fishing Ireland 2023

 Well it's all a load of balls........ foam balls to be precise..Look at the video below of water height etc....

The dam was discharging a huge amount of water way higher than I've seen it in a long time.. The three sills were open adding large volume and speed to the water. I had fished it hard for a few hours without any action, not seeing any fish head and tail or even jump. I was using my Abu 10 to 30gr rod with a 5000 penn spinning reel loaded with hi viz 12kg braid and a black/silver size 5 flying C.

 I hit the fish from the far side and all panic ensued, knowing it was all or nothing I had tightened the drag to almost full tension knowing that I couldn't let it get below me and with barbless hooks in that height of water it would be practically impossible to bring it back up. I played the fish hard even for me this was just full brakes on and bully it back over to calmer water. I estimate the fight was all of 5 minutes, I was allowing the fish to move upstream but as soon as it tried to go down clamping on and with loads of low side strain forcing it back up into the current. I saw an opportunity as the fish rolled on its side and pulled it in to the bank and beached it on some grass, holding the fish by the tail it was over. I rested for a few seconds looking at the salmon, bar of silver, sea lice, hatchery fish and a multi spawner. It was short and stumpy about 11lbs weight appropriately. I fumbled in my pocket for my phone and was trying to get the bloody thing open for a video release when it fell into the river, grabbing for the phone the fish sensed my hand relaxing and jumped and bucked like mad shooting through my legs to freedom, it wasn't to know that it was being released anyway but I missed my chance for a video release and photo. Luckily I was able to get the phone back but it was wet, it's not waterproof so I spent ages drying it out and it seems okay so far. We'll I'm off and running even slightly earlier than last year, hopefully it's the start of another good season and here's hoping for a brown tag. Unfortunately video wouldn't upload on blogger go to my MrKingfisher3 Facebook page to view short video. 

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.

My cold weather clothing for early salmon fishing 2023.

 My cold weather gear for the start of the 2023 salmon and trout season. When you are well layered it's always easier to take stuff off if you're hot rather than trying to find extra layers to put on once cold. The main thing is to block cold air coming in and the extremities such as hands, face and feet are always going to get hit first so I have neck gators to stop inward draughts, fingerless polartec gloves for keeping the wrists and hands warm because once they are warm they'll keep the fingers warm. The leg booties keep my feet warm while wading in freezing cold water so once all my extremities are covered I can comfortably fish well and catch fish rather than be cold and miserable on a really bad day. Old saying "there's no such thing as bad fishing weather just badly dressed fishermen". Video below. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/aQTsTG4Ho9w?feature=share

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Salmon Fishing Ireland 2022 "Salmon on the fly".

 It's been a hard few weeks with very low water on the river Lee, I have no idea why the ESB are keeping such low water flow but it's definitely interfering with the fish and the fishing. I have been mainly trout fishing but with low oxygen levels due to the low water even that is proving difficult. There has to be an inquiry into this carry on because if it's not corrected there will be another brown tag season to come. At least they could run half load or less for a couple of hours every few days to clean it and freshen things up allowing fish to move through the system and not be held in the harbour or at the kingsley weir. You can see the lack of angling effort through out the river by the normal salmon anglers and when they're not fishing there's an increase in let's say other angling activities. 
I had literally just started fishing on beat 4, it was my 3rd or 4th cast and I was stripping line to impart some movement into the fly when the salmon hit hard and started swimming upstream past me very fast. I had to really be on my "A"game as I was using a barbless size 15 Ally's shrimp fly on a very light tippet due to the low clear water conditions. It came downstream just as fast and did a few explosive rolls just below me and honestly I expected the fly to pop out but it stayed in and I was able to beach the fish after some very powerful runs in the low water. It took a few moments of recovery to get the fish ready to return it back into the river and it was a very fresh wild salmon just over 10lbs. Hopefully in the next draw I can get a brown tag.............video is up on youtube link below.

https://youtu.be/cV8R0K9oGTI

Salmon fishing Ireland 2022

 Water levels on the river Lee have been irregular to say the least over the last few weeks, but they have been running water at 4pm most evenings this week at full load. I ventured up over the last few evenings and met about 12 salmon in the high fast water but when using single barbless hooks on flying c's its very hard to hold onto the fish for more than a couple of minutes especially when they want to head down stream at pace. Unfortunately you don't have the luxury of space at the dam and when the fish wants to go it goes very fast using the fast pace of the water to its advantage and as you try to put pressure on the barbless hook pops out especially as fresh salmon have soft mouths. The salmon I caught had pushed the single barbless hook through its mandible and caught the line on the other side enabling me to land the fish. It was a very fast fight beaching the salmon on grass as I was praying that the hook would hold till I at least touched the fish. It all went to plan and my first landed salmon of the 2022 season was accomplished not forgetting the other 12 that got away only due to the barbless hooks. Normally I might drop/lose one or two salmon in a season but 12 so far is just demoralising, the same last year but after about the fifth lost salmon I stopped fishing for salmon until I got my brown tag. Hopefully I'll get a brown tag in this draw and continue to fish normally and maybe do a video here and there, not like this one as the only video was on my phone when releasing the fish. It was a nice 9lb spring fresh fish, sealiced, wild with a bit of marking on the side from a bite more than likely a seal due to the size of the mark. I rested it for a few moments and released it back into the river to hopefully spawn the next generation of river Lee salmon. The upside of losing 12 springers is that its a good marker to the amount of fish moving through the system at the moment. Video of release is attached below. 

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2020 " End of Season ".

 

Well another salmon season has come and gone but this year we had another challenge thrown into the mix with trying to live and survive with Covid 19. During the lock down the fishing effort was very little and in my case non existant as I was outside the 2.5km and even as it extended I was still not able to cast a line till mid July. There was a good run of salmon on the Lee and it seemed to be the same in most rivers, due in part to the restrictions in travel on land and sea. This just lets one know how much poaching and netting are going on at sea when there are no restrictions in place, just think that we could have runs of salmon like this every season if it could be stopped. Unfortunately I was too late to the party all of my salmon from July onwards were coloured or stale fish well burned from fishing pressure downstream. The salmon were extremely well educated in all types of angling when they had reached the dam, they knew what flies, spinners, shrimp and baits in general to avoid so it was hard going trying to fish in the low water and bright sunshine conditions as well. I was just going out for the last hour in the evening waiting for the sun and temperature to drop before casting a line after salmon but I did have some fun teasing salmon on a dry fly in the late evenings. As soon as the weather turned and it got cooler I caught a few nice fish on the fly , all coloured of course but good sport all the same. I never got to travel to Kerry or the Blackwater for my fresh salmon but hopefully next year that can be fulfilled. Tight lines for the 2020 season and hopefully we'll have a safer 2021 season.

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2020.

           
           
The water had just come up by 6 inches due to the salmon pass flushing water, with the extra pace on the water I decided to use a 3 inches per second sink tip rather than my normal 10ft intermediate tip. The intermediate tip sinks at a rate of 1 to 1.5 inches per second just a bit to slow for the faster water and seeing as I was hugging the large rocks I needed the faster tip to get down and move a few fish from their lies. It started working very well as I was getting the odd pull and seeing fish pitching out of the way of my fly.
The salmon hit the fly hard and fast pulling line from the reel and heading back down stream.I moved  back upstream into a more comfortable position where I knew I could exit the water fast just in case it was a good fish, using a small switch fly rod can have it's draw backs especially with high water and strong fish because you don't have the same muscle power as a proper 13 or 14 ft salmon fly rod. Seeing that the fish was only about 7 lbs I bullied it back into the pool and knowing that I was using 10lb flurocarbon tippet I was able to bring it into shallow water and beach it on the grass verge. Holding the salmon for a couple of minutes to allow it gain back it's strength I eventually released it back into the river.There has been a very good run of salmon over the past few weeks but getting the really fresh sea liced salmon at the dam is proving hard and as time moves on practically impossible with all the coloured fish in residence. Might treat myself to a day on the Blackwater or Bandon for a nice fresh fish before the season ends.

         
            

The water was about 6.3 on the gauge great water for salmon fly fishing especially as the clarity was good but not so good if one is targeting salmon on a very small dry fly. The pace of the water was causing the fly to drift unnaturally fast so I had to give a few false mends into the line to facilitate a drag free drift. The salmon are being heavily fished at this time with anglers spinning , shrimping, worming and even the odd fly being thrown across them so they are hugging the bottom and staying out of harm's way. Early in the morning or again at late evening they are moving about and this is when they can be targeted with dry fly. My set up is simple a 5wt soft action fly rod using a floating line and about a 3ft furled leader of about 7lb breaking strain copolymer combined with a 9ft tippet of 6 or 5x tippet and a size 18 barbless dry fly. Some size 18 hooks won't take a 5x tippet because of the thicker diameter so you have to step down to a 6x instead so a soft rod has to be used to protect the lighter tippet.
There is still enough back bone in the 5wt to turn a salmon but I would recommend that if anybody is thinking of trying this they'd be better served fishing for large rainbows on the same tackle first to get a feel for the rod , line and fly size in dealing with the bigger fish. It's very easy to bend one of these dry fly hooks but there is a balance between playing a fish fast and breaking the tippet. I played the salmon hard and landed it on soft weed before removing the barbless hook and holding the salmon for release. It is very important at this time of year to hold a fish a bit longer and let it recover well before releasing it back into the river. I hooked and released another grilse later on in darkness using the same method, it worked well for me last year and the harder the fishing pressure gets this seems to be the best method for catching heavily pressurised fish.
       

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2020.

              
Having been away from fishing for the last few months due to Covid 19, I was delighted to get a few hours salmon fishing on the Lee. Unfortunately the water conditions were challenging to say the least with low clear slow water and a lot of weed floating downstream clogging up the line and fly. Concentrating on the known salmon lies I kept casting in and around some of the large boulders and slowly retrieving line to give the fly some movement and hopefully excite a fish into a take. Grilse and fresh salmon like fast moving flies and sometimes will follow a fly halfway across the stream before taking it.Imparting some form of movement can trigger a fast reaction and I had a few pulls at the fly before eventually hooking up to a small grilse. The fish gave a great account of itself jumping and cartwheeling up and down the river before I finally beached it and held it for a few minutes to allow it to recover enough to return it back to the river. I was using a 10ft intermediate tip with a 6 ft tippet of 5kg flurocarbon attached to a size 15 allys shrimp fly. Unfortunately lately it has become hard to fish at the dam with large groups of people fishing there without permits. It's very annoying not being able to fish down the river with so many people there sitting on croys static fishing and not having paid to be there while others having permits can't get access to fish.

Salmon season 2020 "The Lee River".

This is going to be a very short post as again for another year there were no permits available on opening day. Heading downstream there were some club anglers dusting off the cobwebs on their fishing tackle and enjoying the fine weather but the Inniscarra salmon fishery was quiet and empty. Here are a few pictures showing lovely water ( about half load ) ideal for the fly with just enough pace on it to fish a tube well through the entire beat. Maybe next year we'll get a cast on opening day but I wouldn't put a bet on it. Hopefully we'll have a good salmon season this year with good water level's being maintained throghout the year.

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 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 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.

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2018.

           

The water was just starting to come on as I arrived for an evening session, it seems to be the norm now to run the water at 4pm just as the lads arrive to fish the evening ticket. I really would like to fish the fly in low water but I have to make do with spinning in high water. The water was quite clear and moving at a good pace so I put up a size 4 flying C and started spinning upstream working the salmon lies when I got a small bump quickly followed by a hard pull and then a few head shakes and we were on. The salmon took off downstream very fast but having set a strong tension I was able to turn the fish and bring it in close for a look to see where it was hooked, luckily it was only hooked outside the mouth so I decided to play the fish fast and control the fish close in keeping the salmon away from the large boulders. Running the salmon in circles I turned it towards the shallows and tailed the fish, removing the spinner I rested the fish for a few seconds allowing it to get some strength back before I released it back into the river. It was a very fresh wild sealiced salmon of about 11 lbs and in cracking shape as you would expect at this time of year. Hopefully the main run will start now and we will have some low water which will allow me to fish the fly.

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2018

         

Having been out only a few evenings since the start of the season I decided to give the Dam salmon fishery a cast due to the fact that it was very high water running onto a very high tide so I knew that there had to be some fresh fish moving through the system. Using a size 4 black and silver flying "C" I began to spin the water but found it difficult to reach bottom so I changed over the a heavy size 5 and started taking weed straight away. I knew that I must be covering fish but the speed and clarity of the water were going to be an issue. I changed tactic and fished the center run because when the sills are open it clouds up the inside run with debris and mud, the middle and far bank can be clearer water as the flow is coming from under the dam so I concentrated my fishing to this area.The salmon hit very hard and screamed upstream but I was able to gain control very fast over the fish and guide into calmer water where I began to play it out. The fish kept (hand standing) fighting vertically head down and rubbing the line on the big boulders so I had to finish the fight fast and glide it into the bank. I soon discovered that the spinner was very deep and on removing it the fish bled badly so I decided to take the fish rather than allow it to die upon release. I normally release my first salmon but unfortunately early spring salmon especially in very high water can engulf the spinner so badly that it is almost impossible to get out without harming the fish. Hopefully we will get a break from high water soon and that will allow me to cast a fly for the first time this season.  I will be putting up a video soon on the set up I use when spinning for salmon showing my choice of tackle and equipment.

The Season Finale " Session 5 & 6 ".

            
The very last session of my 2017 salmon fishing season, I caught and released two good salmon one was about 10 lbs and the other over 16 lbs both fish were male. I was hoping to reach the 20 salmon mark for the week but on the final day a big seal showed up to the party and really spoiled the fun. Having debarbed the hooks on my Flying C's I did lose a few salmon  during the week but in the larger scale of things it was less damage to the salmon and faster on the release so that the fish were strong when being returned back into the river to continue their journey up to spawn the next generation of salmon. The big salmon was in great condition and will be the perfect specimen to produce big salmon in the future carrying that strain of gene. Over all I had a good season with some nice salmon being caught and released but I will take a note out of this years book and that is to take a good fish early in the season and not wait till autumn to try and bag a fresh fish. The salmon rods/ reels will be getting a nice cleaning and oiling before I put them away for next season and I must pick up some new braid for my spinning reel as the one I was using has definitely seen better days and maybe a new fly line, waders, sink tips, the list is starting already. Tight lines till next year.

" End of Season 4 "

            
The fourth installment in my end of season session where I caught and released 18 salmon in very high flood  water conditions.