I brought my new drift boat down to the river Suir yesterday to give it a test run. I recently imported the boat from Dave Scadden in Utah, a very clever boat designer and pioneer of this style of craft.

I bought the boat in order to access more water in my bonkers pursuit of big river trout. Philip Maher was given the honour of riding shotgun on its maiden voyage. I tied on my favourite big fish fly, handed him the rod and invited him aboard. I think he was scared! But 10 minutes into our first drift down at Kilsheelan his sceptisim at the scruffy chewed up fly and blow up boat disappeared when we hooked this stunning trout.

The fish weighed 7lbs 4oz and put up an incredible fight: tail walking, jumping and taking us a long way downstream before finally netting him.

The fish was released unharmed. We also got a 6lbs Salmon but we didnt care too much about that!

I’m thrilled with how the boat behaved it handles like a sports car!

Philip’s new deck shoes also performed well!

We also managed a few Small Fish!!

For Dave Scadden Pontoon Boats: http://www.northforkoutdoors.com
Philip has extensive Fishing rights on the river Suir and runs an instruction and guide service and fly shop contact him through his website: www.fishhunt.ie
Keith McDonnell is a guide and instructor and big trout nut based in Dublin.