episode.
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
Ballisodare Fishery is a name that’s probably familiar to you from the salmon fish kill last summer that hit the headlines but after the deaths of one thousand plus salmon, why did it happen and how can we ensure it doesn’t happen again?
Despite the events of last year, the fishery is determined to showcase what it does have – namely great fly fishing water in Sligo throughout the entire season.
Gerry Merrick, chairman of the Ballisodare Fishery joins us on this week’s show to tell us about the fishery, the fish kill of last year and why there can be a silver lining to it all.
For more from the fishery visit: https://www.ballisodarefishingclub.ie/
Plus, Tom has an update on the mayfly from Corrib and we bring you news of salmon fishery closures this week due to warm water temperatures.
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
With the salmon run beginning in earnest this month, the Blackwater’s Conor Arnold joins us this week to tell us about the unique May salmon that arrives in the river, and whether the spring run’s decline could actually herald an increase in the back-end?
Plus, Tom has a mayfly update from Corrib, and we'll be bringing you more mayfly updates from across the country over the next few weeks so stay tuned for those.
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
Stan Headley is a fly angler and fly tyer who would be known to so many people in Ireland and the UK. A regular contributor to Trout & Salmon magazine down through the years, the Orkney angler also penned three books - The Loch Fishers Bible, Trout & Salmon Flies of Scotland and Reflections on the Loch which became the go to source for Scottish loughs fishing – but he was also a fan of fishing in Ireland too and was a regular visitor to these shores.
However, due to illness, Stan’s says that his fishing days are now behind him and so this week’s interview with him is one tinged with sadness but also fond memories as he joins us to look back on an incredible life in fly fishing, what it meant to him and the similarities and differences between Irish loughs' and Scottish lochs' fishing.
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
This week we’re delighted to bring you our first episode from the river bank. Only a few days ago Daire was lucky enough to fish the Slaney River for the first time on the Ballycarney Fishery beats in the company of the fishery manager, Peter Wadding.
Spring salmon fishing on the Slaney has been on our bucket list for a while now and although Daire travelled in hope rather than expectation, things couldn’t have turned out better…..
Plus, there’s an update from Salmon Watch Ireland on their Freedom of Information request in relation to the salmon farm licence applications and why the government is refusing to divulge mortality rates from these farms as it’s not in the ‘public interest’.
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
This week it’s a book club episode with Patsy Peril, who co-wrote (with Deirdre Nuttall) ‘Swimming Upstream: one man’s fight to save the Atlantic salmon’.
It’s a fascinating memoir about the life of a netsman on the River Shannon. Patsy talks to us about the importance of the salmon to the communities and villages along the Shannon and how the building of Ardnacrusha decimated a way of life for so many.
He talks about his work as a netsman and the increasingly difficult years, dealing with industrialisation, pollution, salmon farms and overfishing which led to the decline of salmon numbers before his eyes.
But he also details his efforts to fight for the salmon and a friendship with the lifelong wild salmon campaigner, Orri Vigfússon, that developed along the way.
‘Swimming Upstream: one man’s fight to save the Atlantic salmon’ is available in all good bookshops.
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
He’s The Scientific Angler on YouTube whose videos of Corrib, Arrow and Sheelin show brown trout fishing in Ireland at its best, but what’s also great about Ronan McWilliams’ fly fishing videos is his honesty.
He’s not afraid to say when he’s blanked and when he’s found it tough – authenticity as he says is what it’s all about.
Ronan also tells us about the mystique of the Blue Stacks in Donegal and why he loves nothing better than getting away from it all fishing on remote hill loughs. For more from Ronan, visit his channel at https://www.youtube.com/@thescientificangler.
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
Education about and local engagement with rivers and water catchments are vital for empowering communities, kids and parents to be custodians of their local environments and one group that has been doing fantastic work in this area since the 1990s has been Streamscapes.
It came about after Paul Kearney and Mark Boyden set up the Coomhola Salmon Trust in West Cork in 1989 and evolved then into Streamscapes, working with local communities and schools in the area of aquatic and biodiversity education.
Mark joins us on this week’s episode to tell us more about the work that they do, the importance of empowering local communities and how it can help with the next generation in realising the importance of their environment and river catchments near them.
Images thanks to Streamscapes.ie and for more information visit Streamscapes.ie
Irish Youth Fly Fishing Team Fundraising Raffle
We wanted to also mention the Irish Youth Fly Fishing Team Fundraising Raffle with prizes of a lake boat, fly rods, engine, hotel stays, angling vouchers all up for grabs.
Tickets are €50 each and limited to just 500 and all proceeds go towards the youth team costs for attending the World Youth Fly Fishing Championships in the USA later this year, so all for a great cause and tickets are on sale now from Frank Dempsey on 087 2351830 or email fgdempsey@gmail.com. The draw takes place on June 21st.
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
George McGrath is well known to listeners of the Ireland on the Fly podcast, a friend of the show he has joined us on numerous occasions. If you have listened to him before you will no doubt be aware that he and Tom Doc will at times, break out into speaking Irish. George has a great love for the Irish language and is a fluent speaker and Tom, hailing from Joyce Country, is fluent as well.
It was with this in mind that we decided to record a bonus episode during Seachtain na Gaeilge last week. This is a week where the Irish language is promoted throughout the country.
Tom interviewed George and the whole episode is in Irish. It is about George’s background in fishing and his life on his beloved River Suir.
For those listeners who only have a little Irish here are a few pointers to help you along and here is what is discussed in the interview in this order:
- Where George got his Irish, neighbour from Connemara, evening meetings
- Where George hails from
- How he started in fishing, eels and then on to trout, his first fly rod, the polar opposite of a travel rod. Thumbing and travelling to the fishing.
- An unusual lift from a blind man
- Pollution problems and the environment
- His YouTube Channel and why he does less hunting, once again the problems in the environment. Swimming against the tide
- Opening day 2025, Euro Nymphing (The Lob) and streamer fishing. He talks of some of the big streamers.
- Salmon on the river. His biggest trout, no catch and release when he was growing up, fast food
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
This week we're joined by Evo Smyth, originally from Latvia, but living and fly fishing in the Irish midlands for the last twenty years.
Although only taking up fly tying ten years ago, Evo quickly made a name for himself as a fly tyer of some skill and his flies have been in demand around the country.
Evo tells us about his fly fishing and fly tying journey and has some really helpful and insightful advice for anyone looking to improve their own fly tying skills.
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
Spring is in the air and it feels like the season is finally starting to click into gear and for many salmon anglers you’ll be thinking of trips to book and plans to make.
But one of the big issues affecting wild salmon and sea trout numbers is the presence of salmon farms in some of the most pristine locations around our Atlantic coast.
The issue of salmon farming is something we continually cover on this podcast and for this week’s episode we catch up with John Murphy from Salmon Watch Ireland to find out about updated legislation that means salmon farms are having to renew their licences.
This also means it’s a time for action and opposition to these renewal applications and John Murphy tells us what can be done to counter the increasing threat of salmon farms to the environment and our wild fish.
To find out more go to:
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
This week we’re finding out about a fly fishing club that bucks the trend and continues to grow its membership in the face of declining interest in the sport.
Kilbride Anglers Club has long been an innovative and forward thinking club since it was first founded in 1940 and its chairman Martin Kearney joins us on this week’s episode to tell us how the club expanded beyond its Liffey waters to the Meath Blackwater as well as having 14 boats around the lakes of Ireland.
But it was a pollution incident on the Blackwater twenty years ago that forced the club into restoration and expanding beyond just its rivers.
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
Image: https://www.kilbrideanglersclub.com
This week it’s a fly tying book club special with Barry Ord Clarke aka The Feather Bender.
Barry’s new book, Advanced Fly Tying Techniques has just been released and is a must-read for anyone looking to develop their fly tying skills further.
We spoke to Barry about his incredible fly tying career, his hugely successful YouTube channel and his unusual introduction to learning to tie flies.
https://www.youtube.com/@Thefeatherbender
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
It’s a first for us I believe on this week’s episode as we speak to Ulster man Willie Holmes from the fishing shop he manages
by the Ch’illiwack river outside Vancouver in British Columbia in Canada.
Willie was originally a building contractor who then set up and ran the well known Moorbrook trout fishery in Coleraine before making the leap and moving to Vancouver full time where he now gets to fly fish for incredible steelhead and Pacific salmon.
Willie tells us about his journey and why he now calls British Columbia home.
You can also view a live feed of the Vedder/Ch'illiwack river that runs by the fishing shop at:
https://www.pacificrivers.com/camera/
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
Image: https://tourismchilliwack.com/
While we’re into February and slowly the season is beginning to come to life, you may not have much of a chance to wet a line in the coming weeks so have you thought about building your own fly rod?
Brian Martin is a Fermanagh angler based in Galway who last year set himself the goal of doing just that and as he explains on this week’s Ireland on the Fly, it’s actually not that difficult and he encourages any fly angler to give it a try.
If you’ve been dreaming of a specific rod for your own fly fishing needs, then maybe you won’t have to shell out a fortune for a branded one and could actually build one yourself.
Plus, Brian also tells us about his love of dry fly fishing and the incredible migratory lake brown trout that he targets during the summer months.
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
You may have seen the report recently about a tagged salmon that was detected in the Erriff and was subsequently discovered to have travelled nearly 2,500km from south west Greenland.
It’s incredible and direct evidence showing the journey that the Atlantic salmon has to endure to spawn in our rivers and so to find out more we spoke to the IFI’s Glen Wightman who told us about the discovery and what it means for our understanding of the salmon’s life.
The full story from the IFI including the map of the salmon's journey is at:
https://www.fisheriesireland.ie/news/press-releases/ifi-picks-up-trail-of-salmon-that-swam-from-greenland-back-to-mayo-0
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
Sally Barnes is a remarkable woman who has been at the forefront of the Irish artisan food revolution since the 1980s, when she first started smoking wild salmon.
But what has a smoker got to do with fly fishing? Sally, who has been married to a fisherman, and lives on the west Cork coast, has seen and experienced first-hand the decline the Atlantic salmon has undergone in modern times.
Sally’s story is a remarkable one and her insights perceptive and well worth listening to for anyone concerned about our changing environment and its effects on the Atlantic salmon.
To find out more about Sally’s work and courses go to:
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
This week we’re finding out about the unique and special Lough Carra, renowned for its marl bottom which gave the water an alluring blue and aquamarine appearance.
Not only that but the fishing – and mayfly fishing especially – was pretty spectacular. But like so many things in nature, Lough Carra went into decline due to eutrophication.
However, the Lough has many interested stakeholders, not least the local communities, which have been vociferous and active in their attempts at restoring Carra to its once greatness.
And Tom Byrne, of the Lough Carra Catchment Association, and lifelong angler, joins us to tell us more.
A great resource on Lough Carra is at:
And here’s an interesting paper on the marl crusts of the lough:
Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
