Ireland on the Fly

This week on Ireland on the Fly, we’re heading to Iceland with William Maire, who joins us to tell us about his recent trip in search of wild brown trout.

William, who now lives in Mayo, cut his teeth fishing the famous sea trout loughs of Connemara. These days, he fishes throughout the west of Ireland for salmon and sea trout, while also having a particular fondness for Corrib and its wild brown trout.

We’ve featured Iceland as a destination before, when Keith McDonnell joined us to talk about its sea trout fishing. This time, though, the focus is very much on brown trout.

It was William’s first trip to Iceland and he tells us about some superb fishing, both on rivers and lakes, using a variety of methods and connecting with some seriously impressive wild trout.

We also hear about the experience of fishing in Iceland, what surprised him about the trip, and what anglers can expect if they’re considering Iceland for their own fishing adventure.

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This week’s show sees the return of our book club series and we are delighted to be joined by Daire Whelan for this episode. When Daire was taking his break from Ireland on the Fly he promised that he would join us again for any book club editions so it is great to have him on the show again.

In this book club edition, our guest is renowned sea trout angler, Chris McCully, who has just published his new book, Fly Fishing for Irish Sea Trout.

Chris has been on with us before when two years ago he discussed his book Names of the Fish in British & Irish Waters. We were keen to have him on again to discuss his latest publication.

Chris has spent decades writing about fish, rivers and the people who pursue them, and many listeners will know him from his landmark work Nomads of the Tides, co-authored with Ken Whelan, which is regarded as one of the definitive guides to Irish sea trout.

A lot of the material in the new book comes from Nomads but as Chris explains it is not just a reprint. Many of you will also know him as a regular feature writer with Trout and Salmon over the years.

As is normally the case with our book club episodes we generally go far beyond the parameters of just the book and this episode is no different as we get to discuss past, present and future of sea trout in Ireland and beyond.

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Fishing for trout in temperatures over 40 degrees is not ideal but for this week’s guest it was only a matter of days ago that he doing just that.

Mike and Tom are joined for this episode by Tipperary angler, Robbie Meagher, who has just returned from the European Fly Fishing Championships in Bosnia.

Robbie tells us of fishing in extreme heat where on one session his team captain had to supply him with bottles of water just for him to keep hydrated. This was during the heatwave that affected Central Europe in June.

Robbie tells us of soft mouthed trout, cold spring rivers, chub and Mostar town, all of which were part of his experience during this competition.

At 33 year of age, Robbie is a veritable young gun in the fly fishing world but he is a latecomer to the sport and this was all down to Covid.

Six years ago, when he found his normal pastimes curtailed, he tried his hand at fly fishing and has never looked back. After getting into fly fishing, he then got bitten by the competition bug and to his credit, in a short space of time qualified to fish for his country - no mean feat!

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With the longest day of the year just passed, this means the grilse run begins in earnest for most salmon anglers.

With this in mind, Tom and Garrett turn their attention to summer salmon and they have well known guide and instructor, Damien O’Brien, join them.

Damien is based on the River Blackwater and guides on the Blackwater Valley Fishery as well as the River Laune in Kerry. A fully qualified Double Handed GAIA instructor for over ten years he puts his coaching expertise to good use, being heavily involved with introducing both youths and people from different backgrounds into fishing.

Damien talks in depth with regards to guiding, the trials and tribulations when the fishing is difficult, the personal interaction between guide and guest and laments the fact that it can only be a part time role.

He also talks of his love of British Columbia which he has taken to his heart and has some interesting insights into the fishing over there.

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When your school trips involve fishing Lough Melvin and the Kylemore system in Connemara, there is a good chance you might get handy at fishing.This was obviously the case with Sammy McGowan and no doubt helped him to burst on to the Irish Team as a 19-year-old on Loch Leven in Scotland. Sammy won top Irish rod on this first cap and went on to earn many more international caps while still in his twenties.Hailing from Co. Down, Sammy is well known on the Irish fly fishing scene. He took a step back for a while from the competition fishing in latter years but hopes to get back to it again. Sammy turned his attention to dying and sourcing fly tying materials. In what started out as a hobby, it grew and grew for him and since Covid, has now become his main job, running his business, Irish Fly Supplies. For more, visit

https://irish-fly-supplies.square.site/

For this episode Tom is also joined by Mike Keady and they look back at how the mayfly fared, and talk to Sammy about his early years, competition fishing, fly tying materials, his love of Lough Neagh and, very interestingly, a Pink Flamingo which has nothing to do with fly-tying materials!

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Brendan Garland is a committed salmon angler; a late arrival to the party, he has put more in the twenty years he has been salmon fishing than many of us will put in over a lifetime of angling. After a misspent period of chasing golf balls around courses, Brendan switched to salmon angling after coming across a promotional flyer while playing golf in Mayo in the 2000s and he has never looked back. He has fished extensively in pursuit of salmon both in Ireland and abroad.

Some of our listeners may know him from his blogs both on Instagram and TikTok and he also has his own YouTube channel. Currently he is on a mission to show 365 takes that he has recorded in his salmon fishing journey.A highly analytical and patient angler, he talks of different methods of approach when faced with differing conditions.

Tom is also joined by Garrett Ruigrok as co-presenter on this episode.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.irelandonthefly.com

With the trout season for 2026 very much underway, it has, so far, been very much a start stop affair. This spring has brought has brought us a lot of high winds and temperatures have struggled to get into double figures for the most part. The bad weather has prevented a lot of Anglers getting out. However, good things come to those who wait and, with an upturn forecast in the weather forecast, things are on the up.

This latest episode sees Tom joined by Mike Keady for his first stint as co-presenter on the show. Mike has been a regular guest on Ireland on the Fly and will be well known to our regular listeners, he will be joining us for podcast for the trout episodes.

The guys are joined by another friend of the show, Jackie Mahon. Jackie is one of the top guides in the country, working mainly on the North Western Loughs of Ireland.

We asked Jackie how it has been so far for him this season and what his plans are up until the end of June. He tells us of Loughs Arrow, Erne and Melvin, when and how he approaches them and also touches a bit on sea trout as well. As ever with most of us anglers, he has high hopes for the season ahead!

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After the long winter break and with the 2026 season now truly under way, we kick the year off and look ahead to the salmon fishing season.

Joining Tom on this week’s episode is Conor Arnold from the Blackwater. Tom is also joined by Garrett Ruigrok as co presenter and they ask Conor for his thoughts and (more importantly) hopes for 2026, mindful of the disappointing salmon year of 2025. There is a tinge of optimism which time will tell whether it is well founded or not.

Conor also discusses his role last year in getting involved after the catastrophic fish kill on the Blackwater when he rose to prominence nationally in dealing with Government bodies and politicians after this disaster.

We also discuss the current standing regarding salmon angling regulations, which is very much a wait and see exercise.

And for anyone brave enough to venture forth in the search of spring silver, we get a good insight into the tactics to adopt in their pursuit.

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A Happy Christmas to all our listeners and as it’s that time of the year we thought we’d bring you a bucket list episode that many of us can only dream about – fly fishing for the golden mahseer in remote Bhutan.

Jake Anchell joins Tom Doc to tell him about the recent once-in-a-lifetime trip he made with his father, David.

Find out about Bhutan, the place of the mahseer in their culture and how you can target this massive fish on the fly. One for the Christmas wish list!

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So, the salmon and trout season is over for another year and while there was plenty of negatives with fish kills and pollution incidents, there was also still a lot of great fishing to be had.

And for this week’s episode we’re focusing on the brown trout season with Eamonn Ross from Lough Sheelin and Mike Keady from Lough Corrib.

Plus Tom also has updates on a recent worrying development of green algae on Lough Corrib.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.irelandonthefly.com