Heading down to the Munster Blackwater we hear from Ian and Glenda Powel:
Friday July 6th: Both the upper & lower river have steadied. The lower river remained at 0.98m all day. The Killavullen gauge has fallen just 1cm through the day. Six fish were caught which made it the Joint Third best Day of the Season – for just 7 rod days.
Best fish of the day was a 12 1/2 pounder for John Harte on spinner from Ballincurrig.
This one above was 11lb. & caught by Gavin O’Shea on Carrig.
Steven Slattery had an 8 pounder on fly in the evening on Ballyhooly & Joe Lonergan had 2 on spinner & Dennis O’Donnell one on fly on Killavullen.
Saturday July 7th: Even with the floods we have had some amazing fishing so far for July with 26 fish for just 27 rod days. The prospects have to be absolutely superb for the coming week, as there have been great runs of large sea-liced fish coming through the upper river in recent days. Even yesterday with the Killavullen gauge at 1.65m, 2 rods slipped into Ballyhooly at 6.30pm & released two fish on the fly.
With one more fish caught by Tim Harty on fly from Ballyhooly reported to me very late last night, the total for yesterday was then 7 fish (3 on fly) which made it the joint Second Best Day of the Season.
Rain swept up the catchment from the East last night – we had 9mm here. The upper river is rising this morning but looks to be peaking at ~2.00m – up 35cm from yesterday afternoon. The water is apparently very dirty! The Ballyduff gauge is on 1.16m this morning – up from 0.98m last night. Clarity is OK at ~2 feet.
The forecast is for dry weather into next week. If the river drops & fines off, the prospects for sport are superb in the coming week.
Sunday July 8th: The river was pretty coloured above & below yesterday – just beginning to clear off by evening. There were just 2 fish caught yesterday of 7 & 9 ½lb. from (you’ve guessed it!) the Castle Flat in Ballyhooly. The river has fined off well this morning. Down to 1.00 at Ballyduff & 1.68m at Killavullen. Clarity good at 2½-3 feet. There’s already a couple of fish caught from our top beat Ballygarrett by one rod in his first 20 minutes of fishing this morning.
Looks as if we’re going to get a few dry days before another band of rain comes in Thursday. Brilliant prospects for the beginning of the week.
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
