NiagaraSteel

I see some mention of roe bags and keeping hens.IMO, especially for a beginner, I would not bother killing a trout for its eggs and then messing around with them. If you need roe, buy it from fishheads . I personnally have never caught a trout on a roe bag, all of my confidence is now in artificials, beads, flies, jigs, etc. Even in dirty water.

Some of the nicest fish of my fall/winter season...

Welcome back noob. Better get some fishing in while you're in Ireland.

Third outing in a row where I've hooked up on either the first or second drift.



Gave up my spot since no one was catching and did it ever pay off! Got my first laker on the second drift, plus it took my own jig that I tied up the night before. Though not on the same level of NADO's beauty.

I'm certainly no steelhead master (far from actually) but I seriously doubt a spring steelhead is gonna think 'that doesn't look like bow roe, I'm not touchin it'. Maybe the colour or size difference could make a difference, but an experienced steelheader last year told me he just uses chinook roe all year round.

Had a good morning, landed a jack chinny which gave quite an acrobatic fight and then later a big big boot. Looked jammed with eggs but put both back. Those were my first salmon on the pin. I fought the big one for about 20 minutes, I just couldn't get it out of the current and then whenever I gained ground on it it would just fly back out. I actually thought I had a sturgeon or a 30 lb catfish for a while. The jack took a bead and the female took a wooly bugger.





Current 2014 salmon count at 9 which is a big improvement from last year's 1.

Pike

IMO make the fishing reports, meetups and steelhead/salmon unavailable to post counts less than 100. Hopefully a mod or admin can chime in.

I have a 7ft sage 3 wt, best decision I ever made. You can feel the fish blink when you're fighting them, and it still turns over bigger flies. I fish the exceptional waters on the grand for smallmouth with it, and it does fine with long casts and a weighted (beadhead) wooly bugger. For trout, I have been pounding the brookies here on cape breton, the best fish was 13" and it was so much fun, I could actually feel the fish for once, and I still feel as if I could lean into the stick even more.

For the reel, I have an echo ion, it was around $100 and it's holding up great and looks very nice. You can set the drag really loose and that makes the smaller trout and bass a ton of fun. I have it loaded with rio gold trout line, very nice line, very durable, and it casts both long and short distances like a dream. Roll casts are very nice with it too, but when I have too much line out it doesn't turn over, but what can you expect, it's a 3wt line. It also drops the little trout flies with a dainty litte sploosh.

BTW, the rod is a sage flight, I think they might have discontinued it along with the other rods in it's year class, but it was $395, which I know is out of your price range, so I'm recommending the sage approach, I believe it's $295. What I'm trying to say is, save up and get a stick that will last a lifetime and you feel good about, it will be worth it. But if you want to stick strictly with the budget, i've seen some est. Croix imperials for around $130.

Hope this helps!

Holding a fifth from the gill plates doesn't harm the fish !! Your just assuming they are sticking there fingers into the gills

ya and when a 8 lb fish is hanging from its head it gets superpowers and a batmobile. I'd like to see you hold a human by the mouth and see how he/she feels

Suckers cut into pieces are great catfish bait

Nice feesh!

I will once i hide the background

Nice!

They dont look like a good charter business. Spend a bit more money and get a real pro that knows the area really well.