Salmon fishing on the River Flesk - Its a Monster!

By Elizabeth Harrington.
Our first Salmon Fishing Trip to Ireland will never be forgotten. Our instinct to ring Mick O' Brien from Anglers Paradise Fishing Guides Killarney was fully justified. Mick is not only a ghillie he instructs, he advises, he gives you a generous amount of his time , his expertise, his flies and his equipment and his knowledge is unbounded. His unerring good humour as you " tangle " with the three or four flies he makes you fish with seems to make the whole exercise a joyous experience.
We began salmon fishing on the River Brown Flesk and immediately fell in love with it. A few miles from Castlemaine, it can be corrected by older people who don't want to flog their gut's out.! e.g.: I could cover the river and John could fish it superbly with his 10' Fly Rod. Mick put John into a gorgeous run and pool which he fished carefully for about one and a half hours. Meantime, I was taken down to the next corner run and pool, where I had wonderful tuition for Sea Trout Fishing. I fished with 3 Sea Trout Flies tied by Mick and was taught to Cast, Mend and Whorl my flies with that special twitch of the fingers which seem to beckon the fish on to the fly. It didn't but what a perfect imitation of an insect swimming, darting, moving.

Two members, Sonny and Phil, had in the meantime taken 2 Peel in the pool opposite me.
Mick returned to John, who was resting the pool, having a snack and changing his fly, keeping an eye on the water, he noticed a Salmon moving just off the current in some quiet foamy water.
Mick came back to me again, and overruled my decision to rest and eat a Sarnie as he had great hopes for John and the aforementioned salmon.
As we arrived back up the river, John got into a salmon. It took him with such a thump that the rod nearly left Johns hand. But it was on and the battle that ensued was exciting and dramatic. The fish did an initial run straight down the river taking 40 yards of line to the backing. He managed to reel it back half way with difficulty, remembering he only had 10lb breaking strain. Then off the salmon went again, taking backing off the reel, and running the same distance again. Back he came, and again off down the river for the third time. Another ten minutes to reel him back, while he rested and protested, a rock like muscled beautiful fish was seen and we then knew he was very, very big and quiet outmatched the ten pounds breaking strain leader John was using. Eventually thirty- five minutes later after making a few more ever decreasing runs he was reeled into about five yards where Mike kindly netted him.
He was enormous, so heavy that he had to be carried in the net with two hands just in case it got broken. Johns biggest job was to lift the fish for the photographs, a 25lb fish we discovered afterwards. It was such a beautiful Salmon, a Bar of Silver, muscled very deep and straight from the Atlantic. The Scene was Euphoric. Can you imagine how we all felt, and can you picture the Ghillie, John and I dancing on the River Bank, a real Irish Jig.