A holiday in Ireland and no fishing! There were many reasons forthis unusual turn of events including the weather, the Auld LammasFair and, sadly, two bomb emergencies.
I had a business presentation in Londonderry on the Saturday ofthe August Bank Holiday weekend and, on Monday morning, moved acrossthe province to Ballycastle on the northern coast. To be fair, I waswarned in advanced about the Auld Lammas Fair, a boisterous andcrowded two-day annual event, but chose to ignore the warning becauseI knew from previous visits that the Marine Hotel in the town servesthe best meals in Ulster. Well worth some minor inconvenience.
I only managed to get into the town on Bank Holiday Monday by thegood offices of the RUC who, advised by a contact in Londonderry,guided the car into our parking spot at the rear of the hotel. Thismay seem a simple manoeuvre but when you envisage 150,000 visitors(and their cars) in such a small place and, once I got the car intothe town there was no chance of moving it out again. On Tuesdaymorning there was a six hour alert as a huge car bomb was discoveredby a vigilant policeman parked in the main street. We escaped andtook a very pleasant boat trip to nearby Rathlin Island. Thus, nofishing on Monday or Tuesday.
I did look at some river fishing, for a clean and vigorous riverruns into the town and enters the sea just opposite the Marine Hotel.It is full of brown trout right to the point where the peat tintedriver water becomes salty seawater. There were several anglers on thebank and I decided to get a ticket for Wednesday. Two anglers that Ispoke with were fishing small dry flies quite close in to the bankwhere naturals fall off the riverside trees. No one was connectingwith any fish, however and it was a very bright day. No doubt theprospects would improve for the latter end of the day.
Come Wednesday morning just after breakfast (an ‘Ulster Grill’ ofmonumental proportions) and we were quietly and efficiently usheredout of the hotel by the police because of a bomb alert which provedto be an explosive device in a groundfloor toilet. The Bomb Squadwere required to make the device safe. Unfortunately as far as thefishing was concerned, I was outside the hotel and all my fishinggear was inside and we were not destined to get together until muchlater in the day. No fishing on Wednesday.
Later, on the way to Belfast for the tea-time car ferry toHeysham, I drove through the tiny Antrim coastal town of Glenarm.From a distance I could see a crowd of fishermen casting into theeastuary so I pulled over to find out what was going on.
Salmon were gathered in the sea just outside the jetty andbreakwater. They swirled and leapt as they awaited their turn to runup the narrow estuary which was no wider than a normal road. Theyhurtled up the hundred yards or so of tidal river and threwthemselves up the weir and on up the river.
There must have been sixty or so “anglers” trying to intercept thesalmon as they ran the gauntlet up the narrow channel. I use thedescription “angler” quite loosely for, on closer inspection, few ofthem were angling in a sporting sense. Most had huge and weightytreble hooks on heavy, sea fishing line and simply threw the treblesacross the river and dragged them back ferociously hoping to snag orfoul-hook a salmon.
I watched for an hour, fascinated by the silvery missiles as theystreaked through the booby-trapped water and flashed their way up theweir. Thankfully, in all that time I only witnessed one fish caughtand this took a small metal spinner offered by a ten year old whoneeded adult help to land the fish. The unfortunate fish was thencrudely beaten to death by several small boys armed with sticks.
A television report on BBC later in the week attributed thefishing frenzy to a mass escape from a salmon farm positioned nearbyjust off the beach. I have come cross reports of estuary fishing ofthe type I witnessed at Glenarm where locals quickly discover whensalmon are running up their river and then there is a rush to fish byany means possible to take advantage of this harvest of the sea,
Do not be put off visiting Northern Ireland by reading this. I’vebeen visiting the province two or three times a year for the last sixyears and this is the very first time that I have been inconveniencedby sectarian problems. The food is always excellent; try the fishdishes and, especially the salmon. The garlic potatoes are superb andthe soda bread melts in the mouth. The welcome to visitors is givenunstintingly and the accommodation available is first class. Thescenery is magnificent and the Causeway Coast is unrivalled inBritain. There is some very good trout fishing, too, with a goodnumber of stillwater fisheries and occasional river fishing.
Recommended Fisheries from previous visits:
Moorbrook Fishery
Castlerock
Nr Coleraine
Telephone: 028 7084 9408
2 lakes open all year stocked with rainbows and browns. Spring fedand very clear water. Tickets vary from £ 10 upt to £ 17.50depending upon fish taken. Buzzers best flies for this water.
Refreshments on site in lodge. B&B available. Near GiantsCauseway and spectacular costal views.
Donnybrewer Fishery
Eglington
Nr Londonderry
Telphone: 0771 80660624
3 small lakes down by the sea in the Foyle estuary. Open all year.Rainbow trout.
Cats Whisker, buzzers and I’ve heard, shrimp imitators also dowell on this water.
Specimen pond prices vary from £ 12 to £ 48 otherwise from£ 7.50 to £ 15 depending upon fish killed.
Raloo Fishery
Larne
Telephone: 01574 272171
Open all year and handy for the ferry!. One lake with clubhouseand good wheelchair access. Best fly – Cat’s Whisker. Tickets:£ 8 to £ 16 with cheaper evening tickets whenapplicable.
