Simon Ashe reports from Ballynahinch Castle:
14/06/2013: Over the past 2 days we have landed our first 2 grilse of the season at Ballynahinch. Given that our spring run was late, we were expecting a late summer run; however, this has not turned out to be the case. The counter is very active these past few days and we are expecting some very good fishing over the coming number of weeks.
Visiting US angler, Joe Irby Jnr, got our summer season under way and landed a fresh 6.5lb grilse from Beat 4 on 11th June (pictured top left along with local guide Frank Flaherty). Joe managed a similar feat from Beat 2 the following day with a 4.5lb fish. This was a Joe’s first (and second) Atlantic Salmon and it was well deserved after putting in some long hours amongst the Connemara midges!
Sea Trout Arrival
The large maiden sea trout have been migrating upstream for the past few weeks and we have managed to land a few of these fish over the past few days. Tom McManus returned a beautiful 2lb sea trout from Beat 1 this morning and Cyril Biggins has had good success on the dry fly also.
The small finnock have yet to show themselves in any great numbers, however, their imminent arrival is expected any day and we envisage a very good sea trout season, given the number of fish seen jumping in estuary over the past month.
Some of our hotel guests have had great success on the brown trout now that we have some active fly life. It is not unusual to have a bag of 10 trout up to 2lbs for a day’s fishing. Beat 2 is fishing particularly well for this.
Fishing Reservations for 2013
A great deal of anglers have booked their fishing to coincide with the expected later arrival of the grilse which in turn means that there is a good deal of availability over the next two weeks. Last season the month of June was a cracker with a mix of springers and grilse and I would expect that we will see the same this year. Please contact hotel reception for availability.
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Please visit our website for some very favourable fishing and accommodation packages now available.
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Simon Ashe,
Ballynahinch Castle Hotel,
Recess, Connemara, Co. Galway, Ireland / Tel: + 353 95 31006 / Fax: + 353 95 31085
Email: [email protected] / Web: www.ballynahinch-castle.com