Ian Powell of the Blackwater Lodge gives us a report on how the week progressed on the Munster Blackwater:

12/08: The weekend saw the three Best Days of the Season with 15, 18 & 14 fish caught respectively, but the last 3 days have been much quieter.

Conditions: No rain in the catchment for the last few days. The forecast is now dry right through until the end of next week with some rain on Sunday & Tuesday. Today was a very bright hot sunny day. he upper river at Millstreet is falling steadily. The clarity is at least 3 feet.

At Killavullen the river is also falling slowly & is at 1.20 this evening. Excellent fly height & clarity which is ~3 feet & slightly peaty. The Ballyduff gauge is down to 0.31m by nightfall. Again excellent fly height & clarity which is ~3 feet & slightly peaty.

Water temperature at Ballyduff: 12.6ºC / 54.6ºF.

A lovely 8 pounder released by Dave Walsh on the upper river.
A lovely 8 pounder released by Dave Walsh on the upper river.

Catches: Sunday was the Third Best Day of the Season. Fourteen fish to 11lb. were caught. Seven fell to fly, four to spinner & three to shrimp. The water is fining off to superb fly order. Best at 11lb. was taken by Frank Ryan on the lower river & there were more better fish than in previous days with fish of 9, 8 & four 6 pounders caught. One rod landed four on the fly.

Dan Hawker
Dan Hawker about to release the Biggest Fly-caught Salmon
at the Lodge for 2015.
He caught it on a small Cascade at the Hut on Kents. This fish wins Dan the Catch of the Week.

The last 3 days have been much quieter than the previous 3 when 47 fish were caught for 42 rod days. On the 9th., we passed the 300 fish mark for the season. Two grilse were caught on the tenth & then yesterday four fish were caught including the Second Best Fish this year which is also the largest fly-caught fish of the season. It was an extremely fresh 13 pounder which was landed by 19 year old Dan Hawker on Kents on the lower river. He released the fish.

Today was very hot & bright with just a few rods out. The river was quiet and no fish were caught.

We already have 67 fish caught for August & 312 for the season to date.

Prospects: Should be good in the coming days if the weather is not so sunny.

Availability: No problem for rods & accommodation at the moment.

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