Dan O’Neill at the Mount Juliet Estate with the last salmon report from the Nore of the season…
A quiet, cold start to the morning, a few light frosts showing over the last few nights, conditions this summer hardly ideal for salmon angling as we didn’t get much water for fish to travel. At the same time some fish were managed by some anglers.
Saturday morning and the time was 7.45am. Travelling along the bank in the jeep I looked at the river and its various runs and pools. Looking at them brought back memories of my first season here at the estate, the colourful characters I met, friends who I shared an evening’s fishing with, the bad days I had that were dissolved and washed away by the current of the river. After that quick look back over the season is was time to go to meet my guest for a morning’s salmon fishing. Arriving at the fishing room it wasn’t long before a gentle knock sounded on the door. My guest today was Owen Brennan, an angler I had heard quite a lot about so this trip was one I was looking forward to. After the usual greetings we made our way to the river bank. I always try to watch how anglers react when they see the runs and pools for the first time ( I believe god gave us 2 eyes,2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason ). We walked the bank for about 10 minutes and I became fixed on an area near the head of the pool we were at. To my delight Owen was looking at the same area, the good old faithful words “I think we should give this a try” were clearly heard and Owen began to tackle up.
I watched the river for the few minutes I was waiting, again drifting off into a world of my own as I looked back on past memories of trout I had here during the season. As I came around and looked at where I’d left Owen he was gone and waist height in water. Landing his fly beautifully on the water in what seemed an effortless manner. One can only try to imagine what the fly looks like under water as it makes its journey downstream. Watching Owen was a total joy and I enjoyed every second. I could see Owen focus on an area just at the tail of a run, casting just above the area as to make sure he covered it correctly the fly “as I could only imagine” glided straight at this point. Then with such grace and yet such a definitive movement Owen lifted his rod, the rod curved and the tip pointed to the exact spot that Owen had been focused on. The battle was on. The fish made some great runs and showed acrobatics on more than one occasion. Owen was the winner in this particular battle and what finesse he showed throughout it. A beautiful male salmon his prize.
It was a great display of fly angling and one I was very happy to have witnessed. A quick picture and the salmon was released back to his home to go about his journey, the last salmon of the season in Mount Juliet and a fine salmon it was to. We fished for an hour more and then it was time to head back to the fishing room. Overall a great day with a superb angler who I look forward to welcoming back in 2019.
Dan O’Neill
Mount Juliet Estate.
Go fishing…
Mount Juliet House is set on a large estate, which offers private fishing on 2.5 miles of the middle to lower reaches of the River Nore. Mount Juliet Estate offers fishing of the highest quality, just a short stroll away from the Manor House. There is a fishing room on site in the Manor House for your convenience i.e. for storage and drying of fishing equipment. Mount Juliet Estate can also provide the necessary equipment on site if needed.
