Very poor fishing due to low water conditions.
RIVER LEE ESB FISHERY
The only fish caught during the last three weeks was by Kevin Collins, Cork, who caught a salmon of 17.5lbs on Saturday but otherwise not a lot of fishing effort taking place as water levels are very low.
Kevin sent on this report if his great catch…
We spent hours fishing in low water and bright sunshine and it was hard work to get a fish to turn due to temperature of the water. Dusk had fallen and as nearly all day light was gone fishing became almost invisible. I decided to do a slow retrieve for my last few casts as my fishing companion Graham Coleman was calling me leave when suddenly my line stripped from the reel. The fish went rocketing straight down stream and then back up. 45 hectic minutes later I managed to beach the fish. At first sight I couldn’t believe my eyes. I knew the fish was 12 pound plus but I had no idea he was as big as he was…
After weighing the fish we tried to return him as he had been in the river over two weeks. But the 45 minute fight had taken to much out of him and after 20 minutes of trying to revive him I gave up hope and decided to kill and tag the giant male fish. There was two other anglers on the same beat that evening . The fly he took was one I tied myself which is shrimp fly; sunburst orange partridge shrimp tied with bucktail.
