Buller’s Irish Retreat up for Sale

For 30 years some of the most famous names in trout and pike fishing talked flies and feeding periods long into the night by the glow of its peat fires.

Now Fred Buller’s cottage retreat for more than 30 years, close to Lough Mask, is on the market for 195,000 Euros.

The two-bed cottage at Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, boasts a boat store, rod and tackle room and peat house, as well as central heating and double glazing.

“It’s real a wrench to sell it, I’ve spent a long time staring into a peat fire with good friends and a good drop,” Fred said.

“Fred J Taylor, Hugh Falkus – even Ted Hughes, the late Poet Laureate, called in with his son once because his son was keen on pike fishing.

“Bill Giles stayed here, the famous Norfolk pike fisherman. He was a very good pike fisherman, he’s in his 90s now.

“The Revd Edward Alston was another great friend of mine, holder of the rudd and tench records at the same time.”

Legendary author Fred, whose meticulously-researched ‘Pike’ and his ‘Domesday Book of Mammoth Pike’ inspired generations of pikers, turns 80 this year. He said his advancing years were behind his decision to sell up.

“I’ve had it for 32 years now and I enjoy fishing all the loughs of Ireland, because I’m fishing for wild fish, which is what makes me tick whether it’s pike, trout, sea-trout or salmon.

“But Lough Mask, in particular, can be dangerous. You have to be able to move around the boat quickly if a wind gets up or you see a rock or something.”

While he has now sold his boats, Fred hopes to continue fishing with a ghilly.

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