Paul Hanley of the Salmon Fishing Ireland blog reports on last Friday’s opening day on the Laune where a good number of anglers marked the occasion. However the floods made conditions difficult for anglers with banks topped in places and for angling with a changing the river bed profile…
The water height had obviously dropped as we could see the rubbish and branches left scattered further up the bank. The temperature was about 5 or 6 C with little or no wind and good, bright sunshine – a nice day to start the 2014 salmon season.
There were about thirty optimistic anglers fishing Beats 1 & 2. Some, like myself, had been there from first light. Very few kelts were seen throwing. I myself saw less than a handful for the whole day and no fresh salmon showed. I did see one angler catch and release a spent fish. The water was cold and running fast but the depth at Beat 1 near the lake has obviously shallowed out considerably and there was a lot of weed which made it awkward for spinning.
There were many phone calls made and received during the day and then came the news that a fresh fish had been caught up high in the system on the Killarney Flesk river. A fish weighing over 11lbs and caught by Ger O’ Shea. At least one angler had broken in his rod for the start of the new season and hopefully the rest of us will do the same in the not so distant future. Unfortunately many anglers agreed that they wouldn’t be fishing Beat 1 next year for the start of the season because over the last few years very few fish have been caught there. There is obviously an issue here with Beat 1 shallowing up and not holding fish.
As you can see from the above photos the water levels were fairly high and even those brave enough to walk up to Beat 1 left bank decided to take the long scenic route on their way back as some had a few hairy moments walking near the river in the high water.
Paul Hanley,
Salmon fishing in Ireland
Web: http://salmonfishingireland2012.blogspot.ie/
