Salmon Fishing Ireland 2017 " The Lee River ".

A picture tells a thousand words and in this case probably more, as you can see the water is running over all three sills and when this happens there is very little visibility. I had one look and decided to head downstream and see if it was any better there, passing by the Ballincollig weir I took a photo to show the amount of water moving over it and also the damage to the weir itself. Having reached the lower river the water though still being high had really good visibility so i decided to give it a few casts. The gods must have been smiling on me as the weather stopped raining just as I started fishing and all in all it was a pleasant experience quite different from past years, I met a few anglers that had braved the earlier rain and winds but no one had caught or heard a report of a fresh fish being caught.

Inniscarra Dam.

                                   

Looking up towards the Dam

                                                Looking downstream from the Dam

                                            Towards beat 3 and bad water clarity.

                                           Heavy run off from the roads after the rain.

                                                            Ballincollig weir

Having fished for a few hours down river I decided to call it quits and head home, the plan was to hit the Blackwater for a few hours tomorrow but on hearing the torrential rain outside I honestly think I will give that a pass. Hopefully this heavy rain will pass over the next few days and give me a chance to head down to the Blackwater for a cast, it is the first year that I haven't fished the opening day on the Blackwater. For those braving the elements over the next few days have a look at my clothing tips section on this blog and add those few layers to keep the body warm during your fishing session. Here is a vital message to all anglers both young and old... TAKE GREAT CARE WHEN WALKING NEAR OR ON THE RIVER BANKS...at this time of year they can be very dangerous with under cut banks and very slippery mud so take care.

Salmon Season 2017 " The Laune River ".

 Looking upwards from Beat 1 to the Lake, the water was at medium height and running clear ideal for the fly but as I was only doing a very fast session I only brought the spinning rod and a few Flying C spinners just in case the ever elusive Springer was about. As I said last year I wasn't going to fish Beat 1 this year so after taking a few photo's of the water levels at the different Beats  I ventured down river to do some fishing.

                                                           Beat 1 looking downstream

                                                               Good water clarity.

                             
                                             Looking upstream from the Bridge to Beat 1

                                                       Looking downstream to Beat 2

     
                                                       Upstream from Beaufort Bridge

                                               Downstream from Beaufort Bridge Beat 3

                                            Johnsons Beat Laune anglers Salmon Fishery

                                                  Looking upstream from Johnsons Beat

Moving downstream I decided to start my short fishing session on the lower river and was surprised to find that it had changed so dramatically over the last few years with many of the good pools filled up with gravel and now just long shallow glides taking their place. I started fishing with a size 4 Black / Silver flying C but had to downsize to a size 3 due to the water being so shallow, moving up along the river I found a nice quiet bit of water at the end of a narrow deep run and quickly changed back to a size 4 spinner to get depth in the narrow channel and within a few casts I hit a nice fish but it came off after a few rolls. It was a nice Kelt probably around 6 lbs and very well mended and clean, fishing the pool I hit and caught a few nice spent sea trout and brownies which i quickly released. I had to stop fishing this area because the fish were packed tight and any time the spinner came down a trout hit it and there was no chance of a salmon with so many hungry trout around. I have fished the Laune for many years and was surprised to see a pod of spent salmon numbering 7 or 8 strong heading down river very fast along the shallow water being lead by a big male fish, the big fish had a few white marks but was in great condition and at the speed they were travelling would have been down in the tidal area in less than an hour. As i was only out for a couple of hours the darkness soon arrived and I had to stop fishing but with very mild weather it was a nice introduction to my 2017 salmon season, normally I'm fighting storms or snow etc. I was also testing my old waders for leaks but luckily for now my feet are dry, nothing worse than cold wet feet. The moment we get some heavy rain to bring the river up by a few feet then we can expect to see some fresh fish moving in  (fingers crossed). Here are a few photo's of some of the sea trout I caught and released.

 
                                                               The Lower Laune river

End of Season 2016.

The sun has set on another salmon season and to be honest it wasn't a great season due to the fact that the Inniscarra dam was under going maintenance work until July and the water was very low for most of that time. When we finally got some high water the salmon ran straight through and only if you were lucky to be fishing then did you have the chance of meeting some fish. Towards the end of the season i spent the second last week fishing down stream and had caught and lost some salmon but most of the fish were stale / coloured and had been in the system for some time. I was unable to fish the last week of the salmon season because i was representing Ireland in the Five Nations Fly Fishing Championships in Killarney and was lucky to be on the winning team that won gold. Hopefully next season we will see a return to normal water levels on the River Lee and some good salmon fishing.

Salmon on the Fly.

         
            

Salmon on the Fly.

       
          
I have only fished a few hours here and there during the past few weeks not really putting in the time due to the low water conditions and I must admit it is the first year that I have not put in a full day's fishing for salmon. The water was up by about two feet and had plenty of pace to it so i decided to use a 3.9 ins per second sink tip and a small tungsten tube just to get the fly down into the mid layers. The  7/8 wt switch rod isn't really meant to cast heavy sink tips and tubes but it dealt with the weight very well and had very good turn over and great presentation. Moving down the pool I spotted a small salmon head and tail so i placed the fly well above the fish mending a few times which allowed the fly to get down a bit deeper and straight away the line was pulled out of my hand and i was into a fish. The salmon jumped and headed upstream against the current so i put plenty of side strain on the fish bringing it into shallow water so i could see it and straight away i noticed it was a small grilse but with the strong flow it was able to hold in mid river making it harder for me to bully the fish. I allowed the fish to move downstream with the current and then ran it back up stream just above me which gave me a better angle to fight the salmon, running it in circles i was able to beach the fish on top of some weeds and after a few minutes of resting the fish it was released.

Grilse on the fly in low water.

       

        
Having fished the Inniscarra Salmon fishery for many years now i must admit i have never seen it so low and even worse with little or no flow through most of the beats. One can cross the river in almost every beat and not see a fish, even dropping down to tapered leaders doesn't improve the action or movement of the fly. I was using my 7/8 wt switch fly rod,  floating line, a short 6 ft Rio intermediate tip and 6 ft of 10 lb flurocarbon tippet with a size 15 double Ally's silver / orange shrimp fly. Hitting the edge of the seam i was only getting a few seconds of movement on the fly and then i had to retrieve and recast, even a slow long pull or figure of eight retrieve was not getting any  reaction from the salmon.
The salmon have either pulled back to the deeper water in beat 4 or gone right up under the dam where some can be seen pitching into the water coming over the sill. Moving down through the beat i was shallow casting, basically covering the only moving water in a short arc thus keeping the fly out in front of the tip and line. I see a lot of anglers fly fishing and allowing the fly line or tip to move ahead of the fly and especially in low clear water conditions that is a no no. If you are not turning over the fly line you are going to get a situation that allows the fly to fall back behind the sink tip or even the fly line and you might as well not be fishing as the salmon will see the line well before the fly. Just as i was about to retrieve the line at the end of the arc i got a short pull and immediately lifted into the fish, straight away i knew it was a grilse due to the lack of weight on the line and decided to play the fish hard and fast but there is one thing about grilse they have great heart and fight hard well above their weight. Even though i brought the fish into shallow water it was still powering out and giving me a good fight, landing the fish i could see it was chrome bright and just up from the early tide. Removing the fly i quickly released the fish and fished down through the rest of the pool, noticing a small gravel bar in mid stream i then realized why the fish were lying in such an unusual location. When the water gets so low and clear we can see much more of the structures that were well covered in high water and this gives the angler more information on where and why the salmon were lying in these areas. I fished through the beat and just as it got dark a cold breeze started up and i was about to call it a day when the line was taken from my hand and another small grilse of about 4 lbs was on. Quickly landing and removing the fly i noticed it was covered in sea lice and as soon as i released it's tail the fish shot off like a bullet. Hopefully there will be some rain soon as i have heard that there are some big fish in the harbour waiting for fresh water.

Salmon on the fly.

           
            
Walking through the beats i noticed that there were a few fresh salmon moving up river and ever so often they could be seen cleaning themselves on the bottom, they do this to rid themselves of sea lice which can be very annoying probably the same as a human having fleas. The salmon were moving slowly from pool to pool so i decided to set up shop at beat 1 and wait for them to arrive a gamble that paid off but sometimes they will just sit further back down in the deeper water, wait till darkness and then run very quickly to the dam wall where they rest up for the night.
I was fishing a floating line with a 3.9 ips sink tip on my 7/8 wt switch fly rod and an Ally's size 15 double shrimp fly in bright yellow because there was still a slight tinge to the water, the yellow colour stood out better and with the longer tail had much more movement in the slow water. Slowly stripping the fly line to give life to the fly it suddenly tightened up and with a strong pull it was off down the pool but on feeling the tension the salmon ran up river against me and straight away it started rolling on itself and then running in between the rocks in an attempt to break the line. Having watched the fish pass me i had seen it was a big broad salmon so i knew it was going to be a hard and dirty fight and unfortunately the 7/8 switch fly rod was for once completely under gunned for this fight. When the fish wanted to run i had to let him and normally i can bully them upstream but this salmon hadn't read the rule book yet and kept turning back downstream in strong bursts that were impossible to stop. I can honestly say that i was taken to the cleaners for the first time in my fishing life, this fish thought me a few tricks that i hadn't seen and doubt haven't been written in any of the angling books yet. The fight was just a long surge of powerful runs followed by rolling and then diving in and around every rock in the river to shake the small size 15 fly but the trick is to give them just enough line to run and them shorten each run by decreasing the size of the circle and it worked. The salmon finally gave up and i was able to beach it 90 yards down river from where i first hooked the fish, the salmon was hooked under the tongue and on removing the hook it started to bleed out so i took the fish knowing it wouldn't survive the release. Even in very low water conditions it was amazing such a big fish had traveled so far in such a short time, it had sea lice and the scales were falling off so i reckon it had just come in on the early morning tide. The salmon weighed just over 18 lbs, my biggest so far on a switch fly rod using only 10 lb flurocarbon.