Salmon Fishing Reports from Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishery

The First Spring Salmon of 2012 is Caught!

The First Springer was taken on the Lodge beats today by ............................ me!

There were no rods booked to fish today & the weather had turned mild after only 2 days of a cold snap. Glenda was going to teach on Upper Kilmurry for 2 hours, so I decided to accompany her & go for a cast for an hour or so. I caught this 6.2lb fish on spinner at the Jole on Lower Kilmurry. It would have been released, but was deeply hooked and bleeding.
Interestingly, the fish didn't have sea-lice, so had obviously been in the river for a few days. This could mean that there is already a reasonable number of spring fish in the river, as we have had prolonged spells of high water & mild temperatures throughout January to encourage them to run.
It was only the first 2 days of February where temperatures fell to zero at night.


The river is already in excellent spinning order with clarity of approx. 3-4 feet.
At 0.78m on the gauge this evening, it would still be high for fly-fishing, but it is dropping steadily
& should be coming into fly order in the next couple of days.
_________________
Ian owns Blackwater Lodge and Salmon Fishery in County Waterford, Ireland.

Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishing Blog on : ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.ie/

February: 5 fish caught in total, all between February 3-14 for only 30 rod days.
Joint Best February total since 2004 & joint Second Best total since 1994.

March 3: First on fly & Biggest of Season. Caught by Shane Kinsella (Wicklow) - ~12lb.
on a 1 1/2" aluminium Garry Dog tube on sink tip line.
March 4: First off the upper river. A 7 pounder on spinner for Tom Donovan at Castletownroche.

Season total to date: 7 fish.

Prospects
Looking very good for the coming week with a small (12cm) fresh on the river but very good clarity.
Dry forecast for the week so conditions should stabilise.


[SIZE="5"]The Blackwater today @ 17.00. Gauge 0.54. Clarity excellent.[/SIZE]


_________________
Ian owns Blackwater Lodge and Salmon Fishery in County Waterford, Ireland.

Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishing Blog on : ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.ie/

This fish was taken at 3pm yesterday by PJ Burns from Dublin. Weight 8.2lb.
He took it on spinner on the Lodge's lowest beat - Ballygally - about 2 miles below Ballyduff.
This is the third springer for March & the eighth for the season so far.


This is the Blackwater in absolutely fine fettle this morning.


The recent rain only brought the river up 12 cm by Saturday morning to 0.46m on the gauge.
It's down to 0.36m @ 18.45 this evening.

No fish taken today, but a couple seen again on Ballygally.
Conditions are absolutely perfect. Clarity about 4 feet, water temp. 47F.
Beautiful fly height with summer level.
_________________
Ian owns Blackwater Lodge and Salmon Fishery in County Waterford, Ireland.

Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishing Blog on : ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.ie/

The First on Floating Line!


Conor Arnold contacted me yesterday afternoon to ask if he could go trout fishing to Ballyhooly.
I suggested he go instead to Kilmurry with the salmon rod as it was free.
He caught this fish at dusk (7.15pm) on a #10 shrimp fly on a floating line. It weighed 7lb. exactly.
This is more akin to summer fishing than spring with temperature in the afternoon up to 16°C.


This is the fourth springer for March which doesn’t sound a lot, but is remarkable when you consider
that there have been only 41 rod days so far for the whole month.
Total for the season so far is now nine.


This is the Blackwater in fantastic fly order at 9.00am this morning with clarity #5-6 feet.


Having held at 0.30 for about 4 days, the river is now dropping very slowly once more & was at 0.27m this morning at 9.00am.
Water temp. 48°F. Beautiful fly height with summer level.

Prospects
The forecast is for continuing dry weather for most of the week. The longer-range forecast is for a very wet start to April.
With few fresh fish running due to the summer level, a flood would be welcome.


Blackwater Lodge: www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net
Daily Salmon Fishing Report: www.ireland-salmon-fis...report.htm
_________________
Ian owns Blackwater Lodge and Salmon Fishery in County Waterford, Ireland.

Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishing Blog on : ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.ie/

April gets off to a Great Start!
Despite extremely low water in the first week of April, four springers were landed in 3 days for only 7 rod days in total.


We have had just one day so far this season when two springers were landed - by two different anglers
- which was February 5th. Yesterday (April 3) was the first day this year where one angler has landed
two fish in one day - and they were both on fly on two consecutive casts!
Kieran Conlon (Cork) managed to get away for only his second day fishing so far this season,
& I sent him to Lower Kilmurry on a cold blustery day with a NW wind & air temps from 7-10ºC.
Just before lunchtime he caught and released a lovely sea-liced fish on a Silver Grey tube fly
right up at the head of the Island Stream in the fast water - no surprise as water temp is now just above 52ºF.
This was his first springer of the 2012 season.
More surprising was the fact that he went back into the water & the very next cast caught
a second sea-liced fish from the very same spot. Both fish were like peas in a pod.
The second fish (above) was weighed in later at the Lodge at 8.3lb.
Kieran saw a number of other fish throughout the day.


John Lalor (Cahir) caught this 6lb sea-liced fish on fly on April 4th. This was his first fish for 2012.


Joe Tynan (Kildare) caught this 8.4lb. very fresh fish on spinner on April 5th. It was his First Ever Salmon!
It didn't have sea-lice but they had only just fallen off it.
It is one of the earliest ever recorded First Fish on the fishery!
_________________
Ian owns Blackwater Lodge and Salmon Fishery in County Waterford, Ireland.

Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishing Blog on : ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.ie/

The First Grilse of the 2012 Season is Caught!


APGAI_Ireland casting instructor Ken Stewart came down to visit the Lodge today (9th.)
& went out to the river about lunchtime for a cast on the Kilmurry beats.
About 4.00pm Glenda went down to meet him & she arrived at the Hut Pool to see Ken playing a fish.
She hopped out of the jeep, rolled up her trousers (no time to don the waders) & hopped into the water
to net a beautiful sea-liced 4 pound grilse that had taken Ken's tube fly.
This is probably the earliest grilse that has ever been taken on the fishery.
_________________
Ian owns Blackwater Lodge and Salmon Fishery in County Waterford, Ireland.

Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishing Blog on : ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.ie/

Biggest Fish of the Season so far!!!!!!!


[B]Jim Shanahan from Castletownroche was fishing an upper beat & phoned me to ask if he could switch to another upstream beat.
I suggested he come down as I heard it was quiet above. He arrived on Ballinaroone with his 11 yr old son James & within 15 minutes
James hooked & lost a fish on a Toby. Jim caught the Biggest Fish of the Season a few moments later - 12.4lb on Flying C at the Road Pool.


This lovely sea-liced 7.3lb. fish was caught by Terry O’Keeffe (Midleton, Co. Cork) on Lower Kilmurry yesterday.

The river continues to fine off today & was at 0.25m at 16.00.
Another very fresh fish was caught today on spinner – only our second from the upper river.


The total for the Lodge fishery is now 8 fish for April to date for only 37 rod days.



This is the river below Blackwater Lodge at 16.00 today.


Gauge height 0.25m. Clarity ~4-5 feet

Prospects
There is more rain coming through the week, with storm conditions for tomorrow (Tuesday).

Availability
There's no problem for availability of fishing at present.

If you’d like to be kept up to date with what’s happening, email me on
info @ ireland-salmon-fishing.net
& I’ll add you to our Newsletter circulation.


Blackwater Lodge: www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net
Daily Salmon Fishing Report: www.ireland-salmon-fis...report.htm
_________________
Ian owns Blackwater Lodge and Salmon Fishery in County Waterford, Ireland.

Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishing Blog on : ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.ie/

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Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishery Blog
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New website feature - Salmon Fishing Blog. Immediate & historical news.
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The Highest River Level so Far this Season!!

This was the Blackwater yesterday afternoon (18th).

The river peaked yesterday afternoon with the highest level so far this year - 1.75m.
The previous highest level was on the Opening Day on February 1 when it was at 1.10m
This should encourage a good run of fresh fish once it starts to fine off.

Fishing & accommodation are available in the coming weeks.

Falling Flood

The Blackwater today (19th.)at 09.30


The river fell rapidly overnight to 0.85m from it's peak yesterday afternoon of 1.75m.
The water is very dirty & is being held up by some of the local tributaries which are still running high & coloured.
Depending on any further rainfall it might possibly be spinnable (just) on the upper river tomorrow).

Brilliant prospects once the river fines off.
_________________
Ian owns Blackwater Lodge and Salmon Fishery in County Waterford, Ireland.

Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishing Blog on : ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.ie/

Best Day of the 2012 Season so far…………………….!

As expected the river came into excellent order today. The gauge at Ballyduff was on 0.58m this morning & only fell very slowly during the day to 0.55m at dusk. The clarity was a good three feet on the lower river.
The upper river also dropped only very slowly but has fined off very well & clarity is around 4 feet.
There were a number of reports of fish moving on the upper river - albeit somewhat sporadically.

Four fish were caught in total for the day by just nine rods fishing and there were 2 fish lost at the net. Three fish fish came from the upper river - 2 on spinner & 2 on the fly - of which 2 were released.
Two were extremely fresh (sea-lice just fallen off) & one had been in for 1/2 weeks.
There was one very fresh fish caught on spinner on the lower river, but none seen.

Superb prospects for tomorrow. We'll have to see how much rain falls Monday to ascertain the prospects for the week.

Please be sure to Bookmark this! Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishery Blog
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New website feature - Salmon Fishing Blog. Immediate & historical news.
This should contain all the info put into postings on river conditions & catches & more...................
_________________
Ian owns Blackwater Lodge and Salmon Fishery in County Waterford, Ireland.

Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishing Blog on : ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.ie/

The Second Biggest Flood of the Season!

58mm rain fell in the 36 hours to yesterday morning.
Yesterday was pretty much dry throughout the catchment.
There is some more rain forecast for Monday & Thursday this week.


This is the graph of the height of the river at Killavullen.
It was falling Friday night but started to rise again at 06.00am yesterday before falling again a few hours later. It rose 24cm, peaking once more @ 13.30 in the afternoon.



The river at Ballyduff showed similar behaviour.
The level was down to 2.14m at 14.00 yesterday, but also rose again to
2.25m by 18.00 yesterday evening. This morning it is down to 1.65m @ 07.00, though the clarity is very good considering the height.

The river is too high to fish today (Sunday 17th.) & there is more rain forecast for Monday & Thursday this week.
One angler fishing a lower beat on the 13th. reported a run of "VERY" large fish running through during the day.

We have caught 29 so far for June for just 48 rod days which is remarkable.
The upper river (Ballyhooly to Mallow) is fishing much better than the lower river.
25 of the 29 caught have come from above. The daily totals are:

June 2: 6 to 9.1lb.
June 5: 2 to 7lb.
June 6: 11 to 10.3lb.
June 10: 1 of 5.7lb.
June 11: 4 to 11lb.
June 12: 3 to 6lb.
June 13: 1 of 5lb.
June 14: 1 of 9.5lb.
For all the latest info see the new Lodge Blog: ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.ie/
_________________
Ian owns Blackwater Lodge and Salmon Fishery in County Waterford, Ireland.

Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishing Blog on : ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.ie/

The Amazing June Water levels & Fishing...


These are the remarkable statistics for the June River Height. I have kept accurate records since 2004.
The average height for the period 2004-2011 for June is 0.37 metres with the highest month being 2009 when it was 0.46m. It is 1.16 metres for June this year. There are only 3 individual (spring) months in this entire period (2004-2011) where the water levels have been higher.
Needless to say, the upper beats have been producing far better than the lower river. There have been some excellent quality fish - all fresh & many sea-liced as fish are running hard in the high water.
The total Catch for the Lodge beats for June is 77 fish to 13lb. Of these, 60 were caught from Ballyhooly up with just 17 fish taken on the lower river for the month.
This is the best since 2003 & the average size of the fish is well up at 7.0lb compared to 5.4lb. for 2003 which was the previous best year with a very similar catch number.

The day before yesterday (Tuesday, July 3) 3 rods had 4 fish on Ballyhooly & yesterday 2 rods had 5 fish to 12lb. on the same beat.
With the water table very high, the river has only been falling very slowly between floods so the prospects for sport on the river for the coming weeks are superb.


This is the river at 09.30 this morning. 1.10m on the Ballyduff gauge & clarity 2.5 - 3 feet.





The upper river was dropping but has risen a couple of cm early this morning at Killavullen.
Clarity on the upper river yesterday afternoon was 3-4 feet.


Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishing Blog on : ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.ie/
_________________
Ian owns Blackwater Lodge and Salmon Fishery in County Waterford, Ireland.

Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishing Blog on : ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.ie/

On Monday 9th., 6 fish were caught (including the 13lb. First Salmon in last blog entry) making it the Fifth Best Day of the season. This included a couple of sea-liced fish from the lower river from Kilmurry & Kents.

On Tuesday 10th., 9 fish were caught which made this the Third Best Day of 2012.

Mike Whelan caught these three fish all between 9-10lb. on Kilmurry on the lower river.


Stefan Kadlubowski released this 9½ pounder on fly on the Wood Flat on Woodstream.



Joe Tynan caught his first fish on the fly yesterday too.

It weighed 4lb. & was caught on the Castle Flat on Ballyhooly.


Both the upper & lower river are dropping today but slowly due to the localised showers.
Yesterday both rose - the upper by a foot to 1.81m & the lower by 15cm.
They are down to 1.61m & 0.88m respectively this morning.
Clarity is fair here @ ~2-2½ feet. It is similar upriver. Some quite heavy localised showers are still keeping the river topped up.
The heavy rain forecast for today fell south of the catchment.

Superb prospects for the coming weekend.
_________________
Ian owns Blackwater Lodge and Salmon Fishery in County Waterford, Ireland.

Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishing Blog on : ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.ie/

The river had dropped off & started to fine down on Friday 24th., which was the joint third Best Day of the Season with 10 fish to 13.4lb. caught.
Heavy localised showers caused the upper river to river yet again on Saturday. It was completely out of order for Saturday 25th.
This was the picture for the upper river up to this morning.


The lower river was also completely unfishable yesterday (Sat. 25th.)
Today the clarity has improved somewhat to 1 - 1.5 feet on the lower river & about 2 feet on the upper river.
I already have a report of a very fresh 5 pounder caught on an upper beat just below Mallow today after only 3 casts.

Friday 25th. was our Third Best Day of 2012. A total of 10 fish to 13.4lb. were caught.
One rod had four fish from our top beat just below Mallow. Another landed 3 at Bridgetown, keeping only a 13.4lb. & releasing 2 grilse.
The total for August so far is 89 to 13.9lb. for just 129 rod days - a superb result considering the flood conditions & low rod effort!
The season total to day is 375.

There looks to be yet more rain from tonight to Wednesday!!!!!!!
_________________
Ian owns Blackwater Lodge and Salmon Fishery in County Waterford, Ireland.

Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishing Blog on : ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.ie/

The Extension to October 12th.

There are very few places in the Republic where you can fish for salmon up to October 12. We are fortunate enough to
have been granted this on a trial basis for this year, as our runs of fish seem to be coming later and later each year.
The extension is Fly Only, Single Barbless & Catch & release.

Special Late Offer €60/day.
To ensure that we have plenty of rods fishing to help collect data, we are now offering
fishing from now until October 12th. for just €60/rod day.

Promising Prospects.
We have experienced the same phenomenon as most rivers in September with fish being very reluctant to take.
We have however a very large head of fish in the system, with lots of fish being seen on most beats each day.

Fly Works Best!

For September, the fly caught more fish that all the other methods put together which bodes well for the Fly Only extension.
The September total was 138 of which 74 fell to fly. 93 of the fish were released.

The last 12 days of September saw 75 fish caught - of which 41 fell to fly.

Whilst fish were elusive, some anglers managed to do very well.
Gerard Bonnet's 3 rod party from Britanny, France caught 27 fish to 13lb. for their week including 8 on the fly.


Terry McDermott's party from N. Ireland also had 7 to 10lb. - all on fly. This fish was taken by Terry himself
on the 29th. on the lower river. It weighed 9.9lb, & was covered in sea-lice.

Gauge height at Killavullen on the upper river.

Moderate amounts of rain have given us a small (11cm) fresh on the upper river on October 1st.
Hopefully this will encourage more fresh fish to run.

Gauge Height & Rainfall at Ballyduff

This translated into a 6cm fresh on the lower river. The water clarity is superb.


This was the river yesterday at midday.
Height 0.39m
Perfect medium high summer level.
Clarity ~ 5 feet.
Absolutely ideal fly conditions.

Just 9 Days of the season remaining!
We have availability of rods and accommodation to October 12th - which is of course fly only - C&R.
_________________
Ian owns Blackwater Lodge and Salmon Fishery in County Waterford, Ireland.

Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishing Blog on : ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.ie/

Some magnificent catches this season both by you and your guests Ian.
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