Ian Powell of Blackwater Lodge raises the question a lot of guides are asking at the moment….
Wondering why we haven’t caught our First Springer yet?
Well, it’s quite simple really! The river has been so high that no-one has gone out fishing yet.
It has been probably the wettest start to the year ever and the river has been out in the fields for almost the entire time since the season opened on February 1st.
This was the river below the Lodge today February 9th. at 11.00am.
The Ballyduff gauge height was 3.33m. It is still rising slowly.
The exceptionally high water levels have also been accompanied by higher than normal water temperatures especially in January when it was around 8ºC – 46½ºF. For the first week or so of February this has dropped to around 7.4ºC – 45.3ºF.
All the right ingredients for a really good run of springers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now we just need the water levels to come down so that we can get out fishing. Realistically, the forecast seems to be for a conveyor belt of rain & storms being brought across the Atlantic by the Jet Stream so it could be weeks before levels get down to good fishing height. But Hey – they’ve got it wrong before.
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: [email protected] Website: www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net
