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 .
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