Salmon Fishing Ireland 2013, The Dam Fishery.

Over the last week or so the dam has been generating high volumes of water making it very hard to fish due to the height and speed of the water. Using a 25gr size four blade black / gold flying c i was able to get down through the fast turbulent water and slow the spinner down over the salmon lies. I got two aggressive takes before the salmon got hold of the spinner and cartwheeled downstream taking line from my reel. Forcing the fish back upstream i quickly brought the fight to me, playing out the salmon close in and fast so that i could get it on the bank and release it. The problem is that the bank is very narrow with a lot of cut tree stumps which are very sharp so one has to take great care that neither the line or the fish become tangled up in these. As you can see in the video when releasing the salmon there are stumps everywhere so great care must be taken at all times and this only adds to the fight making it more stressful. Luckily i tailed the fish first time and with only one hook inside the mouth i quickly removed it and released the salmon. During the day i lost one more fish and saw a nice fresh six pound salmon being taken by another angler. Spinning in very high water is really back breaking work, roll on the low water so that i can put a fly across some fish and take things easy for a change.

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2013 "THE TORPEDO"

Having lost a big salmon the day before i couldn't get it out of my head, i kept going through the fight stage by stage trying to see if it was possible to have landed the fish but all avenues lead to the same conclusion..... not enough bank. I just couldn't turn the fish after it headed down stream in the very heavy water, even using 20lb breaking strain didn't stop the fish but straightened the hooks on my flying c. Having seen this lovely big fresh head and tail a few times at the base of the pool i quickly covered it and it took the spinner with a very aggressive thump and off down stream like yesterdays fish, i quickly turned the salmon and it gave another blistering run upstream which i again stopped. i brought the fight to me and held the fish only a few yards out from me and kept running it in circles thus taking away its confidence. Having made a space for myself in a very awkward area i tailed the salmon and with two hands moved it up the bank. The hooks were in the tongue and the fish was bleeding very heavily so i took the salmon. Even though the salmon was well over 15lbs very fresh and covered in sea lice i still had thoughts about yesterdays fish..... how big was he when i could turn this big fish easily, how big was he. As with all anglers we have nightmares about the ones that got away.

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2013.

                                   
Having endured some heavy showers and strong winds i caught a large salmon at the dam fishery .                                                                                                                                                                

The Dam Salmon Fishery.

Here is the Inniscarra Dam Salmon fishery generating at over full load with two of the three sluices open. When this happens there is a very bad back eddy and with a lot of confused water about the salmon can be anywhere. The main run of water goes down the station bank and the back eddy runs all the way up the woodside thus making it very awkward to spin in as the spinner gets pulled in all directions and can get snagged up very fast. Amazingly the salmon can be facing downstream due to the conflicting eddies and currents, this can also be bad because the conflicting currents knock the spinner out of line and before you know it you are stuck in the bottom. Even when you connect with a salmon nine times out of ten you will lose the fish due to bad hook ups as the spinner is bouncing around in all directions and added to the mix bad water clarity. Having lost three salmon in a row, the third fish took hard and headed downstream and as there is no proper access to get downstream i clamped down on the line to try and get the fish to turn but it being a big fish it straightened the hooks and just kept going.

Having moved up a few yards i began to cover the near bank and met another salmon which gave a few strong runs before i took control of the situation and tailed the fish, unfortunately the spinner had been taken in too far and i had to take the salmon. You can see the state of the spinner in the video it was all mashed up and had been swallowed too far back its throat to be released, it was a fresh 11lb fish. Having only one large red barbless flying c spinner i fished on for awhile but not having a lot of confidence in the spinner i decided to call it a day. Must get some more large 25gr black and gold/ silver single barbless flying c's for the next time i hate being caught out with light baits in high water.

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2013. The Dam Fishery.

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2013 .

Having spent the morning fly fishing for salmon at the Dam fishery in really low water i was only too happy to see the water levels rise to full load. The low water was having a negative effect on the salmon due to the lack of movement and the water clarity was very bad and in some places you couldn't see your feet when wading. I had fished with my switch fly rod using a floating line and a green sinking tip but had change to a tapered leader to get some movement into the fly. The fly was a Park shrimp size 15 double salar and i got four plucks at the fly during the morning session. As soon as the water came on it cleared away the algae colour from the water and also oxygenated it as well. I changed over to my spinning rod and using a size four Flying "C" i quickly caught and released my first salmon, a nine pound fresh fish with red markings on the belly as it had just come up over the weirs. The second fish was an eight pound bar of silver with sea lice and this fish was also quickly released, actually it released itself just as i was turning on the camera it broke my grip and swam away. The third fish hit fast and strong with three blistering runs and the reel tension could be heard screaming a long distance away. Bringing the fish in close i noticed it had a bad marking on its side and this was very fresh but luckily for the salmon it hadn't broken skin or drawn blood so i reckon that it will survive to spawn. The fish put up a very spirited fight and this normally happens when a salmon's mouth is closed shut and that's what had happened, the fish had rolled and the line had wrapped around its mouth and  trapped it shut thus making the salmon go berserk and that is why it took so long to revive, it had burned itself out. There are a good number of big salmon showing up again this year lets hope that anglers will do the right thing and release the bigger multi sea wintered and multi spawing fish.