PODCAST · sports
Ireland on the Fly
by LastCast Media
The people and places of fly fishing in Ireland. www.irelandonthefly.com
Episodes
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A Migratory Passion
After an end of summer break we are back with another great episode with east coast angler, David O’Hagan, who joins Garrett and Tom on the show. David, aka ‘Sonar’, for reasons that Garrett explains, has developed a keen passion for migratory fish over the last number of years, both salmon and…
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Why Iceland Should Be on Every Brown Trout Angler’s List
This week on Ireland on the Fly, we’re heading to Iceland with William Maire, who joins us to tell us about his recent trip in search of wild brown trout. William, who now lives in Mayo, cut his teeth fishing the famous sea trout loughs of Connemara. These days, he fishes throughout the west of...
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Fly Fishing for Irish Sea Trout with Chris McCully
This week’s show sees the return of our book club series and we are delighted to be joined by Daire Whelan for this episode. When Daire was taking his break from Ireland on the Fly he promised that he would join us again for any book club editions so it is great to have him on the show again. In...
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Fishing for Trout in 40 Degrees
Fishing for trout in temperatures over 40 degrees is not ideal but for this week’s guest it was only a matter of days ago that he doing just that. Mike and Tom are joined for this episode by Tipperary angler, Robbie Meagher, who has just returned from the European Fly Fishing Championships in...
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Damien O’Brien, from the Blackwater to British Columbia
With the longest day of the year just passed, this means the grilse run begins in earnest for most salmon anglers. With this in mind, Tom and Garrett turn their attention to summer salmon and they have well known guide and instructor, Damien O’Brien, join them. Damien is based on the River...
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Irish Caps, Pink Flamingos and Fly Tying with Sammy McGowan
When your school trips involve fishing Lough Melvin and the Kylemore system in Connemara, there is a good chance you might get handy at fishing.This was obviously the case with Sammy McGowan and no doubt helped him to burst on to the Irish Team as a 19-year-old on Loch Leven in Scotland. Sammy…
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365. It’s all it takes. It’s all the takes!
Brendan Garland is a committed salmon angler; a late arrival to the party, he has put more in the twenty years he has been salmon fishing than many of us will put in over a lifetime of angling. After a misspent period of chasing golf balls around courses, Brendan switched to salmon angling after...
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Trout Season 2026: Slow start but high hopes
With the trout season for 2026 very much underway, it has, so far, been very much a start stop affair. This spring has brought has brought us a lot of high winds and temperatures have struggled to get into double figures for the most part. The bad weather has prevented a lot of Anglers getting…
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Spring Silver & Second Chances: Looking Ahead to Salmon 2026
After the long winter break and with the 2026 season now truly under way, we kick the year off and look ahead to the salmon fishing season. Joining Tom on this week’s episode is Conor Arnold from the Blackwater. Tom is also joined by Garrett Ruigrok as co presenter and they ask Conor for his...
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The Bucket List: Bhutan & the Golden Mahseer
A Happy Christmas to all our listeners and as it’s that time of the year we thought we’d bring you a bucket list episode that many of us can only dream about – fly fishing for the golden mahseer in remote Bhutan. Jake Anchell joins Tom Doc to tell him about the recent once-in-a-lifetime trip he...
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Lough Corrib & Lough Sheelin Review 2025
So, the salmon and trout season is over for another year and while there was plenty of negatives with fish kills and pollution incidents, there was also still a lot of great fishing to be had. And for this week’s episode we’re focusing on the brown trout season with Eamonn Ross from Lough Sheelin...
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Conor Arnold on the Blackwater investigation and Oireachtas hearing
No matter the fishing and conditions, the 2025 fly fishing season will go down in memory as the year of the worst ever fish kill in the history of the State, which is certainly saying something based on this country’s approach to pollution, water quality and environmental protection. We’ve...
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Brown trout fishing on the Boyne
As we head into the final days for most of you for the game fishing season, this week we find out about the Boyne fishery, and the superb brown trout fishing to be had on the Trim Athboy Angling Club waters. Tommy Keogan is a stalwart of the club and he talks to us about how the club manages its...
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Cork’s Kevin McLoughlin on the good old days of salmon fishing
Kevin McLoughlin is a lifelong angler from Cork who joins us on this week’s Ireland on the Fly to talk about the good old days for salmon when the spring run was something to behold. Kevin talks about moving to Cobh, working in the fishing industry and even spending a year on the newly formed...
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Richard Gorodecky, Throwing Feathers in the Wind
Throwing Feathers in the Wind is a new book out by Richard Gorodecky, a fly angler who moved full time to Ireland five years ago to be closer to the river fishing that he loves so much. Richard was a long-time visitor to these shores fishing all over the country before settling in south Munster…
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Grilse run update - from the bad to the sublime
We’re at the tail end of the grilse run now and with the summer conditions we’ve had, coming off the back of a poor spring run, we’ve been desperately looking for some good news on the salmon front. And we found it – or sort of – because this week Johnny Casey and Yamil Turcuman two passionate...
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Sprats, overfishing, heatwaves & ecosystems in danger of collapse
You may have seen the recent campaign and news stories about the disappearance of sprat from our coastal waters and the government’s unwillingness to do enough to protect our marine habitats – but what has it got to do with you if you're an angler and only interested in freshwater? Well in the...
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The Last Salmon: Rob Macfarlane & why rivers are alive and should have rights
Is a river alive? What a question….it throws up so many if, buts, maybes, but most importantly, why not? They are our lifeblood, our circulation, our healing waters. But they also need saving now in these troubled times of extraction, industrialisation and pollution. To kick off Season 2, we’re...
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The Last Salmon: Season 2 Launching July 25th
Wild salmon are in a perilous state. But we can’t and won’t give up.The Last Salmon with Jim Murray is back for another season, launching July 25th, addressing the problems and hearing from all sides of the argument, to find the solutions to help save our wild salmon.It’s not too late, the salmon...
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‘If the rod doesn’t talk to you, you’re not doing it right’ Packy Trotter on a lifetime of fly fishing teaching and learning
We should never stop learning – and in fly fishing especially, we’re never done. This week we hear from Packy Trotter a life long fly angler, guide and instructor who epitomises the spirit of teaching and learning in the sport. STANIC and APGAI qualified, Packy then travelled to the Catskills…
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The Bucket List: Ronan Collins on Fly Fishing in Africa
Continuing our fly fishing in hot waters theme on the show, this week we’re joined by Ronan Collins, a well-known and well-travelled fly angler who is just back from a trip to Gabon in west Africa. Ronan tells us why fly fishing in Africa should be on everyone’s bucket list with an incredible…
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Trout in Hot Water – Ken Whelan on fly fishing in a changing climate
This week, with the hot temperatures we’ve been having and the noticeable lack of rainfall, we wanted to speak to renowned fisheries scientist, Ken Whelan, who gave a talk at the recent Irish Spring Angling Fair, called ‘Trout in hot water’. Ken details the impact and consequences of rising...
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The Mid-Season Review – the highs & lows of the season so far
This week, in honour of the midsummer solstice, we’ve recorded a midseason review to find out how the fishing has been so far, the highs and lows, and what we can expect for the second half of the season. It might be the height of summer but it won’t be long before the long days start getting...
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Paddy Gargan on his Landmark Sea Lice Study
This season we’ve heard about the disastrous spring salmon run and there hasn’t been much to report yet for the grilse run – all in all, our worst fears about salmon numbers seem to be coming true – and not just in Ireland. One of the worst culprits of course is aquaculture and the effects that…
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Ireland at the World Fly Fishing Championships
This time last week the Ireland fly fishing team was in the Czech Republic getting ready for their shot at the World Fly Fishing Championships and with a very respectable sixth place last year in France, hopes were high for the team that they might even medal – something that has never been done...
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The 2025 Mayfly Review
We’re nearly into June and the mayfly is finally petering out. It’s hard to believe that it began at Easter time on Corrib, whilst recently, Sheelin has been described as being ‘polluted with fly’ where fly anglers have been left with pretty much only suntans this year. So this week, to find out...
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Ballisodare Fishery and why its future remains bright
Ballisodare Fishery is a name that’s probably familiar to you from the salmon fish kill last summer that hit the headlines but after the deaths of one thousand plus salmon, why did it happen and how can we ensure it doesn’t happen again? Despite the events of last year, the fishery is determined…
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Conor Arnold on the Blackwater’s May run and where have all the springers gone?
With the salmon run beginning in earnest this month, the Blackwater’s Conor Arnold joins us this week to tell us about the unique May salmon that arrives in the river, and whether the spring run’s decline could actually herald an increase in the back-end? Plus, Tom has a mayfly update from…
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Stan Headley on a life fly fishing Scottish Lochs & Irish Loughs
Stan Headley is a fly angler and fly tyer who would be known to so many people in Ireland and the UK. A regular contributor to Trout & Salmon magazine down through the years, the Orkney angler also penned three books - The Loch Fishers Bible, Trout & Salmon Flies of Scotland and Reflections on…
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Spring Salmon Fishing on the Slaney
This week we’re delighted to bring you our first episode from the river bank. Only a few days ago Daire was lucky enough to fish the Slaney River for the first time on the Ballycarney Fishery beats in the company of the fishery manager, Peter Wadding. Spring salmon fishing on the Slaney has been…
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Patsy Peril – a Limerick netsman’s fight to save the salmon
This week it’s a book club episode with Patsy Peril, who co-wrote (with Deirdre Nuttall) ‘Swimming Upstream: one man’s fight to save the Atlantic salmon’. It’s a fascinating memoir about the life of a netsman on the River Shannon. Patsy talks to us about the importance of the salmon to the...
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The mystique of Donegal’s hill loughs with Ronan McWilliams
He’s The Scientific Angler on YouTube whose videos of Corrib, Arrow and Sheelin show brown trout fishing in Ireland at its best, but what’s also great about Ronan McWilliams’ fly fishing videos is his honesty. He’s not afraid to say when he’s blanked and when he’s found it tough – authenticity as...
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Empowering communities to be custodians of their local rivers
Education about and local engagement with rivers and water catchments are vital for empowering communities, kids and parents to be custodians of their local environments and one group that has been doing fantastic work in this area since the 1990s has been Streamscapes. It came about after Paul...
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Bonus Ep: Saol ar an tSiúr (Life on the Suir)
George McGrath is well known to listeners of the Ireland on the Fly podcast, a friend of the show he has joined us on numerous occasions. If you have listened to him before you will no doubt be aware that he and Tom Doc will at times, break out into speaking Irish. George has a great love for the...
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Evo Smyth’s fly fishing & fly tying journey from Latvia to Ireland
This week we’re joined by Evo Smyth, originally from Latvia, but living and fly fishing in the Irish midlands for the last twenty years. Although only taking up fly tying ten years ago, Evo quickly made a name for himself as a fly tyer of some skill and his flies have been in demand around the...
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Salmon Watch Ireland & the plans against salmon farming in Ireland in 2025
Spring is in the air and it feels like the season is finally starting to click into gear and for many salmon anglers you’ll be thinking of trips to book and plans to make. But one of the big issues affecting wild salmon and sea trout numbers is the presence of salmon farms in some of the most...
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Kilbride Anglers – a fascinating history of growth & overcoming obstacles since the 1940s
This week we’re finding out about a fly fishing club that bucks the trend and continues to grow its membership in the face of declining interest in the sport. Kilbride Anglers Club has long been an innovative and forward thinking club since it was first founded in 1940 and its chairman Martin...
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Mastering fly tying techniques with Barry Ord Clarke
This week it’s a fly tying book club special with Barry Ord Clarke aka The Feather Bender. Barry’s new book, Advanced Fly Tying Techniques has just been released and is a must-read for anyone looking to develop their fly tying skills further. We spoke to Barry about his incredible fly tying…
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Willie Holmes' journey from Moorbrook trout to Vancouver steelhead
It’s a first for us I believe on this week’s episode as we speak to Ulster man Willie Holmes from the fishing shop he manages by the Ch’illiwack river outside Vancouver in British Columbia in Canada. Willie was originally a building contractor who then set up and ran the well known Moorbrook…
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‘If you can tie flies you can build your own fly rod’ Brian Martin’s tips for your first rod build
While we’re into February and slowly the season is beginning to come to life, you may not have much of a chance to wet a line in the coming weeks so have you thought about building your own fly rod? Brian Martin is a Fermanagh angler based in Galway who last year set himself the goal of doing…
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From Greenland to the Erriff - the story of one salmon’s 2,500km journey
You may have seen the report recently about a tagged salmon that was detected in the Erriff and was subsequently discovered to have travelled nearly 2,500km from south west Greenland. It’s incredible and direct evidence showing the journey that the Atlantic salmon has to endure to spawn in our...
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Sally Barnes & 50 Years of Change on the Atlantic Coast
Sally Barnes is a remarkable woman who has been at the forefront of the Irish artisan food revolution since the 1980s, when she first started smoking wild salmon. But what has a smoker got to do with fly fishing? Sally, who has been married to a fisherman, and lives on the west Cork coast, has…
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The unique and special Lough Carra
This week we’re finding out about the unique and special Lough Carra, renowned for its marl bottom which gave the water an alluring blue and aquamarine appearance. Not only that but the fishing – and mayfly fishing especially – was pretty spectacular. But like so many things in nature, Lough…
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Salmon Season Opens on the Drowes
Happy New Year to you all and we’re into the start of another year and another season which can only mean one thing and that’s catching up with Shane Gallagher from the Drowes Fishery to find out how the opening days went on the river. Shane also looks back on the 2024 season, discusses the fall...
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From Newfoundland to Ireland with Jamie Pike
Newfoundland might be a couple of thousand miles from Ireland but the Irish influence is a strong one in the most eastern part of Canada in terms of people, culture, language and fly fishing. Jamie Pike is a Newfoundlander of Irish descent who is a passionate salmon angler and professional fly…
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Why George McGrath gave up the dry fly rod for pike
‘It’s been the strangest of seasons,’ George McGrath tells us on this week’s Ireland on the Fly. George is a friend of the show and well-known fly angler based in Tipperary on the River Suir. We’ve spoken to George previously about the nitrification of his stretch of the river that has seen it...
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Winter Grayling Fishing with Mark Driver
It might be the off-season for many of us, but have you considered grayling fishing in the UK at this time of year? Known as the Lady of the Stream, the grayling are best fished for in winter time and Mark Driver, one half of Piscari Fly, has plenty of experience fishing for them in Wales in the...
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Loughs Brown Trout Review with Mike Keady & Eamonn Ross
We’ve already released our river trout and salmon reviews of the season so now it’s time for this week's Ireland on the Fly episode focusing on Corrib, Sheelin, Melvin, Arrow and other loughs. We spoke to Eamonn Ross and Mike Keady to find out how the fishing went throughout the season and what…
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Paddy McDonnell’s Review of the 2024 Salmon Season
It’s time for our salmon review of the season and who better to talk to than one of the most knowledgeable salmon anglers we know, Paddy McDonnell. Paddy gives us an excellent run through of the season on the Moy, as well as the Owenduff, Owenmore and Carraghmore, plus we get into seal predation,...
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River Brown Trout Season Review
We’ve got the first of our season review episodes this week and we’re focusing on river brown trout with River Nore guide, Dan O’Neill, who gives us the lowdown on his local river as well as those nearby including the Kings and the Suir. Dan will be telling us about conditions throughout the…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The people and places of fly fishing in Ireland.
www.irelandonthefly.com
HOSTED BY
LastCast Media
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Ireland on the Fly have?
Ireland on the Fly currently has 206 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Ireland on the Fly about?
The people and places of fly fishing in Ireland. www.irelandonthefly.com
How often does Ireland on the Fly release new episodes?
Ireland on the Fly publishes regularly with 206 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Ireland on the Fly?
You can listen to Ireland on the Fly on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Ireland on the Fly?
Ireland on the Fly is created and hosted by LastCast Media.
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