Salmon season 2023 " Blackwater river ".

 Carrying on from the previous post I headed down stream to Ballyduff Bridge beats 1,2 and 3 to give them a short run through with fly and spinner as I had only an hour or so left before I had to head off for home. I walked up to the start of Beat 1 and spun the far bank catching a couple of small hungry trout which I quickly released. Wading down on the nice gravel I fished the fly all the way to the bend using my 10ft 7wt Switch fly rod and floating line with a 5ins per second sinking 10ft versileader and a bullet tube. Looking at the water height and speed it would have been better bringing my 13ft 9in, 9wt scandi double hander and dredging it with my treble density line but my shoulder was still sore so I opted for the lighter option. Its absolutely beautiful water for fly which can be seen in the following pictures below, I've thrown in some pictures of beat 2 from the small hut to below the bridge nice spinning water with access to fishing with ladders etc. Beat 3 far bank from bridge upto the bend is again beautiful fly water as its shallow fishing into deep from that bank and that big pool on the bend is definitely a hot spot to slow down travelling fish. My shoulder was talking to me again to give it a rest so I just spun beat 2 under the bridge down to the bottom of the field and decided I'd had enough. Luckily as I was walking back up stream to beat 1, I was thinking maybe another cast at the bend but looking off into the distance I saw an ominous sight, dark clouds and the wind was just starting to pick up so I called time on the fishing. Having geared off the rain started and luckily I was all packed up and ready to go at that stage. I'll show the beats in order and from 1 to 3, not having fished beat 3 I'm just showing pictures from bridge up and far bank etc.

Beat 2 starting at the small hut. 

Looking downstream beat 2 end of beat. 

Looking over to beat 3 from bend

Looking upstream from bridge beat 3 right bank

          Looking across at beat 3 bend. 

        Looking across to beat 3 ballyduff. 

Some of the pictures are out of sync because blogger keeps mixing them up unfortunately it picks at random and not as selected. I haven't fished beat 3 yet and that's why it's not fully photographed, I'll definitely get around to that in the coming weeks as it's a lovely bit of fly water and as I said it'll slow running fish up for a while. 

 

Salmon season 2023 " The river Lee".

 Normally on opening day of the Salmon season in Cork I'd fish the Blackwater River in the morning and then head back to the Lee River for an evening session. But due to my shoulder injury and also the fact of being in good company with the lads from Blackwater Valley salmon fishery I stayed on and had a look at a few of their beats upriver and didn't make it back to the Lee in time.

I woke up this morning still a bit sore in the shoulder but the anti inflammatory did take the edge off the stiffness and pain. My shoulder had a quick chat to my elbow, wrist and hand and all decided we were okay to do a short evening session on the Lee. Got my permit at the petrol station and headed over to woodside beat 1 just below the dam and yes just as I arrived they put the bloody water on, I'm sure they can see me coming down the trail and turn it on for a laugh.

I just set up the spinning rod and covered all the lies hard, cursing the fact I wouldn't be able to fly fish it due to heavy current and very fast rising water. I gave beat 1 half an hour and then headed down to beat 3 and 4 again covering all the salmon lies with the spinning rod using barbless hooks due to the ongoing brown tag restrictions ( no I didn't get a brown tag again, got mine last year before the hot weather so didn't fish then either ). The current was really fast so I changed over from a size 4 to a 5 which held better and was definitely taking bottom but nothing, not even a trout.

Went back up to beat 1 finished out there till it got dark and thanked my lucky stars that at least on all the opening days I fished this year I didn't get wet....waders, jacket, boots etc all nice and dry going back into the boot of my jeep. Realistically I knew it was a long shot....really, really long shot of meeting a fresh fish on opening day at the dam but over a  decade ago it was possible and almost definite down river to get an opening day springer. I'll keep an eye on the Lee this year but really I'm fed up with the tags, water management issues etc so for this year I'll be fishing other rivers for salmon, at least when you check water levels for other rivers you can see what you're getting not like the dam it's a lucky bag at best. Before you say oh! but you can ring and find out their discharging times, you can but they don't even keep to those either....... Anyway like I said I'll do the odd session there but this year after over 4 decades of salmon fishing on the Lee I'm hunting new water. Photos below of beat 1 and 4 in high water again.

Opening day Salmon fishing on the Blackwater River.

 Did my annual trip to the Blackwater river for the opening day of the Salmon fishing season 2023. I arrived early just as it got bright and decided to fish Crowleys beat starting on the lower section and working my way upstream. Some how I had strained my right shoulder so fly fishing was out and I just concentrated on spinning for a few hours taking short rests here and there. I had seen a few kelts pitching down stream and while taking a short rest I saw a fresh fish head and tail, I was positive it was a fresh salmon so I covered it for a few minutes but no luck.

 I caught a couple of small hungry trout but no kelts surprisingly. Fishing back down the beat I met a few anglers fly fishing and they also had seen several kelts and a possible fresh fish earlier that morning. We chatted for awhile and they headed off around lunch time. The weather was nice in the morning but the wind had picked up later and got slightly colder, the water was about 0.67m on the guage at ballyduff and water temperature was around 9 degrees so you can see in the pictures what it looks like at that height. The fishery is just putting the final touches to the bank clearing with new rod stands, ladders and seats etc so well laid out and nice clean bank. I talked and fished with Noel the fishery owner and he explained that they have 10 beats in total both upriver and lower down by ballyduff Bridge this year so I've included his number on the fishing hut if anyone is interested in booking a day's fishing on any of the beats. I moved upriver with Noel and we fished the Blackstone beat which is just below Woodstream and Magner beats and they are also part of the fishery. I have some photos of the Blackstone beat below along with Crowleys beat that I fished today. I'll be fishing some more of the Blackwater Valley salmon and trout Fishery beats next week and posting those photos as well. Just heard that a fresh fish was taken at Careysville today so there were definitely a few fresh fish about. Below are the photos of the two beats that I fished today starting with Crowleys beat.

           

Ring Noel to book a beat on 

numbers below. 

Blackstone beats photo's below.