Wednesday 28 March 2012

Views of the Galway Weir in Irealnd

Here are a few photo's of the famous Galway Weir in Galway city, Ireland. When this photo was taken there was only one gate / sluice open so you can imagine when all the gates are open. The water being so shallow i only used a floating line with a Rio 10ft intermediate tip otherwise one would keep snagging up. The secret to fishing the Galway Weir is to use small flies preferably size 12 or 14 doubles, the salmon seem to like small and highly mobile flies even using a long 20ft tapered leader will give the fly plenty of life. When fishing here a bank stick is a must due to the water speed and uneven bottom and bookings have to be made in advance to secure angling days.

Views of the Galway Weir


Tuesday 20 March 2012

The Absolute Fresh Springer


When you can see the sea lice hanging on a salmon that is the absolute sign that the salmon is fresh in from the salt water and just in the river in the last few hours and if they are long tail sea lice less than an hour or so. When there were good runs of salmon on the Lee river we used to catch them with long tail sea lice on them and their scales would fall off in your hands they were so fresh. As the salmon acclimatize to the fresh water their scales become more rigid and tighten up thus stopping them from rubbing off and the sea lice would normally fall off in twenty four hours or so.

Monday 12 March 2012

Salmon Fishing Ireland The Laune River

Just added another fishing area to the Laune river beats, it's located just below the island on beat 2. A great area to fish if there are running salmon as they have to slow down here and decide which stream to take. As the water was low i fished a floating line and a Rio green sink tip ( 2.6ins per second ) which kept the fly down but just above the gravel bars. Fishing the heavier tip would have only led to the fly getting stuck on the gravel. I am wondering about my new fly, Paul's Favourite i think it should be called Kelt's Favourite with the amount of spent salmon that it catches, but never mind if your catching fish you must be doing something right.

As i have said on the video keep an eye out for the soft gravel and  deep pots when wading which are everywhere on the Laune, they change with every flood so a good pair of polaroid glasses is a must. I will wait till we get some rain before i will visit the Laune again especially in conjunction with a high tide as that should bring up some springers.

Salmon Fishing Ireland The Laune River

Thursday 8 March 2012

Salmon Fishing Ireland The Blackwater

Ballygally Beat:

Due to the fact that this beat is further downstream and closer to the tidal area of Cappaquin i feel that it would work well in  low water conditions with salmon coming in off the tide. In high water and earlier in the year the salmon are going to shoot through this beat with little to slow them down. Salmon are known to travel upto thirty miles upstream in a full day fresh from the tide so finding areas where they have to hold up for a period of time is the key to catching early salmon. This beat has a lovely gravel bottom ideal for wading and with such a nice pull of water excellent for the fly fisherman. One can fish this with heavy sink tips with little chance of snagging up, but with low water conditions and later in the year i would fish here with  either an intermediate tip or a long tapered leader of twenty feet to give the fly more life.

Woodstream:

A great beat for moving fish, they have to slow down to punch through the narrow run at the top and  one can expect to meet fish anywhere along this beat. From the far bank ( under the trees ) to midstream would be the key area  and allowing the fly to dangle for a second before stripping have taken fish here, even while stripping line it initiated takes from salmon. I have taken good salmon here especially half way down the run where there is a very  heavy boil on the far side as shown in the video of the beat. The tail end of the beat where the tree's stop hanging over the water is also a good area to concentrate one's efforts. The sink tip that i have used with most success here is the Rio 10ft brown tip (3.9 inches per second ) but don't allow it to fish in too close to your bank as it will get stuck every time.