Ian Powell from the Blackwater Lodge reports that there was heavy rain in the upper Munster Blackwater catchment in the early hours of this morning. By 06.00, the showers were concentrated towards the lower catchment and there 14mm rain on the Lodge gauge by 06.30 this morning. This should help to flush the river out & bring fresh fish up from the tidal water where many fish are concentrated at the river mouth at Youghal.
There was heavy rain last Friday which resulted in a small rise in water levels. There were just 4 rods out on Saturday- 2 on the upper river and 2 on the lower.
The upper river had good clarity at about 5 feet ,with just a touch of cloudy sedimentary particles and no weed coming down. Two fish of 6lb and 10lb. were taken on the top but one beat, where a good number of fish were showing and some moving to flies presented to them. Conditions were not so good on the lower river where the clarity was only about 2 1/2 feet and a lot of weed was coming down the river and hooking up on flies.
There was more rain on Sunday which brought a reasonable rise but dirty water. Water clarity on the upper beats fell from about 3 feet in the early morning,
but to about 1 .5 feet by late afternoon.
Yesterday (Tuesday, 07/10) the water clarity was only about 1 1/2 feet during the day, but it began to fine off more quickly on the upper river where Henri Saarinen (Finland) caught a 7 pounder and Conor Arnold a 4 pounder. Very few fish were seen during the day.
There was more action on the river today (Wednesday, 08/10) with a number of fish met. Four fish to 10lb. were landed – mostly on small bright flies on intermediate tips even although the clarity was between 1 – 2 feet.
Prospects for the last few days are starting to look promising as the river should fine down into good order.
Hopefully we will start to see some fresh fish moving in with the extra push of fresh water and the tide still peaking at 4.2m tomorrow.There is no problem for availability for the last 3 days of the season.
Ian Powell
Blackwater Lodge
Go fishing…
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
For more information about salmon fishing on the Munster Blackwater please see the following page with a list of all the fisheries
