Had a great evening on the river last night, two of us went and we lifted about 12 fish between us. The biggest would have been about 1/2 a pound.
They were all wild brownies, brilliantly golden yellow fish with huge red spots. I have some photos hopefully they came out well. All the fish were returned to the river alive.
The spots to try if anyone happens upon this post are Tullylish and Lawrencetown. The runs up stream from the bridge at Tullylish produced the biggest of the fish, and we hit them on small wet flies, bibios and black pennels tied on size 16 hooks.
We then headed up to the bridge at Laurencetown and had some great sport on dry flies in the pool below the weir. The dry flies which our club finds the most successful are 'white tails', I think they are a local concoction but they take huge amounts of fish on the club lake (Kernan Lough) and on the Upper Bann.
Normally tied on size 14/16 hooks, two strands of peacock quill wrapped to make the body, a few strands of white floss teased raggedly for the tail and a couple of turns of a nice straggly brown hackle. Very simple fly but very effective.
There is some interesting historical information about Tullylish here. It's a very peaceful place, maybe this is why, there was a monastery there from the 6 or 7th century.
Anyone heading on to the river at this time of year, be prepared, the Giant Hogweed is prolific along the river and should be avoided. The river is relatively unfished, meaning the paths are very overgrown, you need to trample through the brambles and nettles to get at the good runs, but it is well worth the effort.
Day tickets for non members can be bought in Moffett's newsagents in the centre of Gilford, and a few other garages nearby.