RIVER BOYNE.
For this weeks feature we headed to Longwood Co Meath and fished the beautiful River Boyne near Longwood village. This stretch of river is under the control of Longwood Anglers Association and non-members can obtain day tickets in Longwood Post Office. It’s a cracking stretch of river and holds some of the most colourful wild brown trout, as you can see from this weeks photos. The evening I spent on the River Boyne I was joined by Thomas McMullan, and Longwood Anglers Association member Mark Ryan who lives just a short distance from the Boyne. It was a very warm and humid evening and right from the start we met fish all along the fast flowing stretch. The fly life on the river was incredible, and the Midge gave us hell as night fell. Mark has fished the River quite a lot and really knows all the best holding spots for good size trout. He kindly gave us a run down of his favourite flies and methods for fishing the Boyne. This certainly done the business on the night.
MARKS TOP BOYNE TIPS.
“The general method on the stretch of the Boyne we fished is up stream dry fly so a 9′ rod with a 5 weight line is ideal. Flies used should be small sizes, 16 I find work best, my favourite patterns are Klinkhammers in various colours but olives and greys work best. A favourite method is to fish a nymph under the dry fly tied on the bend of the hook, this gives me a wider range of options when searching for fish, the most effective nymphs are again small size 16-18 hares ear or pheasant tail nymphs are the most effective. Depending on the season mayfly, daddy’s and sedges all play their part and work very well.”
THE FISHING. I got it hard to entice the Boyne Trout early in the evening, and raised quite a few to small dry flies but never made contact. Mark had some better luck and had some lovely fish on dries in the fast stretch. Unfortunally a pair of swans with signets were on the river and we could only go so far up river. They are very protective of their young, and we kept our distance. As night fell some good trout started to move down river where it had got deeper and slow flowing .Now I was covering good fish on dries and they were hitting hard. Lucky enough mark was on hard to get a photo of my best fish that evening, and it gave me a right battle on my 8ft River Lite, Masterfly Gold 4 pc rod. In all we banked around 9 fish between us, and lost quite a few.
LONGWOOD ANGLERS ASSOCIATION. As with many local clubs and association Longwood Anglers Association have rules and bye-laws which protect the wild trout and salmon that are in the Boyne, and Blackwater, which I hope to fish some day. The Boyne Preserve extends from Mulpeddar Bridge to Scariff Bridge, in Co. Meath, and also all of the Blackwater. The season is from March 17th right through till September 30th. Their is a 3 fish bag limit and 12inch size limit. Most anglers practice catches & release on the Longwood Anglers Association stretches. As mentioned day tickets can be purchased in the Post office in Longwood Village, and anglers must carry ticket while fishing on the River. Same must be produced for inspection on demand by riparian owner or Longwood Association officials.