Find it Ireland

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The river is dropping off well after the last rise, but has remained (surprisingly) very peaty with clarity throughout no more than a foot today.
Barely fishable - even on the upper beats - but should be in better order tomorrow.

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25, 24, 23, 22, 21 .............. Countdown to Opening Day

As usual, in the run-up to the Opening Day, I am graphing the rainfall and river height
& posting it daily on my Fishing Report page on: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/F ... report.htm

Unfortunately, the upstream gauges have not been functioning since 09.15 on the 4th. January



The river has been very high for the last month & a half. It is just settling after the latest flood
& was at 1.30m this morning - down over a metre since yesterday.
It has had such a good flushout that as soon as it drops it clears very quickly.
The clarity this morning was beautiful at ~ 3 feet.
The next week looks comparatively dry but the following week from Jan. 14 looks wetter again.
Hopefully it will be in good order for February 1st.

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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/F ... 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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Four Springers Caught so Far!


The second springer was caught on the morning of the 5th. It was taken by Paul Howard from Cork.
It is his first ever springer and caught on his first ever visit to the Blackwater.
It fell to spinner on the Island Stream on Lower Kilmurry & weighs around 8-9lb. but hasn't been weighed in at the Lodge yet.
Not bad considering there's only half a dozen rods out today.


This sea-liced 5 pounder was taken the afternoon of the 5th. by Ger McCarthy also from Cork.

The fourth fish of the season was a 4 pounder (but absolutely fresh) taken by Mike Sheridan from Dungarvan on the 8th.


The river had risen again overnight but was down 6cm through the day. Clarity is still very good.

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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 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.

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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: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net
Daily Salmon Fishing Report: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/FishingReport/fishingreport.htm

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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!

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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.

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This is the situation this morning at 11.00. River is up 50cm. Clarity ~2½ feet downriver - spinnable. Peaking around 12.00
Apparently not fishable on the upper river as very dirty. peaked around 6.00am.
There is more rain forecast for the coming days up to the weekend.

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This is the situation this morning Saturday, April 14
The river has fallen quite quickly & is now @ 0.32m this morning.
The clarity is ~4 feet up & downriver so well fly-fishable.- spinnable.
There is more rain forecast for Monday/Tuesday next week.
There is no problem for availability of rods for the coming week.
Total catches to date are: February - 5, March - 4 & April - 5.

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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 is the river below Blackwater Lodge at 11.00 this morning.
Gauge height 0.27m. Clarity ~4 feet


Prospects
The river is once again fining off into super fly order, though there looks to be more rain coming from Monday to Wednesday.
Just had a report of good numbers of fresh fish moving on the upper river yesterday, so our upper beats should start fishing in earnest in the coming days!

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

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This lovely sea-liced 7.3lb. fish was caught by Terry O’Keeffe (Midelton) 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.
There is quite a lot of rain forecast for tonight.
The total for the Lodge fishery is now 8 fish for April to date for only 37 rod days.

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The Highest River Level so Far!!


This was the Blackwater this afternoon (18th).


The river peaked this 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.

New!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishery Blog http://ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.com/

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Blackwater Salmon Fishing Blog. http://ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.com/
New website feature - Salmon Fishing Blog. Immediate & historical news.
This should contain all the info put into postings & more...................


The Blackwater today 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.

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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
http://ireland-salmon-fishing.blogspot.com http://bit.ly/IpiyQJ
New website feature - Salmon Fishing Blog. Immediate & historical news.
This should contain all the info put into postings on river conditions & catches & more...................