Blackwater River ( Upper Kilmurray Beat )

THE TOP OF THE UPPER KILMURRAY BEAT.

UPPER KILMURRAY

JUST ABOVE THE ISLAND

LOOKING UPSTREAM TO THE TOP OF THE ISLAND

LOOKING DOWNSTREAM TO CASTING PLATFORM

CASTING PLATFORM AT UPPER KILMURRAY BEAT

I fished the Upper Kilmurray Beat of the Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishery with the fly as it was a beautiful piece of water to fly fish, the flow of the water fishes the fly perfectly. The water level was 1m 11cm on the gauge and dropping, temperature was about nine degrees and out of the strong wind maybe a little warmer. Moving down the beat i fished the fly first and then went back over the same water with a spinner, unfortunately i didn't meet anything on the fly but fishing the opposite bank with some long casts pulled a few kelts which kept me on my toes. Moving down past the Inches and on to the casting platform i gave the fly another whirl and a fish touched the fly twice and then backed off with an aggressive pull on the line. The take was short lived as it dropped the fly suddenly, having met a lot of spring salmon over the years it leads me to believe that maybe it was a fresh fish as kelts normally swallow the fly first go. After lunch i moved upstream to Ballyhooly Bridge and found that the wind had come up due to the fact that this area is exposed  the temperature had dropped a few degrees, on fishing down the top beat i met a large number of kelts and one baggot which were in great condition and fighting fit but i didn't see any fresh salmon. Luckily the rain stayed away and with a bit of luck the water will drop away over the coming days and we will be able to fish more of the beats.