Hello all,
You can think that summer has come to Connemara. I was
up in Duneen on Sunday afternoon, the 20th, and heard the first cuckoo.
That's usually a good place to hear him, as it's secluded and there are
a lot of trees, on the hillside toward the Salt Lake and on the other hillside,
toward the river and along the river side.
The first local fly fishing competition was held on the
13th, by the Corfin Trout Anglers. The fishing was on several lakes out
Tully side, including Lough Tully and Lough Fee. Since Lough Fee hadn't
fished so well in the competition last year, Mickey Geoghegan and I went
to Lough Tully. We were in good company -- Joe Creane, Jackie Coyne and
Danny Vaughan, three of the best on any day of the year, fished there too.
But as it turned out the fish of Lough Fee rose to the occasion, suddenly
about 4 PM, for reasons known only to themselves and possibly John Flaherty,
for he was burdened with 18 of them, to win first place. His son Aiden
was with him, and won the junior division with 11 fish. The weigh-in that
evening, with good pints and sandwiches, was at Molly's in Letterfrack.
The Clifden Trout Anglers Association had their AGM a
few evenings ago. We assembled in the upper room at Guy's, trooping up
the stairs pint in hand. Our first fly fishing competition was planned,
for May 11th, on Lough Fada, and there will be another on a different lake
early in June. The club's income from membership fees and permits for visitors
is used for stocking the lakes and rivers and improving the habitat. Anyone
who visits here and wants to fish can get a club permit from Declan Moran
-- he's the club Treasurer -- at Moran's Chemist Shop on Main Street, and
can get fishing gear and a map showing our lakes from John Stanley's shop
at the bottom of Market Street.
Mickey and I didn't have much luck on the 13th, but the
following Sunday, when I was up in Duneen, I was consoled by the taking
of a one pound eight ounce trout (on a Bumble), and three days later by
one that was a pound four (on a Duck Fly). Island Lough, which doesn't
fish so well early, is coming on now. I had a grand day one warm afternoon
lately, taking fish in the reeds and the islands near the shore.
Your mum, along with 20 other women from the Clifden Guild
of the Irish Countrywomen's Association, went by bus to An Grianan, the
craft college in Termofeckin, near Drogheda, for a week. An Grianan ("The
Summer Place") is a manor that was bought by the Kellogg (cornflakes)
family and given to the ICA. There were classes in various crafts during
the day, and entertainment in the evening. It was especially enjoyable
because the women, Protestant and Catholic, of the Banbridge Guild, Co.
Down, Northern Ireland, were there at the same time -- the Clifden Guild
is twinned with the Banbridge Guild and the two had arranged to meet there
this year, and as well some of the Banbridge women will be coming to Clifden
on holiday during the summer.
From Tullyvoheen, good night and God bless you.
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