This is the first of over twenty short stories about life in Ireland by Niall Fallon, who died suddenly in the 1990s, before anybody had seen them. They have remained hidden from public eye, but no more. PADDY MURPHY WAS A LOCK-KEEPER ON THE GRAND CANAL. He lived alone, in the small, compact cottage set …
Garrett Fallon finally publishes a story he wrote nearly 25 years ago, about the capture of an Irish tench. To me, there are few fish more beautiful than the tench. It possesses in its strong lines all the grace and form of Grecian sculpture, yet has the power of something perhaps better suited to war. …
A fascinating interview from Daire Whelan—of podcast Ireland on the Fly—with Tom Fort about his new book, and memories of fly fishing in Ireland with Niall Fallon. (This takes you to an external site–don’t forget to come back.) Listen by clicking here: And purchase a copy of the book here: A full review of Casting …
Casting Shadows: Fish and Fishing in Britain by Tom Fort Read More »
Niall Fallon recalls the life and times of one of Ireland’s best-known anglers, who taught him much about the Tipperary Suir. We had fished hard, the party of four rods, for the best part of three days. For all of that, bar the balmy hours of the July nights, the sun had beamed benevolently but …
I’d like to say it was a typical Irish summer’s evening, but it was not. It was warm and nurturing, not too hot, with the rain being contrary and going somewhere else for a while. The cornfield opposite blushed with colour as it flirted with the last of the sun and rippled gently as it …
After spending 14 years tracking Del Harding Fallon’s Angler find themselves on the shore of Lough Derg fishing in his company, the original beatnik who settled in a wood over fifty years ago with his dogs and horses for company and no electricity, just a love for Ireland, the landscape, his privacy and the fishing. …
In memory of Niall Fallon, who passed away on 26th January 1996. Originally penned by Garrett Fallon in 1992. As a child I had little appetite for work, seeing it as something horrid that served you right for growing old. I also had a distinct lack of interest in grownups, as they talked incessantly of …
The howling wind—the song of a thousand banshees—tossed the ship up into the swell, urging the men to their death. The angry sea threatened to overwhelm the deck, the mast creaked and groaned and cracked like twigs under a heavy boot. The knight turned to face his God and prayed: “Please Lord, let me live, …
A Knight’s tale: the forgotten trout of Tintern de Voto Read More »
“Wexford. The oldest place in Ireland,” some would say. “Like Cornwall, only wetter,” say others. I snuck an old sturdy carp rod into a packed car heading for a family holiday in Ireland, and found myself fishing on Booley Bay beach near Duncannon on the aptly named Hook Peninsula. The tide was racing in, the …
By Maurice Neill THERE are more words for a fool in Irish than in any other language and it takes a particular type of angling amadan to venture into the Galway Gaeltacht and onto Lough Mask when the forecast is for bad weather. It is a beautiful, vast and dangerous piece of water where squalls …
Written by Niall Fallon My biggest brown trout, which as I write stands nobly mounted in a case on my study wall, as stately and plump as any Buck Mulligan, was taken in total darkness on a mid-September evening on a small limestone lake. A day of wild wind and rain had been succeeded by …
This summer of 2015 found us in a wet Co Kerry, joining old friends and extended family for the first time in a very long time just outside the village of Glenbeigh on the Iveagh Peninsula, part of the world-renowned Ring of Kerry. I spent many happy summers in Kerry as a child with a …
Awarded an OBE in 1974 as recognition for a football career that included a World Cup win in 1966, Jack Charlton went on to gain even greater recognition across the Irish Sea. Having taken the Republic of Ireland to a World Cup quarter final in 1990, Charlton was awarded an Honorary Irish Citizenship, made a …
Aaahh – 1988….The first Red Nose Day, GCSE’s replacing O-Levels, Kylie wished she was so lucky, and Cliff crooned about Mistletoe and Wine. And of course, The Waterboys brought us Fisherman’s Blues. Recorded in Dublin this was the album that broke from the band’s previous rock and roll sound, instead incorporating a Celtic Folk edge. …
“May the luck of the Irish be with you!” is a well-known Irish blessing. I’m not sure of its origins, seeing as I don’t remember being especially lucky at any time, if you discount meeting a lovely lass and marrying her, and having a wonderful child. I’d like to think those things happened because I …
At the north end of Lough Ree, on the River Shannon system, sits the small town of Lanesborough. The river actually splits the town in two so the western side is in Connacht and the east Leinster. Dominating the landscape is the Power Station, and it is here, or at least, just downstream from here, …
Some years ago, Fishpool found himself in Roosky, on the banks of the River Shannon. A kindly local angler pointed him in the direction of a bream hotspot. I couldn’t fail, he assured me—which, after a few days’ largely fruitless fishing, was just what I wanted to hear. We would only be there for a …
