Paper sources
Adams, Joseph (1930) The Angler’s Guide to the
Irish Fisheries. Revised edition. London:
Hutchinson.
Sixteen chapters on various Irish salmon,
sea-trout (called throughout this book ‘white trout’) and trout fisheries,
including anecdotes – a fine gazetteer.
Anon. (1960) Salmon and Sea Trout Fishing in
Ireland. Dublin: Bord Failte Eireann
(Irish
Tourist Board, compiled for the
Inland Fisheries Trust).
Anon. (1992) ‘Report of the Sea Trout Working
Group 1992’. Abbotstown: Fisheries
Research Centre.
A report compiled largely by Irish fishery
scientists reporting to the Minister for the Marine in 1992. The report’s authors concluded carefully
that ‘There may be a connection between the presence of lice and sea-trout
mortality’ (p.14) – a conclusion abundantly demonstrated in much subsequent
research – and recommended the fallowing of fish-farm sites as a ‘main element’
(p.45) of a management strategy for fish farms. The members of the Working Group are named on p.5 of the Report.
Anon (n.d. [2008]) Salmon and Sea Trout Angling
in Ireland. Dublin:
Fáilte Ireland.
Hugely useful paper guide (illustrated brochure)
prepared by Fáilte Ireland in collaboration with the Central and Regional
Fisheries Boards, The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) and the
Loughs Agency in Northern Ireland. Contains details of important salmon and
sea-trout angling centres together with a map of ‘centres of excellence’and
contact addresses/numbers for gillies, guides and regional accommodation. The
companion guides to brown trout fishing and to sea fishing are equally detailed
and useful. May be ordered from e.g.
Dublin Tourism, Suffolk Street, Dublin 3 (+353 (0)1 605 7700 or click on www.discoverireland.ie ).
Anon (n.d., [2010]) Kylemore Abbey and
Victorian Walled Garden. Kylemore Abbey,
Galway, Ireland: Tourist brochure
Bailey, John (2003) Fly Fishing in Ireland.
Dublin: Gill and Macmillan Ltd.
Seasonally-organised guide to fly-fishing
in Ireland, with sections on the Ballynahinch, Delphi, Glencar and the Cork and
Kerry Blackwater as well as asides on fly-fishing for coarse fish and
fly-fishing for saltwater species. The section on the Kerry Blackwater (p80ff.)
includes an account of fishing with one Ken Whelan. Lovely photographs.
Baker, John (1973) A Dales Fishing Story: The
Appletreewick, Barden and Burnsall Angling
Club from 1873 to 1973. Horsforth, Yorkshire:
Privately printed.
Balfour-Kinnear, G.P.R. (1958) Catching Salmon
and Sea-trout. London and Edinburgh:
Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd.
The pages devoted to sea-trout are
relatively few in number, but the section on dapping (pp.102-109) is in
principle useful if the tackle set-up described is adapted to modern materials.
Bartlett, Thomas (2010) Ireland: A History.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bickerdyke, John (1895) Sea Fishing.
London: Longmans, Green & Co.
One of the first notices of systematic
sea-trout fly-fishing in the sea. An on-line
copy of the text may be accessed on http://bookdome.com/outdoors/fishing/Sea-Fishing/index.html
Buller, Fred and Hugh Falkus (1988). Falkus and
Buller’s Freshwater Fishing.
London:
Stanley Paul.
This is the revised edition. The first edition appeared in 1975. pp.
295-324 detail sea-trout fishing, and are a compressed (and slightly updated)
version of the material which appeared in Falkus’s monumental Sea Trout
Fishing (see below).
Cass, A.R. Harris
(n.d. [probably 1920s or 30s]) Catching the Wily Sea-Trout.
London:
Herbert Jenkins.
Clapham, Richard (1950). Fishing for Sea Trout in Tidal Water.
Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd.
Based on the author’s angling in the English Lake District, this is
nevertheless an important book of interest to all sea-trout fishermen. Chapter 1, ‘When the sea trout run’, is full
of useful (and still very pertinent) information. Chapter 5 details ‘Fly-fishing for sea trout’, and although the author
didn’t think much of this method, his observations on the efficacy of a
dragging fly (as opposed to a fly fished inertly on a relatively slack line)
are again spot on.
Clarke, Brian and John Goddard (1980) The Trout and the Fly: A New
Approach. London:
Ernest Benn.
Currie, William B. (1980). The Guinness Guide to Game Fishing. Enfield, Middlesex:
Guinness Superlatives.
Section three, p.91ff., details ‘The Quest for Sea Trout’ and is a minor
masterpiece – beautifully written (e.g. as in the author’s lovely comment about
dapping: ‘...an art with a strong natural logic in it and a streak of the
fantastic about it’, p. 117) and indeed comprehensive.
Fahy, Edward (1985). Child of the Tides: A Sea Trout Handbook. Dun Laoghaire: The
Glendale Press.
Important and (for its period) ground-breaking work on Irish sea-trout by
an eminent fishery biologist.
Falkus, Hugh (1981) Sea Trout Fishing. London: H.F. and G. Witherby.
This is the revised second edition.
The first edition appeared in 1962.
A hugely influential work, and justifiably so. It’s a comprehensive account of the author’s experiences of over
30 years’ intensive sea-trout fishing, both on the Cumbrian Esk and on waters
further afield, including several Irish loughs and sea loughs. The chapters on night fishing for sea-trout
will probably never be surpassed, and chapters XIII (on lake fishing) and XIV
(on saltwater fishing) are also important.
Frost, W.E. and M.E. Brown (1970) The Trout. London: Collins.
This is a 1970 paperback reprint of a classic work first appearing in
Collins’ New Naturalist Series in 1967.
Important material on migratory forms of the trout may be found
throughout.
Gargan, Paddy, P. Tully
and W.R. Poole (2002) ‘The relationship between sea lice infestation,
sea lice production and sea trout survival n
Ireland, 1992-2001’. Proceedings of
The 6th International Atlantic
Salmon Symposium Edinburgh, UK, 16th - 18th July 2002. Atlantic Salmon Trust/Atlantic
Salmon Federation
Important
scientific publication, based on large samples, by major Irish fishery
scientists. The abstract of the paper
states that
The relationships shown
in the present study indicate that sea lice from marine salmon farms
were a major
contributory factor in the sea trout stock collapses observed in aquaculture
areas
in western Ireland. If recovery of depleted
sea trout stocks is to be achieved in this area it is
critical to ensure that
ovigerous sea lice levels are maintained at near zero levels on marine
salmon farms over the
spring period prior to and during sea trout smolt migration. This must
be achieved on a
consistent annual basis for a successful sea trout recovery.
Goddard, John (1979) Trout Flies of Stillwater. London: A&C.
Black.
This is the 4th edition. Important
survey of all the insects of relevance to stillwater trout fishers. Dressings of artificial flies are given in a
large Appendix, p.208ff.
Greenhalgh, Malcolm (1999) Freshwater Fish. London: Mitchell
Beazley.
Superbly illustrated by Stuart Carter. pp.50-51 examine the life and
distribution of varieties of Salmo trutta.
Greer, Ron (1995) Ferox Trout and Arctic Char. Shrewsbury: Swan Hill
Press.
While only rather indirectly concerning Salmo trutta trutta,
nevertheless Chapter 1 of this work contains interesting and thought-provoking
material on how the charr may differ in evolutionary origin from the trout and
the salmon.
Grey, Edward, Viscount of Falloden (1899) Fly Fishing. London: J.M.
Dent and Co.
If I (CBMcC) were forced to choose one work on angling to accompany me into
the hereafter, this would be the one.
Chapter VI concerns ‘Sea Trout Fishing’ and is quotable throughout. Like many sections of Falkus and Kingsmill
Moore, I have much of it by heart.
Grimble, Augustus (1903) The Salmon Rivers of Ireland. First
edition, 2 vols. The second
edition – one volume – appeared in 1913. London:
Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Co.
Hard copies of the original text
editions command fierce prices that to date have been well beyond my pocket.
The full text of the first edition (2 vols.) may, however, be consulted freely
on the internet, since the hard copy has been digitised for the electronic
archives of Harvard University Library: http://www.archive.org/details/salmonriversire01grimgoog
Hanna, Thomas J. (2003) Fly-Fishing In Ireland. Otley, West
Yorkshire: Smith Settle.
This is a 2003 reprint of a classic work first
published by Witherby in 1933.
Hansen, Lars Peter and Malcolm Windsor (eds., 2006) ‘Interactions between
aquaculture and
wild stocks of Atlantic salmon and other
diadromous fish species: science and management, challenges and solutions.’ NINA
(Norwegian Institute for Nature Research) Special Report 34, containing
edited proceedings of a symposium held in Trondheim, Norway in 2006.
An important report, freely available from NASCO (11 Rutland Square,
Edinurgh EH1 2AS), since embedded in the proceedings of the symposium is a
public admission by some aquaculturalists that salmon farming, as this has been
practiced in Norway, Ireland, Scotland and elsewhere, has to date had a hugely
negative impact on wild stocks of salmon and sea-trout (see e.g. and in
particular ‘Take home messages’, pp.64-69).
Hardinge, Lord, of Penshurst (1976) An Incompleat Angler: A Fishing
Autobiography..
London: Michael Joseph.
Chapter IX, p.111ff., contains material on fishing
the Ballynahinch River in Connemara.
Harris, Graeme and Moc Morgan (1989) Successful Sea Trout Angling. London: Blandford.
A comprehensive and important work, more extensive – and in places, more
in-depth – than Falkus. Indispensable.
Harris, J.R. (1956) An Angler’s Entomology. London: Collins.
This is the revised edition of a work which first appeared in 1952. The revised edition has been many times
reprinted. While it’s a classic work of
entomology, and thus of greatest interest to the brown trout angler, any
sea-trout fly-fisher will find the plates on p.141 most interesting, since they
show trout flies dressed ‘Irish style’ from the late 18th century (the
fly-dresser was Cornelius Gorman, of Ennis, Co. Clare). It seems likely that
when fly-fishing for sea-trout began in Ireland, these were the style of flies
used – even if the dressings then used were in Ireland just slightly more
colourful (e.g. in their use of blues and magentas) than those dressed onto
equivalent flies used for brown trout fishing.
Henzell, H.P. (1949) Fishing for Sea-Trout. London: Adam and Charles
Black.
The author’s experience is most extensive on Scottish waters (Maree, Uist),
but his chapters on loch fishing (including fishing with the dry fly) are
required reading for all sea-trout fly-fishers.
Herd, Andrew (1999) The Treatyse of Fyshynge wyth an Angle. New
translation of the 1496,
Wynkyn de Worde text, with notes and
commentary. Ellesmere: The Medlar Press
Herd, Andrew (2010) ‘Legends’. In Waterlog, autumn 2010, pp. 42-49
Analysis
of salmon fly patterns described in Henry Newland [1851].
Herd, Andrew (2011) ‘Angels’. In Waterlog, summer 2011, pp.17-24.
Description of the invention and subsequent
history of what became known as Devon minnows.
Holiday, F.W. (1956) Sea Trout: How to Catch Them. London: Herbert
Jenkins.
Holiday, F.W. (1960) River Fishing for Sea Trout. London: Herbert
Jenkins.
Holiday’s work is nowadays not so often cited as that of e.g. Falkus but
Holiday nevertheless has some interesting things to say about sea-trout and
about fishing for them, though I would not use the knots he recommends. Chapter
11, ‘Fishing in estuaries’, is valuable.
Jarrams, Peter (1987) Sea Trout Run. London: A&C. Black.
Strangely neglected work on sea-trout fishing. A
very fine contribution to the literature.
Johnson, Stephen (1969) Fishing with a Purpose. London: Peter
Davies.
Focussed very largely on the author’s fishing for
sea-trout on and around the Scottish west coast (in
particular, on Skye), chapters 6-8 include useful generalisations about
different forms of sea-trout fishing, and chapter 9 is devoted specifically to
‘Sea-trout in Ireland’.
Lapsley, Peter (2000) Fishing for Falklands Sea Trout. Falkland
Islands Tourist Board.
Luce, A.A. (1959) Fishing and Thinking. London: Hodder and
Stoughton.
The author was Professor of Philosophy at Trinity College, Dublin, and this
work, centred on Irish fish and fishing, is always articulate, considered, and
weighty without being portentous. Would
that I could write so clearly. One of
my favourite angling books.
McCully, C.B. (1992) Fly-Fishing: A Book of Words. Manchester:
Carcanet Press.
This is the first, hardback edition of a work which two years later
appeared in paperback under the Oxford University Press imprint. A provisional (and now somewhat dated)
dictionary of fly-fishing, pp. 202-208 contain an extensive entry on the
sea-trout together with notes on the history of sea-trout fishing. Perhaps I’ll update and revise this
work...one day.
McCully, C.B. (1998) The Other Side of the Stream. Shrewsbury: Swan Hill Press.
Chapter 4, ‘Dark of midsummer’, concerns sea-trout
fishing, as does the final chapter.
McCully, Chris (2008) Sketches with Fishing Rods. Lichtenvoorde, the
Netherlands:
Westerlaan.
These ‘sketches’ are a selection from – I’m afraid - my own work, and
include what is probably a favourite from among my own angling pieces, ‘The day
of a bit of a doff’ (about fly-fishing on Screebe Lough in Connemara when
Screebe still enjoyed a big run of white-trout – see the relevant entry in the
Gazetteer here). Even I was smiling,
gently, as I constructed the words.
Pencil illustrations by the Dutch artist, writer and fisherman Ad Swier.
McCully, Chris (2011) Outside: Uig, Hebrides: Two Ravens Press.
Included in this collection of what are usually short pieces of prose ia an
account of travels to Donegal [2009] in search of sea-trout (see e.g. the essay
‘The haunting of Yeats and terns’, pp.153-56).
McLaren, Charles C. (1963) The Art of Sea Trout Fishing. Edinburgh:
Oliver and Boyd.
Despite the small format of the
work this is a most useful introduction, with chapter 4
(‘Sea pools, estuaries and the open sea’) being especially valuable.
Maclean, Norman (ed., 2010) Silent Summer: The State of Wildlife in
Britain and Ireland.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Important benchmark survey consisting of chapters by eminent scientists. Particularly interesting, perhaps, are
chapters 7 (‘The Great Game: the interaction of field sports and conservation
in Britain from the 1950s to 2008’, 8 (‘Going fishing: recent trends in
recreational angling’), 22 (‘Riverflies’), 33 (‘The seashore’) and 34 (‘The
offshore waters’).
Malone, E.J. (1998) Irish Trout and Salmon Flies. Machynlleth,
Wales: Coch-Y-Bonddu
Books.
This is a reprint of a work first published in 1984 by Colin Smythe, which
then appeared in a second, revised and enlarged edition from the Flyfisher’s
Classic Library (1993). It’s probably
the most comprehensive work to date on Irish trout and salmon flies, and
includes highly interesting and generous historical notes on tyings and fly-makers.
The dressings are given in great detail, including variant dressings, and
wherever known, the provenance of individual flies is listed. Illustrative plates are excellent. Indispensable for those tying their own
flies – and those interested in fly-fishing history.
Maxwell, W.H. (1986) Wild Sports of the West of Ireland.
Southampton: Ashford Press
Publishing.
This is a reprint of a work which first appeared in 1892. The book is in the best sense a riot, which
includes (as the work’s sub-title has it) ‘Legendary tales, folk-lore, local customs
and natural history’ - a heady mix.
Despite its occasional laboured wordiness – something entirely
characteristic of some 19th century prose – it’s a wonderful book, and is
written out of all forms of energy and abundance, the author’s included.
Moore. T.C. Kingsmill (1979) A Man May Fish. Gerards Cross: Colin
Smythe.
This is the second, revised and enlarged edition of a work which first
appeared in 1960. No fly-fisher in Ireland (whether for salmon,
sea-trout or brown trout) should neglect this book. If anything, the second edition is even greater than the first,
since its Appendix details how trout and sea-trout may see the angler’s fly in
a wave, and in deeply stained water. This Appendix provides some of the
clearest rationale for choice of (wet-) fly in different conditions that I have
ever read.
Moriarty, Christopher (1991) Down the Dodder: wildlife, history, legend,
walks. Wolfhound
Press, Dublin.
Morgan. Paul and Friends (1998) Saltwater Flyfishing. Machnynlleth, Wales:
Coch-Y-
Bonddu Books.
Part II, ‘Sea-trout’, contains different authors’ accounts of saltwater
sea-trout fishing (though these accounts don’t include Ireland). The book also contains highly interesting
material on catching mullet on the fly – something that many fly-fishers in
Ireland might like to study, since mullet share many of the estuaries in which
Irish sea-trout feed, and through which they run, and may provide an
interesting diversion at those times when the sea-trout aren’t feeding or
taking.
Mottram, J.C. (n.d. [1922]) Sea Trout and Other Fishing Studies.
London: The Field Press.
A somewhat miscellaneous collection of essays by the great man, who clearly
preferred to fish the dry (twitched or dragging) fly for sea-trout. Mottam also
often fished the floating fly downstream-and-across. There is also an
intriguing hint that fly-fishing for see fish was practiced in the Scottish
Islands during the early 20th century (p.2: ‘[O]ne of the men of the
party....fished with flies from a neighbouring headland’ – although the context
indicates that the gentleman was fly-fishing for cuddy, juvenile ling). The notion that there was an incipient
tradition of saltwater fly-fishing in the early 20th century is explored
elsewhere in this book. Mottram’s notes on the construction of floating flies
for sea-trout, i.e. that they should be light in construction and preferably
buoyant enough to float on/across the surface rather than in it, are also still
highly pertinent.
Mountjoy, R.W. (2007) The Sea Trout DiariesYelverton: The Crapstone
Press.
Engaged and engaging work focussed on sea-trout angling in the SW of
England. Mountjoy puts forward an
innovative theory on why the sea-trout takes (or moves to, or rejects) a fly,
bait or lure, and I agree with much of what he proposes, though confess I’ve
never (yet) fished for sea-trout in the south-west of England. I fully endorse
the author’s comments about selectivity and restraint in angling.
Nall, G.H. (1930). The Life of the Sea Trout. London: Seeley,
Service and Co.
Probably the single most important work on the life and habits of the
sea-trout published in the 20th century.
There’s an emphasis on Scotland (the sub-title of the work is
‘Especially in Scottish Waters; with chapters on the reading and measuring of
scales’). Some of the implications of
the observations contained in this major study still remain to be
scientifically explored (we think e.g. of the author’s belief that sea-trout
from the River Till make one – and usually only one – spawning run back across
the North Sea from their feeding grounds off the Dutch coasts), while others
have only recently been revisited..and confirmed.
Newland, Henry (1851) The
Erne: Its Legends and its Fly-fishing.
http://books.google.co.uk/books
[London: Chapman and Hall]
Newton, Chris (2007) Hugh Falkus: A Life on the Edge. Ellesmere, Shropshire: The Medlar
Press.
Justly acclaimed biography.
Nixon, Sean (1999) Guarding the Silver: A Life with Salmon and Sea Trout.
Westport: Berry
Print Group.
Autobiography, memoir and reminiscences of fish, fishing and fishery
management from one of the most influential figures in later 20th century Irish
white-trout and salmon angling, particularly as that was developing in
Connemara and Mayo in the period 1960-1990.
O’Reilly, Peter (2007) Loughs of Ireland: A Flyfisher’s Guide.
Ludlow: Merlin Unwin.
4th edition, and a work which will doubtless go into many subsequent and
updated editions. Indispensable guide
to almost all major Irish stillwaters.
Includes grid references, maps, ticket information and commentary. See also the following entry.
O’Reilly, Peter (2004) Rivers of Ireland: A Flyfisher’s Guide.
Ludlow: Merlin Unwin.
6th edition, and – like its companion volume, Loughs of Ireland –
destined to be many times reprinted.
Comprehensive information on fishing for salmon, sea-trout and brown
trout in Ireland’s rivers (north and south of the border). An indispensable guide.
Perry, Thomas G. (n.d.) May Madness! Fifty Years of Fishing on Shannon,
its Tributaries and
Amusing Incidents [sic]. Privately printed photocopy.
A work which has never, to my knowledge, reached hard print – the book was
copied for me from another photocopy by an old friend – but an absolutely
splendid, and splendidly chaotic, account of fishing in Ireland (largely on and
around Lough Derg at mayfly time) which still makes me smile every time I read
it. I particularly like the chapter on
‘Ghillying for Bertie Nestor’. Bertie
lived in a caravan. Bertie’s car – ‘a
minute Morris Minor’ – was ‘full to the roof with pipes, cigarettes and daily
papers’ (p.125). Bertie was also in the
habit of going for a walk up ‘Ogonnoloe mountain very early in the morning....
saying “God’s fresh air is good for what ails me”. Sometimes’ (comments the author) ‘I really do not think he knew
what was ailing him....’ (p.125). I also relish the account of David Minogue,
the farmer and occasional gillie, who was in the habit of sucking his pipe so
loudly that the hearer often mistook the sucking noises for those of trout
feeding on mayflies. I’d love to have
met David...and Bertie – and the author of this often-misspelled
masterpiece. And I’d love to have fished
with them all.
Rawlings, Bill (2002) The Great Salmon and Sea Trout Loughs of Ireland.
Shrewsbury: Swan
Hill Press.
Survey
of some important west coast fisheries. Includes some significant historical
asides. I was surprised and touched to find that in what’s now the distant
past, and although we have never met in person, Bill Rawlings and a very young
McCully had fished the same waters in Connemara during the same month of the
same year – August 1974.
Rice, Freddie (1990) Fly-tying Illustrated: Salmon and Sea trout
Patterns. London: Batsford.
Detailed and well-illustrated work on dressing many important salmon and
sea-trout flies, including Skunks, Sunk Lures, Wake Lures and Waddingtons.
Roberts, John (1986) The New Illustrated Dictionary of Trout Flies.
London: George Allen
and Unwin.
Robinson, Tim (1990) Connemara: Part 1. Introduction and Gazetteer. Roudstone, Co.
Galway: Folding Landscapes.
Ronalds, Alfred (n.d, but first edition 1836) The Fly-fisher’s
Entomology. My library copy is
an undated new edition (the third?) published in
Cincinnati by Stewart Kidd.
I have worked with the first edition
of the text in the John Rylands
University Library, Manchester. Chapter 1 of this peerless work includes
material on how the trout may see the fly (pp.11-14).
Sawyer, Frank (2006) Nymphs and the Trout. Salisbury: Sawyer Nymphs
Ltd.
This is
an unusual edition since it prints both the first edition of Sawyer’s great
work (1958) with the second (1970). Included in the second edition is the
chapter ‘Journeys to Ulster’ (pp.181-95) which among other things describes a
visit Frank Sawyer made to the Erne estuary at Ballyshannon, where he caught
small sea-trout both on Rogan’s Gadget and on the Killer Bug.
Scott, Jock (1969) Seatrout Fishing. London: Seeley, Service and Co.
Ltd.
Significant and comprehensive work (for its period) on sea-trout fishing,
centred largely though by no means exclusively on Scottish fishing. There’s an
extensive section on tackle, with much of which we almost wholly agree –
particularly on the necessity of avoiding excessively tip-actioned fly-rods ‘like
the plague’ (p. 62).
Street, David (1989) Fishing in Wild Places. London: Penguin.
Beautifully written. Chapter 8
describes fishing for trout and sea-trout in The Rosses (Donegal), chapter 9
describes dapping, including dapping on Lough Owennamarve (Donegal), while
chapter 10 describes episodes of fishing on Gowla and Athry (Connemara) when
those waters still held big stocks of white-trout every summer. Wonderful book.
Stuart, Hamish (1952) The Book of the Sea Trout. London: Jonathan
Cape.
This is the second edition, edited by Rafael Sabatini, of a work which was
first published in 1917. Passionate,
opinionated, and with an infectious enthusiasm for sea-trout – Scottish
sea-trout – Stuart’s chapter on saltwater fishing (‘In tidal waters’, chapter
VI) is splendid, as are his descriptions of sea-trout fishing on Uist. As the reader will have noted, the sub-title
here, ‘Nomads of the tides’ is a phrase originally coined by Stuart.
Spencer, Sidney (1968) Salmon and Seatrout in Wild Places. London:
H.F. and G. Witherby.
Indispensable for all those wishing to fish in the
west of Ireland (or in the Scottish Hebrides). A classic.
Spencer, Sidney (1969) Newly from the Sea: Fishing for Salmon and
Seatrout. London: H.F.
and G. Witherby.
The author fished extensively in Ireland, especially on and around Lough
Eske (Donegal). His work is more descriptive and reflective than that of, for
example, Falkus – but in its own meticulous way it’s no less detailed and
thoughtful.
Spencer, Sidney (1974) Game Fishing Tactics. London: H.F. and G.
Witherby.
Neither as large nor as comprehensive as the author’s earlier Newly from
the Sea, this is nevertheless an astute, thought-provoking work. See also
the entry for Spencer (1991), below.
Spencer, Sidney (1991) Fishing the Wilder Shores. London: H.F. and
G. Witherby.
A work edited by that fine fly-fisher and writer, Jeremy Lucas, after
Sidney Spencer’s tragic death in a car accident in Donegal in 1976. It is a very judicious selection and
distillation of Spencer’s evocative and – that word again – meticulous writings
on trout, salmon and (above all) sea-trout.
Lucas’s introduction is itself very fine.
Trench, Charles Chenevix (1974) A History of Angling. London:
Hart-Davis, MacGibbon Ltd.
Useful, well-written and well-illustrated history.
Walker, C.F. (1960) Lake Flies and their Imitation. Reprinted
London: Andre Deutsch [1983]
in the Modern Fishing Classics series, edited by
Anthony Atha.
Walker, C.F. (editor, 1969) The Complete Fly-Fisher. London: Barrie
and Jenkins Ltd.
This is the second edition of a work first pubsished in 1963. It was among the first fishing books I ever
read (a copy borrowed from Bingley Public Library in 1967). It seems dated now, and the chapter on
sea-trout (by F.W. Holiday) is partial, but nevertheless the author’s
insistence on a longish, relatively soft-actioned rod is entirely justified and
his remarks on working the fly are still most pertinent.
Waltham, James (1988) Sea Trout Flies. London: A. and C. Black.
Important and well-written work on the
construction and fishing of sea-trout flies, including the Snake together with different dressings of Sunk
Lure and Wake Lure.
Waltham, James (2006) The Sea Trout and the Fly. Ramsbury,
Wiltshire: The Crowood Press.
Like the author’s earlier Sea Trout Flies, this work blends the
description of the dressing of sea-trout patterns with evocative descriptions
of days and nights fishing for sea-trout. As with the author’s earlier title,
the construction notes and illustrations which accompany the text are most
useful.
Watson, J.N. (2008) Angling with the Fly: Flies and Anglers of
Derbyshire and Staffordshire.
Yeadon, West Yorkshire: Ken Smith Publishing.
pp.140-42 give a thorough overview of the possible origins of the Kill
Devil Spider, an artificial pattern used in Wexford and Wicklow. A wonderful,
meticulously-researched and beautifully-produced book.
Went, Arthur (1968) See Selected web (URL) references below under
‘Irish Fishery
Investigations’.
Whelan, Ken (1991) The Game Angler in Ireland. Dublin: Country
House.
This is a reprint of a work which first appeared in 1989 – part of a
trilogy on game, coarse and sea fishing.
KW will be too modest to say anything about it. I find the work to be a splendid little
(144pp.) introduction to fishing for salmon, sea-trout and brown trout in
Ireland, and many of its pieces of advice and description stand up proudly to
the test of time.
Williams, A.C. Courtney (1986) A Dictionary of Trout Flies. London:
A&C. Black.
The 1986 edition is the sixth edition of a work which first appeared in
1949). The 6th edition includes a list of modern natural and
artificial flies by Donald Overfield – a splendid piece of updating. Because of
the work’s careful historical scholarship I find it still invaluable, all these
years on.
Yeats, W.B. (1990) The Poems. Edited and introduced by Daniel
Albright. London:
Everyman’s Library.
Young, Eddie (editor, 2004) The Sidney Spencer Omnibus.
Moretonhampstead, Devon: The
Flyfisher’s Classic Library.
Contains two of Spencer’s
indispensable titles, Salmon and Sea-trout in Wild Places (1968) and Newly from the Sea (1969).
Selected web (URL) references
Dublin Penny Journal
(1832-33)
Accessed August and September 2011
Doolough Tragedy
Accessed 3 January 2011
Fishing in Ireland
Accessed 2009-2012
Judd Ruane’s
website, focussed on sea-trout fishing on the Moy estuary.
The Fishing Museum Online
Accessed
September 2011
Hugely useful
website hosted by Andrew Herd and Jon Ward-Allen. Wonderful illustrations of
natural and artificial baits, many of them from Chris Sandford’s world-class
collection.
A Fly Fishing History
Accessed
throughout the making of Nomads.
(Another of...)
Andrew Herd’s website(s). Erudite,
witty and detailed. Indispensable to any angling historian.
Global Fly Fisher
Accessed
since 2003
Wonderful site
developed and hosted by Martin Joergensen.
Henry, Mitchell
Accessed
29 January 2011
Accessed 29 January 2011
The
last-named site is the Mitchell Henry family website.
Inland Fisheries Ireland
Accessed throughout the writing of
this book.
The site
includes .pdf files relating to annually updated salmon and sea-trout
statistics for the past decade (2000 onwards), e.g. total allowable catches in
nets, rod-and-line catches, percentages of fish over 40cm, percentages of fish
released and so on.
An Irish Angler’s World
Accessed
from 2011 onwards
Ashley Hayden’s angling blog.
Irish Fishery Investigations
Department
of Agriculture and Fisheries, Fisheries Division. Series A (Freshwater).
Author: Arthur Went, 1968.
Accessed
29 August 2011
National Parks and Wildlife Service, Conservation Plan for 2006-2011, Owenduff/Nephin
Complex
Accessed 30 December 2010
Nore and Suir Rivers Trust
Accessed
3 September 2011
O’Malley, Grace (Gráinne
Ní Mháille)
Accessed 10 January 2011
Restoring the Avoca
Accessed 20 November 2011
Sandeel
Accessed 7 January 2010
Sea Trout Fishing: a Web Guide
Accessed throughout 2008-2011
Site written and
hosted by Paul Hopwood. It’s Welsh-focussed (largely because Paul seems – lucky
chap – to do much of his sea-trout fishing in Wales) and contains hugely useful
details of fly patterns including Snakes, Sunk Lures and Secret Weapons. There
are also useful links to fly-tying pages by Sid Knight and Iain Finlay.
Slaney River Trust
Accessed from 2010 onwards
DVD
Éamon de Buitléar, A Life in the Wild. Six
major documentaries on two DVDs. Includes footage from Éamon’s famous TV nature
series ‘Amuigh Faoin Spéir’. Available from www.eamondebuitlear.com, www.ciandebuitlear.com, www.irelandonfilm.com
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