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.
