Profile

Philip Maher grew up just a short walk from the River Suir at Ballycamus, where he mastered the art of dry fly fishing for wild brown trout on very slow moving water where presentation and accuracy are essential. He also devised some great olive and sedge patterns to help him out with the clever wild trout of that area. He was never short of an angling companion as all his family fish, even his mother is a very keen angler concentrating her efforts on salmon. Philip’s skills shone from a very early age winning his first of many Munster Juvenile River Championships at the age of 8 and going on to win All-Ireland Senior in 1995 at the age of 20, awarding him the privilege of being Captain of the Irish Team in the 1996 World Championships in the Czech Republic. Here he finished top Irish rod and well up in the world rankings and from which he brought back the knowledge and fly patterns for nymph fishing.

Frustrated with the lack of fishing tackle shops in the area Philip has opened up his own business Fishhunt, where he stocks all the essentials for today’s novice or expert anglers. If Philip is not fishing himself you will find him teaching the fine art of fly fishing to fellow anglers, providing his expert knowledge as a guide to both local and foreign anglers alike, or at home tying flies for his next encounter with his scaly nemesis.

Whilst Philip is a good man to catch fish he always wanted to better his casting and started to learn the mechanics and techniques of casting. As he wanted to be independently assessed he decided to sign up for the Federation of Fly Fishers exams and passed both his Certified and Masters Fly Casting Instructor in the one weekend, a true recognition for a life time of learning.

Philip turned his focus to the double handed rod as he has some very productive beats on the Rivers Suir and Blackwater for Atlantic Salmon. He travelled to rivers far and wide and even spent a week on the River Spey with the World Champion Carron Team, where he picked up some invaluable techniques to help with economy of effort when casting and has now got both his salmon and trout Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructors (APGAI) exams.

Philip is now looking forward to passing on all his skills and knowledge to his sons Jamie and Shane as well as all his Fishhunt clients.