Salmon Fishing Ireland " Blackwater Lodge Beats. "

I was lucky to have a day's fishing on the beautiful Carrig beat of the Blackwater lodge salmon fishery, I had rang Ian the evening before and arranged to hit Carrig early and if things were quiet there head down stream to try the Ballinaroone Beat in the evening. The wind was blowing very strong right across my right shoulder which made it tricky for casting but with a small bit of adjustment I was able to send the fly right across the river and cover the water well. Moving downstream I fished the fly first and then came back down the beat again with the spinning rod just in case there might be a fresh fish about. On reaching the last good run on the beat the line stopped mid current and held there for a few seconds before going slack, it was definitely a good fish as I wasn't fishing that deep and with the current moving very fast it had to be a moving fish. I had noticed that the water had picked up it's pace from earlier in the morning and the clarity had dropped from well over two feet to just over a foot so there was definitely a rise in water height. On checking the gauge later I found that it went up from .75 m in the morning to .89 around lunch time so there might have been a few fish moving through with the rising water even though I hadn't seen any signs except for that one pull on the fly. Even though the salmon were quiet the trout were out in force and I caught and landed some cracking trout to over two pounds in weight on the Ballinaroone beat. As the water was still rising I fished most of the Ballinaroone beat with the spinning rod as the clarity wasn't good enough for wading safely with the fly. Most of the trout were caught on a size four black/yellow flying c with a gold blade which showed up very well in the cloudy water. Here are some pictures of the Carrig and Ballinaroone beats on the Blackwater Lodge Salmon fishery.

These pictures are from the Carrig Beat looking upstream to the start of the fishery.

                                            Moving down river excellent fly water.

                                         Below is where I hit and lost the fish in fast water.

                                           Looking down towards the end of the Carrig beat

Here are pictures of the Ballinaroone beat on the Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishery.
                                          The Start of the beat looking down river

                                           The end of the Ballinarone Beat.

One of the best takes of the day was this stone it really fought well above it's weight in the strong flow and at times even took line off the reel.

Here are some of the beautiful trout that I caught and released during my fishing session

If you would like to fish the Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishery Beats just contact Ian on 087 2352120 or 00353 58 60235 .

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2017 " The Blackwater River ".i

I had a few hours to spare on Tuesday so I decided to have a go on the Blackwater river, I gave the Ballyduff Bridge Salmon fishery a call and after a short conversation with Jason I headed down to have a look. Jason had informed me that the water was running a bit high and coloured but not having fished this beat before I wanted to see what it was like and gain some information for a future session. It is always good to do your homework on a beat or river that you may be fishing in the future during the quiet times so that you have all the relevant  information about lies, pools and wading areas so that when the fishing is good you can optimise that time fishing rather than trial and error. The water was just over 1.91 m on the gauge and clarity was less than a foot with a temperature reading of just under 7 degrees Celsius. I fished beats 1 & 2 at the Ballyduff Bridge salmon fishery and on closer inspection of the water clarity it just seemed to be getting worse with visibility dropping off to about 8 inches, even with good headlamps on my Flying C the ever elusive Springer was never going to see it in that water. Walking the bank I was able to get a good feel for the beats and it is definitely a beautiful stretch of water for casting a fly especially on beat 1 in front of the big fishing Hut. Here are some photo's of the Ballyduff Bridge salmon fishery beats 1 & 2 moving down river towards Ballyduff bridge.

                                               Looking upstream to the start of Beat 1

                                               
                                                looking downstream towards the hut

                                            End of beat 1 near the small fishing hut.

                                         Water clarity dropped off to less than a foot.


Meeting up with Jason later in the evening he informed me that they now have a new beat upstream near Mallow called Ballygarret and this in conjunction with their other beats at : Ballyduff Bridge beats 1  & 2 , Blackstone, Magners and Ballincurrig give them over 4.5 miles of prime salmon fishing on the Blackwater river. For those anglers that need tackle or flies etc., he had just opened a small tackle shop just opposite the Ballyduff Bridge Beat. For booking or enquiries you can contact  Jason on (0877205690) or Connie (0876918230).

          Beat 2 from the small fishing hut looking upstream towards Ballyduff Bridge beat 1

                                    Looking downstream towards the bridge at Ballyduff

                              From the bridge looking upstream, the left bank is beat 2

                           Looking downstream from the bridge the right hand bank is beat 2.
As you can see by the photo's there is quite a bit of water so getting a practise day while the fishing is slow will give you all the information that you will need when the salmon show up and judging by the information I got from Jason they had a really good season last year. I will be putting up the other Ballyduff Bridge Salmon Fishery beats in the next few weeks so keep an eye on the blog for those.

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2017 " The Lee River ".

A picture tells a thousand words and in this case probably more, as you can see the water is running over all three sills and when this happens there is very little visibility. I had one look and decided to head downstream and see if it was any better there, passing by the Ballincollig weir I took a photo to show the amount of water moving over it and also the damage to the weir itself. Having reached the lower river the water though still being high had really good visibility so i decided to give it a few casts. The gods must have been smiling on me as the weather stopped raining just as I started fishing and all in all it was a pleasant experience quite different from past years, I met a few anglers that had braved the earlier rain and winds but no one had caught or heard a report of a fresh fish being caught.

Inniscarra Dam.

                                   

Looking up towards the Dam

                                                Looking downstream from the Dam

                                            Towards beat 3 and bad water clarity.

                                           Heavy run off from the roads after the rain.

                                                            Ballincollig weir

Having fished for a few hours down river I decided to call it quits and head home, the plan was to hit the Blackwater for a few hours tomorrow but on hearing the torrential rain outside I honestly think I will give that a pass. Hopefully this heavy rain will pass over the next few days and give me a chance to head down to the Blackwater for a cast, it is the first year that I haven't fished the opening day on the Blackwater. For those braving the elements over the next few days have a look at my clothing tips section on this blog and add those few layers to keep the body warm during your fishing session. Here is a vital message to all anglers both young and old... TAKE GREAT CARE WHEN WALKING NEAR OR ON THE RIVER BANKS...at this time of year they can be very dangerous with under cut banks and very slippery mud so take care.