First Munster Blackwater salmon of 2016 caught at Fortwilliam

Paul Hanley in his blog salmonfishingireland2012.blogspot.ie reports on the opening day on the Munster Blackwater.  Paul tells us it was a windy start to the season, the gusts strong enough to blow his flying C into the field behind him! On starting at Ballyhooly the water clarity was about two feet with 1.41m on the guage at Ballyduff, but with the winds pushing waves downstream it silted up very fast and reduced visibility to just about a foot. He fished as best he could but eventually headed down to Kilmurray which proved to be more sheltered and the water had better visibility. At Kilmurray he met Glenda Powell who was guiding some clients, but she had no fish to report. Paul fished the upper beat hard but after an hour or so he had run out of time and had to quit for the day.

Paul Whelan at the Fortwilliam Fishery is happy to say that they got their first spring salmon for 2016 today. Lucky angler and long term syndicate member from the U.K Ian Dolley landed a beautiful fish of approximately 12lbs. Ian played and released the fish safely after a having great sport on his spinning rod. This is the first time in 16 years that Fortwilliam has had a February fish.