Blackwater report from 11th June to 14th June

Monday at 12.57pm: The upper river is still holding it’s level – it hasn’t fallen at all since early morning.
One fish ~8lb on spinner reported from our very top beat 28 miles upstream.

The clarity is excellent. 2+ feet downriver & 3 feet upriver. The height is holding. At Ballyduff it has held @ 0.95m since 21.00 yesterday evening. It is only down a few centimetres over night at Killavullen too. This will help to encourage fresh fish to move in especially as the water is so clear for the height it is at!

Later at 17.19pm: 12lb sea-liced fish on spinner on the upper river – just reported! Four fish in total for the 11th. of 7, 8.5 11 & 12lb. all from the upper river.  3 on spinner & 1 on worms. One sea-liced & the others all very fresh. The river is still only dropping extremely slowly.

Tuesday : The river is now starting to fall a bit more rapidly than before. The upper river is now only 26cm above the level it was on June 6th. – which was the best Day of the Season.
The lower river was @ 0.82m this morning – still too high for wading on the lower beats. The clarity is excellent at 3-4 feet.
The sea-liced fish guesstimated when caught at 11-12lb. yesterday on Woodstream was finally weighed in at 10.5lb. With the clarity improving rapidly & already excellent, prospects are extremely good  for the next couple of days. More rain is due Thursday night!

Wednesday: The Kanturk river (one of the major tributaries above Mallow) was in dirty flood yesterday afternoon following very heavy localised showers. This pushed the river at Killavullen up 15cm last night but it is already back down 10cm. The clarity is not great however & the upper river is borderline spinnable.
Down at Ballyduff, the river is up 6cm to 0.86m this morning but the clarity is good.

There were 3 fish to 6lb caught yesterday. All were sea-liced & all on spinner. One from the lower river & 2 from the upper.

Thursday: The upper river cleared quickly this morning & was fly-fishable. No fish caught above as only one rod out for a couple of hours. The lower river dropped steadily during the day. Just one 5 pounder was caught on spinner on Kilmurry. There was a run of “VERY” large fish seen going thru’ Kents today on the lower river.

Ian & Glenda Powell
Blackwater Lodge & Salmon Fishery
Upper Ballyduff, Co. Waterford.
Tel: 00 353 58 60235     From UK: 0871 474 0135  (10p/min any time!)
Mobile: 00 353 87 235 21 20
E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net

18.5lb Salmon on upper beat

Philip Maher from FishHunt tells us of a wonderful 18.5lb Salmon landed on the Upper Beat picture below

Blackwater 18.5lb salmon
Blackwater 18.5lb salmon

 

And also congrats to all as they have a 100% pass rate for candidates at GAIA certifications in Moorbrook last weekend. Fishhunt’s own Ann Maher passed her GAIA single handed as did Myles Kelly (IFI) and Jamie Crane. Tommy Farrell passed his GAIC double handed. A super venue and a great weekend. Well done!

Philip Maher
Fishhunt

Water levels dropping back after flood

Water levels are dropping back once again after a huge flood which peaked just over 4 meters. Clarity is not bad for spinning but still too high for fly fishing. One fish landed today off the Golf beat by Eddie O’Brien from Wateford. Fish was 5lbs and landed on spinner. Another angler who was out lost a fish about the same size. Good reports of fish being landed upstream so its worth heading before the next rise, as the forecast isn’t good.

Paul Whelan
Fort William Fishery
Fort William Estate, Glencairn, Lismore, Co. Waterford.
Tel: +353 (0)87 8292077
Web: www.fortwilliamfishing.ie