Atlantic Salmon Fishing Reports from Ireland's Cork Blackwater river.

Flood moves fish from tidal water!

This is the water level situation at Ballyduff in the last few days.
The small flood on Tuesday put the river out of order for a couple of days as it became very coloured.
By Friday it was improving and 3 fish were lost on the Lodge beats.
On Saturday June 12), four fish were caught - 3 on spinner & one on fly.
The best (~12lb) was caught & released by Ray Burns on Upper Kilmurry on spinner.
On Sunday, June 13, there were 3 grilse taken on the fly. Clarity is now a good 3 feet.
Seven fish in total for 14 rod days in the last two days.
There has been a significant increase in the number of fish moving through the lower beats since the flood.
I'm also hearing about some grilse & salmon being caught up in the Mallow area.
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The Best Ever July Catch
in terms of Fish Caught per Rod Day

On Sunday, July 25th., Mossy McElligott (Tralee) caught the Best Fish of the Season
with a 12.4lb on fly on Ballinaroone & his fishing partner Tim Quinlivan also had two on fly of 11.9 & 9.1lb. Tim's largest was also the second heaviest weighed fish this year.
The month of July produced 169 salmon for a total of only 183 rod days.
This is the sixth best total for the month since I took over the Lodge at the beginning of 1986.
It is the best catch for the month since the year 2000, when 263 were caught for 750 rod days.
It also includes the two Best Fish of the Season which were both caught on fly on the same day
on Beat 3 - Ballinaroone by Mossy McElligott (12.4lb) & Tim Quinlivan (11.9lb).
There have also been at least four very large fish lost in the second half of the month.

The table below shows the figures for the six best months of July.
Only the all-time record year of 1992 (when 1511 fish were taken) has a comparable catch per rod day!



Total catch for the season to date is 219.


Take me home, Mum! Our seven year old son Ian heads away
after an afternoon on the river with his famous mum Glenda on July 18!

Current Situation
The river is still fining off slowly from the small floods on July 19 & 23.
It is now @ 0.18m on the gauge with ~5 feet clarity.

Once again there is a huge buildup of fresh fish in the tidal reaches & a good number are running into the main river.
Some of the lower beat - in particular Kents & Lower Kilmurry - are hold a good head of fish.

Prospects
With predominantly dry weather for the coming week, the river remain at summer level.
There are plenty of fish running - both hefty grilse & larger summer salmon.

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Hi.
Even though the numbers are up this year you will find the Fisheries will keep a ongoing count for Fish managment records,we all know there are a lot of predators around & I presume it also happens in your area the problem of Illegal Fishing.
It's good to see the season has been good,all the best
& I hope next season will be as good or even better.
I returned in late September from The USA where I fished the Kvichak,Lake Creek,Moraine Creek,Funnel Creek,Brook's River etc in Alaska,where it was pointed out on The Kvichak the hut on an an island where fish counts are taken.
Also there was a setup on Moraine Creek where Fish & game had set up to check the Fish & later on the Bear numbers,which may I say was very high as I must have seen at least 10-15 or even more in about6 hours.
A party specially flew in on a charted Beaver Aircraft to Photograph them.

Unforunately on our river, whilst we have a counter which is situated on the first weir on the river, it only counts a small proportion of the total run of fish as most of them run directly up the weir & not thru' the counter which is badly placed.
There is a place on the lower river less than a mile above the tidal limit, where a counter count easily be installed to count every single fish that runs the river, but the Fisheries Board in their wisdom don't think that this is a worthwhile investment.

The First Spring Salmon is Landed on February 3rd.!

Derek O'Keeffe, from Thomastown, Kilkenny came to the Lodge for a casting lesson
with Glenda on Thursday afternoon.
After the lesson, Glenda invited him to fish on for the rest of the afternoon on Upper Kilmurry.
He hooked and landed a lovely fresh fish of about 8lb. on a fly he tied himself.
It was a colour variation of the PoshTosh as seen in "Trout and Salmon", February 2010.
The fish was hooked at the head of the Hut Pool on Upper Kilmurry and took about 15 mins
to land, having jumped half a dozen times.
Derek - a firm believer in catch and release - carefully returned the fish alive.
Not wanting to harm the fish in any way, it was quickly released without even taking a photo
as he was fishing on his own - the only rod out on the fishery in fact today.

Current Situation


This was the river below the Lodge today.


This is the gauge height on the upper & lower river for the last five days.

Prospects
On the 3rd., the river was at a perfect height and clarity for the fly.
On the 4th., the lower river was up approximately half a metre but peaked late evening.
There was very little fishing effort and gales, but a couple of fresh silver fish were seen jumping amongst the kelts.
Certainly spinnable for the 5th. Fly is doubtful.

The Second Salmon of the Season is caught on Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishery

Only 2 rods out on the river yesterday.
Tony O'Keeffe from Mallow was fishing at Kilmurry with his father Dan
and caught this 6.6lb. fish on Flying C on the Island Stream on Lower Kilmurry.
Sea-lice can be seen in the picture - two on the top of the tail and one below the adipose.
There were more on the back & the head of the fish. They also caught a few kelts.

There was a couple of rods out on Friday that also caught a few kelts,
but also saw a fresh springer show that they estimated at 15-20lb. - also on Lower Kilmurry.


The upper river had a slight (5cm) rise yesterday.
Occasional light rain in the upper catchment had been responsible,
and this has meant that the lower river has held it's level at 0.85m.


The level is currently too high for good flyfishing,
needing to be below about 0.6m to be able to wade and fish comfortably.
The weather forecast now looks as if we can expect a dry spell of at least a week.
This should ensure that the level will come down to fly order.
When it will be very interesting to see how the upper beats from Ballyhooly to Mallow will fish.

Grilse run gives a major improvement!




July had been ticking along quite steadily, with fish caught most days.
There were only 4 blank days which were all at the beginning of the month.
The last flood on July 18th. got the grilse moving in good numbers,
and we have seen good runs of fish going through both the lower & upper beats.
The river has fined off beautifully with clarity now about 4 feet.

So far for July, 54 fish to 14lb have been caught.
Of these, 24 have been caught in the last 3 days where the daily count is 10, 5 & 8 fish respectively.
Fly, spinner & worm have all caught almost exactly the same number of fish.
The 20th was the Best Day of the Season with 10 fish caught as reported below.
On the 21st., 5 to 10lb. were caught - and no less than 3 were First Ever salmon.
Husband & wife Jake & Jess Hiltz (USA) both caught their first guided by Glenda on the upper river,
& Marino Bellini (Italy) took his first also on the upper river.
Yesterday (22nd.) nine were taken (7 grilse & salmon of 10 & 11½lb.) including another First Ever,
with more now being caught on the lower river as it fines off.


This picture says it all! Seven year old Tommy Quinlivan with his First Ever Salmon!
4lb. sea-liced. Taken on worms on the Island Stream on Lower Kilmurry

With the forecast dry for the coming week, prospects for sport are superb!
Rods and accommodation are available for the coming weeks.

23, 22, 21, 20, 19 .............. Countdown to Opening Day


This was the Blackwater at 10.30 this morning.
Down to 1.04m on the Ballyduff gauge & clearing beautifully.
The upstream gauge readings have still not been updated since the 4th.

Our Opening Day celebration is now fully subscribed only a couple of days after it was announced in our December 30th. newsletter. We offered free fishing & casting clinic throughout the day with Glenda, ending with a bowl of hot stew for everybody at the fishing hut on Upper Kilmurry at 4.00pm.
Hopefully, we'll have a springer or two to report.

One of the Best Spring Starts for Many Years!


This fish was taken at 3pm on March 17 (St. Patricks Day) by PJ Burns from Dublin. Weight 8.2lb.
He took it on spinner on the Lodge's lowest beat - Ballygally - about 2 miles below Ballyduff.
This is the third springer for March & the eighth for the season so far.


This is the Blackwater in absolutely fine fettle this morning.


The recent rain only brought the river up 12 cm by Saturday morning to 0.46m on the gauge.
It's down to 0.36m @ 18.45 this evening.

No fish taken today, but a couple seen again on Ballygally.
Conditions are absolutely perfect. Clarity about 4 feet, water temp. 47F.
Beautiful fly height with summer level.