Atlantic Salmon Fishing Reports from Ireland's Cork Blackwater

[bwlodge]

The First Springer is Caught on the Blackwater Lodge beats

Lodge regular Gavin Wishart from Newcastle, Co. Down came down to celebrate his 40th. birthday
this weekend & scooped the First Salmon of the 2010 season to be caught on the Lodge Fishery.

He was fishing yesterday (March 6th) with Connie Corcoran on Ballinlovane and took the fish on Flying C at Cloonbeg.
The fish would have been released, but was bleeding from the gills so had to be kept.
The cast before he lost what they both believe was another springer, so there were definitely a few about.
It was hardly surprising that it took us until now to catch a fish as there were only 64 rod days
for the whole month of February. There would certainly be more springers caught if there were
more rods out on the river each day.

Prospects
There are more fresh fish being seen in the river in the last few days.
The river is in absolutely cracking order at the moment - even for the fly.
0.44m on the gauge so perfect fly height & clarity a good 4 feet.
The weather forecast (Metcheck) looks dry for the next 2 weeks apart from about 6mm on the 15th.
Daily Updated Fishing Report: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fi...report.htm

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[bwlodge]

Here's the current water level on the Cork Blackwater at Ballyduff.

Source: [URL="http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/FishingReport/fishingreport.htm"]Blackwater Lodge Fishing Report page[/URL]
The river is falling slowly but steadily. The clarity has improved dramatically & is now about 5 feet on the lower river.
It's still a bit too high to fish the fly comfortably.
The 5th. springer of the season on the Lodge beats was caught on spinner on Beat 5 - Inchinleama last Sunday (April 4th.) before the last flood hit the river.
One kelt was caught today - surprising that there are still some present in the river this late in the season.
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[bwlodge]

Flood moves fish from tidal water!

This is the water level situation at Ballyduff in the last few days.
The small flood on Tuesday put the river out of order for a couple of days as it became very coloured.
By Friday it was improving and 3 fish were lost on the Lodge beats.
On Saturday June 12), four fish were caught - 3 on spinner & one on fly.
The best (~12lb) was caught & released by Ray Burns on Upper Kilmurry on spinner.
On Sunday, June 13, there were 3 grilse taken on the fly. Clarity is now a good 3 feet.
Seven fish in total for 14 rod days in the last two days.
There has been a significant increase in the number of fish moving through the lower beats since the flood.
I'm also hearing about some grilse & salmon being caught up in the Mallow area.
For the latest info: Fishing report page http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fi...report.htm
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[bwlodge]

[font "Arial"][#000000][size 5]The Best Ever July Catch[/size][/#000000][/font]
in terms of Fish Caught per Rod Day


On Sunday, July 25th., Mossy McElligott (Tralee) caught the Best Fish of the Season
with a 12.4lb on fly on Ballinaroone & his fishing partner Tim Quinlivan also had two on fly of 11.9 & 9.1lb.
Tim's largest was also the second heaviest weighed fish this year.

The month of July produced 169 salmon for a total of only 183 rod days.
This is the sixth best total for the month since I took over the Lodge at the beginning of 1986.
It is the best catch for the month since the year 2000, when 263 were caught for 750 rod days.
It also includes the two Best Fish of the Season which were both caught on fly on the same day
on Beat 3 - Ballinaroone by Mossy McElligott (12.4lb) & Tim Quinlivan (11.9lb).
There have also been at least four very large fish lost in the second half of the month.

The table below shows the figures for the six best months of July.
Only the all-time record year of 1992 (when 1511 fish were taken) has a comparable catch per rod day!



Total catch for the season to date is 219.


Take me home, Mum! Our seven year old son Ian heads away
after an afternoon on the river with his famous mum Glenda on July 18!

Current Situation
The river is still fining off slowly from the small floods on July 19 & 23.
It is now @ 0.18m on the gauge with ~5 feet clarity.

Once again there is a huge buildup of fresh fish in the tidal reaches & a good number are running into the main river.
Some of the lower beat - in particular Kents & Lower Kilmurry - are hold a good head of fish.

Prospects
With predominantly dry weather for the coming week, the river remain at summer level.
There are plenty of fish running - both hefty grilse & larger summer salmon.

For all the very latest information please see the Blackwater Lodge Fishing Report page on :
http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fi...report.htm

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[bwlodge]

2010 Salmon Season Report from Blackwater Lodge
Finally, I have completed a report on the 2010 Season on Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishery. This can be found on:
http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fi...season.htm

For more detailed reports by Month please go to:
http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fi...onthly.htm

2010 Season Highlights

...............................Season Total: 652 for 1,342 rod days (0.49 fish/rod day).
....................................July Total: 168 for 183 rod days.
........................................................(The Best July since 2000 when 263 were caught for 750 rod days)
...............Best Day of the Season: September 26 - 26 fish to 16lb.
...............Best Catch for One Rod: Eleven fish on September 21st.
......Number of First Ever Salmon: Thirty-five in total for the season.
Proportion of Fish Caught on Fly: Second Highest Ever for the Total 2011 Season.
........................................................Highest Ever for the months of May & June.
........................................................Second Highest for the month of September.
........................................................Fifth Highest for August.
........................................................Eighth Highest for July.



The Draft Proposals for the Wild Salmon & Seatrout Tagging Scheme Regulations for the 2011 Season
were issued on Friday, November 19.

The quota for the Blackwater has been raised to 5,859 from the 2010 quota which was 5,054.

The number of tags for the spring (February 1 to May 11) has not been confirmed yet.
Last year, it was one tag for the Blackwater but this was only announced in a Byelaw issued on December 17, 2009
so we are still waiting to hear if it will be one or three tags.

The Huge Run of Fish continues

I was talking to Fishery Board staff at the excellent Irish Fly Fair in Galway last weekend
& got the latest on the runs of fish into the Blackwater.
There were reports of 7,500 fish that had run into the river in the 8 days from October 27.

Just before the Fair on the weekend of November 13/14, this figure had jumped to over 15,000....................!

This bodes well for our future stocks of salmon.
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[bwlodge]

The First Spring Salmon is Landed on February 3rd.!

Derek O'Keeffe, from Thomastown, Kilkenny came to the Lodge for a casting lesson
with Glenda on Thursday afternoon.
After the lesson, Glenda invited him to fish on for the rest of the afternoon on Upper Kilmurry.
He hooked and landed a lovely fresh fish of about 8lb. on a fly he tied himself.
It was a colour variation of the PoshTosh as seen in "Trout and Salmon", February 2010.
The fish was hooked at the head of the Hut Pool on Upper Kilmurry and took about 15 mins
to land, having jumped half a dozen times.
Derek - a firm believer in catch and release - carefully returned the fish alive.
Not wanting to harm the fish in any way, it was quickly released without even taking a photo
as he was fishing on his own - the only rod out on the fishery in fact today.

Current Situation


This was the river below the Lodge today.


This is the gauge height on the upper & lower river for the last five days.

Prospects
On the 3rd., the river was at a perfect height and clarity for the fly.
On the 4th., the lower river was up approximately half a metre but peaked late evening.
There was very little fishing effort and gales, but a couple of fresh silver fish were seen jumping amongst the kelts.
Certainly spinnable for the 5th. Fly is doubtful.

For all the latest info, see also:
[url "http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fishing%20Report/fishingreport.htm"]http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/FishingReport/fishingreport.htm[/url]
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000222088579
or follow us on
http://twitter.com/blackwaterlodge
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[bwlodge]

The Second Salmon of the Season is caught on Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishery

Only 2 rods out on the river yesterday.
Tony O'Keeffe from Mallow was fishing at Kilmurry with his father Dan
and caught this 6.6lb. fish on Flying C on the Island Stream on Lower Kilmurry.
Sea-lice can be seen in the picture - two on the top of the tail and one below the adipose.
There were more on the back & the head of the fish. They also caught a few kelts.

There was a couple of rods out on Friday that also caught a few kelts,
but also saw a fresh springer show that they estimated at 15-20lb. - also on Lower Kilmurry.


The upper river had a slight (5cm) rise yesterday.
Occasional light rain in the upper catchment had been responsible,
and this has meant that the lower river has held it's level at 0.85m.


The level is currently too high for good flyfishing,
needing to be below about 0.6m to be able to wade and fish comfortably.
The weather forecast now looks as if we can expect a dry spell of at least a week.
This should ensure that the level will come down to fly order.
When it will be very interesting to see how the upper beats from Ballyhooly to Mallow will fish.

For all the latest info, see also:
http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fi...report.htm
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000222088579
or follow us on
[url][url "http://twitter.com/blackwaterlodge%5b/url"]http://twitter.com/blackwaterlodge[/url[/url]]
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[bwlodge]

John Burch from Armagh with a sea-liced fish taken on spinner on Upper Kilmurry on Saturday.
This was the fifth for March & the eighth for the season to date.
Fishing are being seen in good numbers on the lower beats
- there was one put at #30lb. seen several times today on Lower Kilmurry.
Fish seem to be holding in the beats below Clondulane,
which may explain why so many are being seen but not hooked
as springers go off the take quite quickly once they've been in the river a week or two.


Currently summer level with superb clarity. We'll have to see what the rain later in the week may do.........................
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[bwlodge]

Best Day of the Season & Third Best Fish - June 19th.

On Sunday, June 19, we yet again recorded the Best Day of the Season so far.
It was remarkable as the river had only just come back into order after the last small dirty flood.
Even more remarkable was the fact that all the fish fell to just three rods on one beat on the upper river.

Mick Kennedy & Billy Jewitt fished Beat 8 - Bridgetown Priory & landed four fish in the morning & another in the early afternoon. Billy had 2 grilse on spinner to 6lb. and Mick had two on spinner & one on fly - best 13.3lb (see picture) which was the Third Best Fish so far this Season.
They were joined in the evening by Kieran Conlon who had a magic half hour that evening. He landed three fish - all with long-tailed sea-lice - a grilse of 4lb. & two 10 pounders - all on the fly.
Kieran went to the Lodge's top beat 28 miles upriver on Monday 20th., & released two more fish of 6 & 7lb. on fly.

Monster Lost!
Mick was fishing Beat 9 a little further upriver yesterday. He lost the biggest fish he'd ever hooked - reckoned to be well into the twenties of pounds - on spinner.

June 21 - Third Best Day of the Season.
The run of big fish continues, with most of the fish being taken on our upper 8 beats (Nos 7-14) from 17 to 28 miles upstream of the Lodge.
Six fish were caught in total on Tuesday 21st. Mick Kennedy (again!) caught 3 on Beat 11 - a 7 & two 10 pounders all on spinner - & lost three fish all about 14/15lb as well.
Beat 9 produced the best fish of the day - an 11.3 pounder on prawn. On the lower river, one grilse (4lb) was released on fly & 16 year old Jack Kadlubowski (UK) sportingly released the First Ever salmon he had caught - a 6 1/2 pounder on spinner from Beat 5.
There are plenty of reports of (mainly) double-figure fish running right through to the upper beats.
On Wednesday & Thursday, we had no rods out due to dirty water, but a beat on the opposite bank to one of our upper beats (20 miles upriver) caught 6 fish to 13lb. – 4 with long-tailed sea-lice.
Just goes to show – “if you ain’t in, you cain’t win!”.

On Friday 24th. - there was heavy rain throughout the catchment. The upper beats (which have been fishing best in the last week) were out of order & the lower river (which was coming into good order in the previous 2 days) is going out of order @ 3pm this afternoon & is up 20cm to 0.54m & pretty coloured.




There was plenty of rain throughout the catchment yesterday (Friday). We had 30mm here at Ballyduff.
The upper river peaked at 01.00 this morning (Saturday) at Millstreet at 1.80m & is back to 0.80m at 12.00.
The word from the top of the river is that it should be fishable up there tomorrow - certainly with spinner even if a bit high for the fly.
The lower river is still rising. It was 1.20m @ 09.00 & 1.44m @ 12.00 here at Ballyduff. The clarity is not as bad as could have been expected. That siltiness that usually fines off quickly. Clarity is around 1 foot today.

Superb Prospects for Next Week!
This is the biggest flood we've had since mid-February, so with the run of fish that we already had before the flood, plus grilse now appearing in good numbers well down the West coast, we should see a bumper run of fish as this flood fines off.
Next week could be an absolute humdinger with both big fish & grilse running as the river fines off.



The clarity of the water was reasonably good at the beginning of the week when 16 fish to 13lb. were caught - all on the upper river. Wednesday & Thursday were out due to coloured water, but even though the clarity of the water wasn't great yesterday (Friday), 5 fish all around 6-7lb were taken on spinner on the upper beats, including several with sea-lice. The lower beats haven't been fishing well as the fish are all running hard to the upper river.
100th. Salmon of the Season!



The river was slow enough to clear after the last flood, but was coming back into order on the upper beats yesterday.
The fish were caught on Beats 9 & 10. Two fish about 10lb. - one sea-liced and a sea-liced grilse on fly.

This brings our catches to 43 for June & 100 for the season so far!

Plenty of fish seen running the upper river - mostly in the 6-7lb class, but there's obviously both smaller grilse & double-figure fish running with them.

With the forecast dry for the remainder of the week, prospects for sport are superb!
Rods and accommodation are available for the coming weeks.

See Blackwater Lodge Fishing Report page: http://bit.ly/fzavCh
See Ian Powell Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/dYddlZ
See Blackwater Lodge & Salmon Fishery Facebook page (http://on.fb.me/gsGQLt)
Follow our Tweets. http://twitter.com/#!/blackwaterlodge
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[bwlodge]

Grilse run gives a major improvement!




July had been ticking along quite steadily, with fish caught most days.
There were only 4 blank days which were all at the beginning of the month.
The last flood on July 18th. got the grilse moving in good numbers,
and we have seen good runs of fish going through both the lower & upper beats.
The river has fined off beautifully with clarity now about 4 feet.

So far for July, 54 fish to 14lb have been caught.
Of these, 24 have been caught in the last 3 days where the daily count is 10, 5 & 8 fish respectively.
Fly, spinner & worm have all caught almost exactly the same number of fish.
The 20th was the Best Day of the Season with 10 fish caught as reported below.
On the 21st., 5 to 10lb. were caught - and no less than 3 were First Ever salmon.
Husband & wife Jake & Jess Hiltz (USA) both caught their first guided by Glenda on the upper river,
& Marino Bellini (Italy) took his first also on the upper river.
Yesterday (22nd.) nine were taken (7 grilse & salmon of 10 & 11½lb.) including another First Ever,
with more now being caught on the lower river as it fines off.


This picture says it all! Seven year old Tommy Quinlivan with his First Ever Salmon!
4lb. sea-liced. Taken on worms on the Island Stream on Lower Kilmurry

With the forecast dry for the coming week, prospects for sport are superb!
Rods and accommodation are available for the coming weeks.

See Blackwater Lodge Fishing Report page: http://bit.ly/fzavCh
See Ian Powell page: http://on.fb.me/dYddlZ
Follow our Tweets. http://twitter.com/#!/blackwaterlodge
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[bwlodge]

23, 22, 21, 20, 19 .............. Countdown to Opening Day


This was the Blackwater at 10.30 this morning.
Down to 1.04m on the Ballyduff gauge & clearing beautifully.
The upstream gauge readings have still not been updated since the 4th.

Our Opening Day celebration is now fully subscribed only a couple of days after it was announced in our December 30th. newsletter. We offered free fishing & casting clinic throughout the day with Glenda, ending with a bowl of hot stew for everybody at the fishing hut on Upper Kilmurry at 4.00pm.
Hopefully, we'll have a springer or two to report.

See Blackwater Lodge Fishing Report page: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fi...report.htm
See Ian Powell Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/dYddlZ
See Blackwater Lodge & Salmon Fishery Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/gsGQLt
Follow our Tweets. http://twitter.com/#!/blackwaterlodge
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[bwlodge]

The Great Spring Fishing continues......!

Despite the fact that there have not been many anglers out fishing and the water has been very low for much of the spring, we have had remarkable success.

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.

We took four fish for March for a total of just 43 rod days, which was a remarkable achievement as for most of the month the river was at summer level & we were basking in unseasonally bright sunshine.

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!

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.

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


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: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net
Daily Salmon Fishing Report: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fi...report.htm
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[bwlodge]

We are having a period of dry weather now which is due continue until well into next week.
Following the big flood on the 22nd., the river is now fining off very well
and will only improve further in the coming days.

The Ballyduff gauge is on 0.70m at 5.00pm today.
Beats on the upper river are now in fly order, and some of the lower beats
should be fly-fishable by tomorrow & all of them should be in fly order by the weekend.
Temperatures are cold with the air struggling to get to 5C during the day & is about 0 to +2C at night.
The water on the lower river is just over 7C & on the upper river it is only about 4.5C
We have high (3.9m) tides for the next couple of days, so hopefully this
- combined with the flood fining off - will encourage more fish to move in.
Prospects are looking very good for the Easter weekend.
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[wiperhunter2]

Wow three years and no one has replied to your thread yet, that is too bad but good to see you are not giving up and and are still making post. It looks like folks you take out always do good, lots of nice fish being caught in your area. How close do you live by the nearest stream or lake you fish?
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[bwlodge]

Thanks - I try to do my bit.....................
We are looking down on the river which is only about 100 yards from our door.
Fishing has been good in the last week. 12 fish to 15lb. in 8 days for only 47 rod days.
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[wiperhunter2]

"47 rod days"? Does that mean you had 47 people that you guided in 8 days? Must be nice, living that close to the river[cool].
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[bwlodge]

A lot of the rods fish by themselves. They are not required to have a guide with them. Average of 6 fishing per day for the 8 days. We have 10 miles of the river - private exclusive fishing rights.
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[wiperhunter2]

Nice, can't get much better than that. How do the rods fish by themselves? or maybe by rods you mean anglers fishing by theirself[:/]? I was thinking at first you were saying the rods were stuck into the stream bank, and your client just reeled in the fish once they took the bait/fly.
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[bwlodge]

To someone this side of the pond this sounds really funny!
By rod, we mean what you would call sport I suppose ie: an angler.
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[wiperhunter2]

LOL, ok, that makes sense. I thought that must be the case. How long do the salmon run there? Does it continue all Summer?
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