Ian Powell reports from the Blackwater Lodge on the Munster Blackwater…
On Friday, June 14th. it was broken again when seven fish were recorded for just nine rod days. Five of the fish fell to fly & notable in this catch were the three caught by Michael Dix (Dublin). The Best Fish of the Day (8.2lb) was a First Ever Salmon for Marek Sekula. He took it on a single hand fly rod at Killavullen. The two previous days were also very good with ten fish caught for just 10 rod days – nine of which were on fly.
On Friday (14th.) we had 18mm of rain which brought the river up in a dirty flood. On Friday evening the gauge at Ballyduff bridge was on 0.40m. By Saturday morning it had risen to 0.93m. The clarity on both the upper & lower river was poor & virtually unfishable.
There were large crowds on the bridge at Fermoy on Saturday morning to witness a spectacular run of salmon going up over the weir just above the bridge, but very few fish were seeing running through the beats. Also, there were a number of fish up to 18lb. caught just below the tidal limit below Lismore last Thursday & Friday where fish had been holding as the water levels were low (below 0.40m at Ballyduff). These fish have moved up into the main river with the high water.
Today (Sunday) the gauge was down to 0.60m in the morning with clarity 1-1½ feet. We had a depression settle over the catchment which has brought another 16mm of steady rain today. Again, few fish were seen in the very wet & windy conditions until late afternoon when a big run of both grilse & large salmon went through our top beat just below Mallow(28 miles upstream). They were intent on running & just one was briefly hooked & lost.
Superb Prospects for the coming week
Today’s rain is already affecting the river. At Millstreet, the river has already risen 30cm between 16.00 & midnight.
This means that the river will not be in order tomorrow, but with a dry forecast from tomorrow, it should be in some kind of fishable order for Tuesday & coming into excellent order by Wednesday. With the runs of fish that are coming in, we can expect fantastic sport this week.
Ian Powell
Blackwater Lodge
Make a booking
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: info@ireland-salmon-fishing.net Website: www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net
Win a day’s salmon fishing
Win a day’s salmon fishing…
We’re running a fun competition together with I Shoot and Fish magazine. Just visit this post on my Facebook page
or on the IShootand Fish page and share it.
