The Blackwater turns beige
Blackwater Lodge…
Ian Powell of the Blackwater Lodge gives us a report on how the rain impacted on the Munster Blackwater:
Highest Flood at Ballyduff all Season & a dry forecast = superb prospects!
We have just had the two highest floods of the season within 2 days of each other. The latest is now just starting to fall in Ballyduff. We have had 4 days of high water levels which bodes very well for sport for the last 2 weeks of the season which closes on September 30.
Conditions.
Dry overnight. Forecast is dry up to the weekend with a likelihood of some rain on Sunday & Monday. High pressure should then build for the following week. The last rain obviously fell rather further down the catchment as gauges from Killavullen down rose higher than during the flood 2 days previously.
The upper river at Millstreet peaked at 13.00 yesterday. The Killavullen gauge Peaked at midnight last night at 3.68m & is down to 2.40m at 11.00 today. The Funcheon is still running high & dirty at 09.00 this morning.The Ballyduff gauge peaked at 2.58m at 03.00 this morning & is down to 2.32m at 11.00 this morning.
Despite the height the river has a sedimenty colour rather than muddy. This usually drops out rather quickly so we should have better clarity rather more quickly. It is carrying a heavy peat stain which will become more apparent as the sediment colour drops out. Hopefully it will be in fishable order faster than we think!
Water temperature at Ballyduff: Fallen to 12.5ºC / 54.5ºF.
Catches.
There were no rods out on the river at all yesterday. There are 5 who have ventured out today (with some cause for optimism) to fish probably the only stretch on the whole river which might produce a fish at this height which is on one of our middle beats.
Prospects.
Looking absolutely superb for the last 2 weeks of the season!The river should be moderately spinnable tomorrow in high water spots as it is dropping quite quickly – though not as fast as the last flood due to the higher level of ground water.It should be coming into fly order by Thursday.This flood should bring in the run of larger autumn fish so the prospects of sport in the coming week should be excellent. It combines with tides peaking at 3.8m at Youghal up until Wednesday this week.
Availability.
No problem for rods & accommodation at the moment.
Fort William…
Paul Whelan from Fortwilliam Fishery reports that after a though week on the river we still managed to land 10 fish in 5 days.
John Cooper landed a grilse of 5lbs on fly. Paul Cabrol and his party had 2 on fly off the Ellis beat.
Keith Shearing and Pete Woodly had 7 for there few days releasing 5.
Keith had a cracking fish of 8lbs of Glenmore on fly which too was released.
Plenty of water in the system now which should make fishing conditions ideal next week. Sunday saw huges floods in Lismore.
Ballyduff Bridge Salmon Fishery…
Ballyduff Bridge Salmon Fishery report 4 fish this week for Tony Murtagh on fly and spin at Ballyduff Bridge Fishery with the largest being 8lbs.
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
Ballyduff Bridge Salmon Fishery
Web: www.blackwatertroutandsalmon.ie
Fortwilliam Fishery & Self-Catering Cottages
Fortwilliam Fishery, Glencairn, Lismore, Co. Waterford, Ireland
Web: www.fortwilliamfishing.ie Email: [email protected]
Tel: (00353) 87 8292077 or 058 75299
The Munster Blackwater…
For more information about salmon fishing on the Munster Blackwater please see the following page with a list of all the fisheries
Fishing the first week in September was slow with the water running off steadily during the week. The only fish landed was a first ever salmon taken by Sharon Firn in the Road pool on a beaded Nymph. The fish weighed in at 3lbs14.5ozs and needless to say Sharon was delighted with her catch.
Fishing therefore was rather difficult on Friday, but we still managed to land two. Hamish Godman-Dorington had a nice fish of 8lbs4ozs from the Turn pool on an Ally shrimp and Mark Corps had one from Salmon City on Fin of 4lbs5ozs on a Cascade. On Saturday the river was at 80 but despite this Hugo Pearson Wood managed to land his first ever, a nice fish of 6lbs9ozs from the Turn pool on a Willie Gunn. I also had one from Peter’s pool on the Middle river of 5lbs14ozs on a Willie Gunn.
With the heavy rain last night the river was unfishable this morning. Jack Browne did however manage to land a fish of approx. 3lbs on a Willie Gunn casting from the road at the mouth of the Glenumera river on Doolough. Jack is an early and when he was waiting for me to get the boat ready, I suggested to him to fish the mouth of the river from the road as this time of tear especially, given the right conditions it can be very productive. Jack was surprised to say the least because he thought I was actually having him on.
I think the weather is supposed to clear now for a few days but there will be no shortage of water for the foreseeable future, so hopefully we can still manage to land some fish as we have an excellent team of experienced anglers here this week.
Fourteen charter boats, used for actual fishing on Official Training day, one Standby boat, one media boat courtesy of Malin Water and 
Our organisers, partners and sponsors will soon extend a céad míle fáilte when our local clubs Mullaghmore SAC and Bundoran SAC and the local charter boat fleets will present to the world the treasures of the North West of Ireland in what we hope will be a truly memorable championships.
Martin McKenna
There was rain for most competitors today, the final day of competition. Under gloomy skies at Brackley Lake, Gary Miller is catching quality fish on the long pole.
Good to see another strong group of contestants from Germany this year. They are putting up a strong showing in both the pairs and the 
