Sea Trout on the fly at night.

https://youtu.be/jxCwrWBavJI

Just a link to a video I put together showing a nice night's fishing for sea trout during mid August there were some nice trout averaging about 2 lbs with the odd fish going to 3 lbs. Later in the season I had a few specimen's but most of these fish were in the system for awhile and were well coloured. 

Salmon Season 2019 " End of Season ".

The sun sets on the 2019 Salmon Fishing Season.

It was a strange year once again with the salmon run being very sporadic , there were bursts of fish coming through then nothing for weeks. The water levels were maintained extremely low and it was hard fishing to say the least trying to find the balance of moving water and holding fish. Most of the season the salmon held back below the outflow pipe above beat 2 and in beat 4 because of the deeper water. The rocks at beat 1 were off putting and salmon were holding above them or further up by the dam. Thankfully the rocks have been covered and there is a better flow now but there are still two large boulders to be removed and then it should be back to normal. Salmon sizes were smaller than previous years with my biggest salmon just under 14 lbs and the rest under 8 lbs. There were quite a few fish between the 3 to 6 lbs bracket and some lean fish as well. Due to the low water the only successful technique was fishing with a tapered leader or intermediate tip and stripping line to get some movement in the fly, also very small shrimp flies in sizes 12 or 15.
All my salmon were released and it was good to see most anglers doing the same, sadly there are a few anglers that could do with a lesson on how to release a fish and not to take the dark or very coloured fish. Hopefully things will improve for next season and until then tight lines.

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2019

 
           
The fishery was busy with a large amount of anglers trying to tease a salmon out using various methods from spinning to fly fishing but mainly shrimping. The problem is that many of the people don't know how to fish properly and just sit on the same area for hours on end waiting for a take. The issue with that is they block any angler that wants to fish down the beat and it ends up being a case of combat fishing standing shoulder to shoulder and then nobody wins. There are four beats on the fishery with nearly a quarter of a mile on both banks that can be fished and at this time of year each beat is holding salmon so I can't understand why they just plant themselves in one spot. The normal way to fish is to start at the start and move down the beat and when you get to the bottom just go back and start again, it's common fishing etiquette but some of the people ( I won't call them anglers because anglers know what to do ) just plant themselves in one spot for the day.
I was dizzy watching bright orange shrimp floats bobbing down the water all evening and as it came to late evening the people decided they had enough and headed away leaving me with a short window to fish down beat 1. As you can see in the video the light had started to fade as I fished down the beat and just as I approached the first rock I got a hard pull as I was stripping the fly to counter act the lack of pace in the water. The salmon made a few darting runs and headed up in around the boulders which made me work very hard to stop it shearing me off on the sharp rocks. I eventually gained control of the salmon with my 10 ft switch fly rod and beached it, a nice salmon of about 8lbs and holding the fish in the current I waited till it was recovered and released it back into the river. The water was up earlier in the day and I caught a nice fresh grilse of about 5lbs which was also released. There are some nice salmon about but unfortunately most are well coloured and burned, but with more rain due this week hopefully we will see some more fresh fish entering the system.

Salmon fly fishing tips for low slow water.

   
          
The water is so low that the flow is all over the place with loads of back eddies and mixed currents, it's very hard to fish the fly through the pools without getting caught up on some of these new rocks as they are everywhere. Having studied the flow or lack of it I used some of my techniques to control, feel and in most cases speed up the line and fly through the pool.
There are a few subtle techniques in the video that will help keep you in contact with the fly when fishing slow water and some will help put a bit of speed and life into the fly especially with grilse about as they love a lot of movement in the fly. Another tip is to use a small fly with a long sparkly tail that moves and pulses in the eddies and if you are getting plucks from grilse and no takes put up a short tailed version of the same fly and you will definitely get hook ups. The fly size is very important as salmon have definitely started taking much smaller flies lately probably due to their new feeding habits at sea, so a size 13 or 15 double is ideal for summer water. I use a size 15 double all season and still hook up to both early springers and later season Autumn fish with some grilse thrown in for good measure. The days of just going out and throwing any old fly at salmon are gone, now one has to work at it by using new techniques, flies and lines to hopefully hook up to a fish. All it takes is one good pull to make a good day on the river and a release to make a great one.

Salmon on a Dry Fly.

           
Having fished down the pool with my switch fly rod I decided to give the salmon fishing a rest and change over to dry fly fishing for trout with my new 5 wt fly rod that I made myself. Really the rocks at Beat 1 have ruined the pool and trying to fish it with a salmon fly is near impossible due to the amount of big rocks that have been put in there. They have changed the hydrodynamics completely causing lots of back eddies and upsurges which are useless when trying to fish a salmon fly down because the line is being dragged backwards and the fly is sideways being held up by the numerous eddies. There was no need to put these rocks in and destroy a perfectly good fishery and it is the same for all the beats since the introduction of these boulders.
I put up a size 18 emerger and started fishing covering a few rising trout when a nice rise caught my eye, watching that area I noticed another rise and then I covered it with my fly.There was a lovely head and tail over the dry fly and lifting into the fish it immediately became airborne and straight away with the flash of silver I knew it was a nice salmon. I had to be very careful as I was using a 6x tippet but the rod really cushioned the fight and allowed me to net the grilse safely. I normally tail or beach all my salmon but fearing that it would break the line and take my fly with it I decided it was better in the net. It was a lovely sealiced grilse of about 4 lbs which I quickly released back into the river. Later that evening just as it was getting dark I hooked another grilse of about 5 lbs in the same area with that same size 18 emerger and after a great fight it was again released to fight another day. It's rare enough catching a salmon on a dry fly but catching two in the same day maybe I should switch over to dry fly fishing for salmon in the future... maybe not as I reckon I would be waiting a long time to repeat that session again.

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2019.

   
           
The last few weeks have been very bad for salmon fishing due to the water flow or lack of it on the River Lee. The Dam haven't been generating water for over a month just barely a trickle has been coming out and to be honest it's just not good enough. There has to be a minimum flow that they cannot go below for the sake of the fish and water quality. We used to have a standard high water mark and a minimum low water discharge but in the last couple of years that has been eroded away and now the present low water mark is well under a foot lower than that. There is barely a flow there now and all the new rocks that were put in are showing above the water line which is a joke as they weren't needed in the first place.
When I arrived the water was on full load and I started spinning up at beat 1 but after a few minutes I decided to move down to beat 4 as there was very little happening there. Beat 4 is deeper water and any fish that had been in the system over the last few weeks would be holding there. Normally fresh fish will hold for awhile if there are other fish about and that seemed like a good plan but unfortunately no fresh fish showed or came into the beat. I had just hit and dropped a salmon so I covered the same fish a few times when I got a positive take and we were on. Early in the fight I knew that it was a coloured salmon and decided to put plenty of pressure on it to get it in fast for a quick release. The salmon had other ideas and gave a great scrap throwing in a few great jumps and sizzling runs which stripped line from the reel on several occasions and impressed me with it's power and stamina. On landing the salmon I realized that it was a hen fish and also a hatchery fish and after a few minutes resting up I released it back into the river where it swam off strong. Unfortunately I cannot see much improvement for the salmon fishing in the near future if the water is going to be kept at this extreme low level.

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2019 " A bar of silver "

           
Well we are off the mark for the 2019 salmon season, a nice fresh sealiced salmon caught and released on the Lee. Really I haven't been out salmon fishing that much this season I hate spinning in high water and there has been a lot of high water since the start of the season. I have enjoyed some good sport fly fishing for trout but that too has been hampered by the excessive high water of late. The reports from the Cork area have been quiet and there has been no information coming from the Blackwater river so I decided to put in an evening session on the Lee.

When I arrived the water was just going on to full load and apparently it had been low all morning, just my luck here we go again spinning in high water another back breaking evening but at least I was out in the fresh air and most importantly on a river. I met a good friend of mine and he had fished all day but hadn't seen or caught anything in the low water, so for a break I decided to put up my switch fly rod and get some practise casting in the high water to see what distance I could cover and more importantly if I could cover to the far bank where most of the salmon lies are. The answer is yes, with my new rod and line that target had been reached so I fished down the beat for an hour but didn't get a take. A heavy MOW tip or heavier tube fly might do better in the high water but that's for next time. I changed over to spinning and put up a Flying C in black/silver size 4 blade and started covering the usual lies and straight away caught and released a nice trout at least something was willing to come out to play today. A few minutes later I felt a bump on the rod but nothing stayed at least I was getting some action and I knew that there was something around. I had just said it to Dean that I hit something when the rod was buckled over and we were on, a great first run of about 30 yards but feeling the pressure I knew it wasn't a big fish so I applied a lot of pressure and played the salmon hard. On bringing the fish high up in the water column I noticed that the spinner was just on the tip of it's snout so I was happy that it would be an easy release. I played the fish hard and eventually beached it on some grass, removed the hook and took the customary photo's before a quick release. Hopefully it's the start of a good season to come and with a bit of luck lower water and a few fish on the fly.

Salmon Season 2019 " The Blackwater River ".

Having prepared all my tackle and gear for opening day on the Blackwater river the god's decided to dump a shed load of rain over the catchment and raise up the water level from just under 1 meter which was a nice level to fish the lower Ballyduff beats of the Blackwater river to over 2.2 meters and dirty. Maurice texted me to let me know that the river was well out of order so I decided to leave it till the Sunday when the flood water had dropped off and was fish able. On arriving at the Gairha beats of the Blackwater river the height was about 1.2 meters on the bridge gauge ( Ballyduff Bridge on Water levels.ie ) and this is very handy to all angles wanting to fish the Blackwater as they can see what water height they are dealing with and to come prepared for fly or spinning. I walked the beat to see where my access points were and where I could fly fish and to be honest there was some nice fly water even though Maurice prefers about .70 to .40 meters on the gauge as the ideal fly fishing water. The clarity was over 2 feet and running fast so I put a fly through some of the access able water and a flying C through the rest. I hooked and landed a few trout which I quickly released and just above the green hut on the far bank I hooked a fish which decided to follow me in and then decided that it wanted to fight, it exploded into the air and shook the spinner, a solid fresh silver fish of about 12 lbs cursing my luck I went back up river for an hour just in case other fish had passed through but nothing. I drove down to the bottom of the Gairha Beats and fished there for an hour or so but to no avail. The weather was only beautiful and I was well wrapped up so had to take some layers off due to over heating, it's always better to have and be warm than not have and be cold and uncomfortable.I heard that a fresh fish was caught near Fermoy but as I didn't see it for myself cannot confirm that. I had some great fun trying to take some photo's of an otter which kept ducking and diving in and around the undercut bank but eventually my patience paid off and I got some nice video footage. The Gairha beats of the Blackwater river are definitely worth a cast especially when the water levels are a bit lower and trust me I will be back in the next few weeks. Here are some photos of the beautiful water on the Gairha beats of the Blackwater river starting at Ballyduff Bridge.

Left Bank short Beat to Hut upstream of Bridge

Left Bank looking downstream

Near the Fishing Hut access to lower river

Just above the Fishing Hut

The start of the nice fly water

Some of the beautiful fly water moving downstream

Looking up from the lower beat

Mid way down the Beat

Looking down to the lower Beat

Otter prints near the river

Looking down to the Green hut 

Opposite the Ballygally Hut beat end of  Gairha fishery

If you are entering the fishery please use all precautions to stop the spread of invasive species and follow the directions on the poster it is in all our interests to preserve our rivers for future anglers.
To arrange fishing you can contact Ralph Tindal on (M) 087 2553001.

Salmon Season 2019 " The Lee River ".

This will be a very short report due to the fact that when I turned up to purchase a salmon permit for the Inniscarra Dam Salmon fishery there weren't any available, someone had forgotten to issue the shop with fishing permits and the staff said that there were quite a few anglers looking for permits to fish the Dam fishery. Sadly this is not the first time that permits weren't available for the opening day of the salmon season, amazingly you have anglers wanting to pay for fishing and no one to take money where as other fisheries couldn't buy an angler for the opening day. Here are just a few photos of the water level at the fishery .

Looking up to the Dam

Looking down from Beat 1

Looking down to Beat 3

The only one that could fish the Dam on opening day

The view looking up from the Anglers Rest Bridge

Hopefully there might be tickets available for the coming weekend.

Short Video Opening Day 2019.

A small bit of snow on the mountains and a few deer crossing the river really added to the atmosphere of the opening day just a pity there were no fish.

Salmon Season Opening Day 2019 " The Laune River ".

Opening Day 2019

Beat 1

Beat 1 Looking downstream

Looking up from Laune Bridge

Looking down to Beat 2

Beaufort Bridge Beat 3

The only silver fish that I saw all day

Beat 2 lower

The Lower Laune

The Lower Laune

Some cracking brownies can't wait for the trout season on the fly.

Well it was another quiet affair again on opening day on the Laune river, there were about six anglers that turned out and to be honest it was really a beautiful day pity about the lack of water and fish. I did see a few Kelts throwing on beat 1 and again further downstream but no silver fish except for the statue at Beaufort Bridge. The lack of high water really put a damper on proceedings and with it being extremely low and clear it was going to be very hard to tempt anything. I did have some fun with some cracking brown trout that were willing to take a size 4 flying c in fast water but couldn't tempt anything with a fly. I definitely had some fun ironing out the kinks in my casting and testing out some of my new patterns for this season, now is the time that one has to get ready for the days that there will be fish in the system it's like a practice day before the main event. Hopefully with a bit of heavy rain it will start to bring some fresh fish in, on leaving the river about four o clock I hadn't heard of any fresh fish being caught or seen. My next session will be on the opening of the Lee and Blackwater on the first of February but that could all change if we get some heavy rain, we will need the river to be up about 4 ft on today's levels to have any chance of running fish. It's the first time that I can remember the river so low on opening day but I will be keeping a close eye on the weather over the next couple of weeks just in case of some rain.

Set Ups for Salmon Fishing, Fly and Spinning.

These videos cover most of the set ups for salmon fishing with a few tips thrown in that will save you time and money. There is a small section on clothing on the blog which will help with the cold wet weather just click on the link on top of this page to enter that post.Tight lines for 2019 and nice to see the first salmon caught and released early in the season.