Ballisodare Fishing Club report…
Fishing
The spring run of salmon at Ballisodare is essentially over for this season in Ballisodare. Numbers through the counter to end of May held up well with over 300 migrating upstream and this number is augmented by many more arriving during the first week of June when the rains arrived. Over the past two seasons approximately 800 springers have migrated upstream without being killed due to our catch and release policy until end of May. In line with our conservation policy, from June onwards, our individual members are restricted to killing a maximum of five fish for the remainder of the season. Our estimate is that this policy will result in no more than 3.5% of the overall run being killed this season and therefore 96.5% of the run will be available for spawning in the upper reaches.
In line with our Spawning Rejuvenation policy, sites have already been identified for works in August and September 2025 which will entail the deployment of over 300 tons of gravel into spawning streams in addition to raking of existing gravel areas.
Over the past two weeks, an average of four to five fish per day were caught with a release rate of approximately 30%.
Electronic Water Quality Monitoring Sondes deployed.
As a result of the Fish Kill last season of over 1000 adult salmon, Ballisodare Fishery with the support of Sligo ATU’s Environmental Department and LAWPRO, has over the past two weeks deployed two Electronic Water Quality Sonde Stations, one located above the Falls in fresh water and another downstream of Uisce Eireann’s Waste Water Treatment Plant in the Estuary, which is licensed by EPA to discharge twice daily into the estuary at high tide. These sondes take water quality measurements every 15 minutes and the data is transmitted to a central database with immediate alarms if any water quality parameters are breached. Measurements include Water Temperature, Dissolved oxygen, Ammonia NH3 and NH4, Nitrates, Turbidity and pH etc.
Although results and data availability are at an early stage, interesting data indications are already evolving. We will be publishing this valuable data in due course. The Online Data will also be available to IFI and Sligo ATU in the future.
Go Fishing
Contact: Ballisodare Fishing Club,
Ballisodare, Co. Sligo
Web: www.ballisodarefishingclub.ie
Tel: +353 (0)71 9130513
Mobile:+353 (0) 86 610 3423
