Salmon Fishing Ireland 2014

Went down to fish the Laune but with the water being so high i decided to have a look around and head up towards the meeting of the waters to see if there was anything there. As you can see from these photo's it was hard to distinguish between river and field no mind finding the river bank.

                                          Looking up towards beat 1 from the bridge

                                           

                                          Looking down to beat 2 from the bridge

                                          Trapped weed just lets you know how high it was

                                          A path to nowhere ?
On my way up to the meeting of the waters i saw a few red deer so i stopped to take a photo of some stags. Even they looked a bit fed up with all the water and heavy rain about.

                                         

                                          Photo's of the meeting of the waters .

I fished here for a short while but no luck not even a pull from a spent salmon. The weather for the weekend is bad so i reckon my opening days fishing at the Blackwater lodge fishery on saturday the first of February is looking bleak to say the least. I can handle heavy rain and flooded rivers, i have the gear to handle almost any conditions but flying objects and falling trees due to storm force winds are just beyond the capabilities of even my best fishing clothing. I will make a call on friday night whether i go or not on saturday but at least the winds will be easing for sunday and maybe i will be able to cast a line then.

Opening Day Salmon Season 2014," The Laune River ".

      Pictures of Beat 1 & 2  of the Laune River on Opening Day of the 2014 Salmon Season

BEAT 1

 

Looking up to Beat 1

Beat 1 main bank

Beat 1 opposite

The water height had obviously dropped due to the fact that there was rubbish and branches left scattered further up the bank, the temperature was about 5 or 6 degrees celsius with little or no wind and good bright sunshine a nice day to start the 2014 salmon season. There were about thirty optimistic anglers fishing Beat 1& 2 some like myself having been there from first light, very few spent ( kelts ) salmon were seen throwing, i myself only saw less than a handful for the whole day and no fresh salmon showed. I did see one angler catch and release a spent fish and that was all that i saw being caught for the whole day. The water was cold and running fast but the depth up at beat one near the lake has obviously shallowed up considerably and there was alot of weed which made it awkward for spinning as one was taking weed with every cast. There were many phone calls made and recieved during the day and then came the news that a fresh fish had been caught up high in the system on the Killarney Flesk river , a fish weighing over 11lbs and caught by Ger O' Shea. At least one angler had broken in his rod for the start of the new season and hopefully the rest of us will do the same in the not so distant future. Unfortunately many anglers agreed that they wouldn't be fishing Beat 1 next year for the start of the season because over the last few years very few fish have been caught there and also having talked to a few anglers they all said that last year was the worst they had on the Laune especially as having put in many fishing days. There is obviously an issue here with Beat 1 shallowing up and not holding fish as everthing  just seems to be passing through.

As you can see from the above photos the water levels were fairly high and even those brave enough to walk up to Beat 1 left bank decided to take the long scenic route on their way back as some had a few hairy moments walking near the river in the high water.

Salmo The Leaper. ( HD Video )

          
Just a few minutes of explosive action and high jumps from my video archives to get anglers ready and excited for the 2014 salmon season, seeing as the rain and floods will be with us for another while this  is probably the best action that most salmon anglers will see for the near future.


           

For the 2014 season i am going to give  my subscribers on youtube and on this channel extended video footage with tips on tackle etc., ( private links ) compared to the shorter videos that i will be posting for the general public on youtube, so if you want to see extended videos and plenty of tips on lines, flies, spinners, catching techniques and locations subscribe to me on youtube or here on my blog. Regards Paul, and tight lines for 2014.