What are the best Seasons-Time of year?

Although we offer a year-round service March-September would be our busiest period as this is the open season for Trout and Salmon.
Sea-Bass open all year with exception of close month May14th – June 14th.
Our trout lake in the hills is open year-round, being a private water it’s not subject to Statutory close dates.

It holds Brown and Rainbow Trout to 3 or 4lbs. Most will get their first trout on fly here.
Our Salmon (Atlantic) are beautiful but fickle and success very much depends on water levels, so it’s a bit of a lottery if you book this in advance. May/June/Sept probably best .
Our rivers are comparatively small but wild, and early months (Mar/Apr) would see good water levels, little weed and cooler temperatures. Fly fishing really comes into it’s own in May and can be good right through to end of season (September 30th). However, rivers can become weedy and low after June so good skills required then.

Do I bring anything with me?

Perhaps a sensible outdoor jacket. We supply all wet gear including waders, we also supply packed lunches, drinks, all fishing gear, photos, Instruction, permits, licences and 4wheel drive transport.
Our fly-rods are mainly fast action 9ft, 6wt rods by TFO of Dallas and our reels are to of the range by Ross Reels of Colorado. Single handed salmon and saltwater fly rods would be 9ft/10ft , wts. 8/9/10. We have over 40 fly rods!
We have no problems with clients bringing their own gear though this does not alter our rates.

What kind of Experience do I need?

Much confusion here, do not confuse ‘Having done something’ with ‘ being able to do something’.

Our idea of an experienced flyfisher would be someone who’s been flyfishing up to 20 days a season for 10 or more seasons.A few hours fly fishing on vacation over a few years would not count as ‘experienced’ in our books.
Be realistic in appraising your particular level of skill as this is essential in our planning.
A novice or improver will be completely out of their depth (No pun intended) on our wild streams and more at home honing his/her skills on our small lake in the hills, with every chance of getting good fish into the bargain
Experience has taught us that many of our clients are more at home flyfishing in wide open spaces with big flies and for stocked trout, much different to our conditions where
one has to cast delicately and accurately to wild, easily-spooked trout, in wild overgrown surrounds. An ability to delicately cast a dry fly or nymph upstream, retrieving line and
shooting it again, whilst wading rocky and weeded streams will give one a decided advantage. A reasonable level of fitness and rivercraft is required .
Many underestimate the art of fly fishing.
Fly fishing is different to any other form of fishing, it’s not rocket science , but it does require quite a lot of practice after a good grounding in basic principles from a competent Instructor.
Many self-taught flyfishers sometimes develop faults which are near impossible to correct later, so it’s best get professional advice from the start.
Most Guides we know won’t even take beginners or improvers, we on the other hand, are only too happy to introduce them to this wonderful pastime.

Can we go as groups?

Often an experienced angler will coax others in his group to try their hand and should such a situation arise then the group as a whole will be treated as beginners. Normally our limit is 4 clients maximum in an outing.
The logistics of fly fishing dictate that each fisher be some distance apart and this is not ideal for instruction, particularly on rivers with steep, overgrown and inaccessible banks.
Pitching beginners in difficult surrounds puts them and the instructor in an unfair position.
Lady fly fishers are always welcome, more and more females are taking up fly fishing, very ‘chic’ nowadays!

Saltwater fishing?
We do not operate nor organise deepsea charters. We do however offer spinfishing and/or flyfishing for Sea Bass (Like Stripers in USA) from the shore on the Shannon
Estuary. We also combine this with trout fishing on our nearby hill lake. (See Rates page)

What is the Fly fishing School?

We are getting more and more queries on this and just to emphasise, a minimum of 4 participants are need to make this worthwhile.
Group booking of 4 (may work with 3 ) ideal as it can be difficult arranging a date mutually agreeable to 4 individual participants.
We do keep a waiting list and once we arrive at 4 persons we then go ahead and try to fix a mutually agreeable day.
Ideal for Birthday present and voucher certificate may be issued in advance via email or post.

The Fish?

As a tribute to those wild beauties that give us such enjoyment we probably release 99% of our catch, keeping only a very rare fish for the ‘table’.

Safety?

All our clients are covered by Public Liability Insurance and Travel Insurance whilst with Celtic Angling.
Floatation jackets provided when fishing for Sea-Bass or on request when river fishing.

Transport?

We collect/drop clients from/to Hotel/Guesthouse if in or near Adare, or rendezvous with clients in Car Park at rear of Heritage Centre/Tourist Office in centre of Adare village.Clients may follow in their own transport if they are more comfortable with this, indeed, this is sometimes necessary with larger groups.