Saturday, 18th May 2013 -  I went to the Ballygarrett Beat of Blackwater Lodge. You access the river through a stud farm and the large brood mares are inquisitive and could be a bit intimidating if you are not used to the cheeky tactics of young horses.

All through April and May, there have been pheasants on the roads with the cock pheasants screeching away.

Cock Pheasants at Ballygarrett












The Ballygarrett Beat is one of the upper River Blackwater Lodge Beats, being just out of Mallow accessed via the Killavullen Road and so tends to clear earlier after rain than the lower river which is about 7 hours behind and the water level lowers earlier.

One of the better pools is reputed to be under the second set of electricity transmission lines. But I used a spinner without success.

Ballygarrett Beat at Pool under transmission lines looking upstream
Ballygarrett Beat at Pool looking downstream under transmission lines looking towards the bend

Grey, brown and olive/yellow duns have been hatching on Woodstream and Ballygarrett

Grey Dun Hatching at Ballygarrett

Olive/Yellow Dun hatching at Ballygarrett

 Brown dun hatching at Ballygarrett

 Brown dun hatching at Ballygarrett

Brown dun hatching at Ballygarrett

 Grey dun hatching at Woodstream

 Grey dun hatching at Woodstream











The colour in the water can be seen in the above photographs. It dirties up after rain with both sediment (turbidity) and colour from the upper catchment peat deposits.

I am off to Bridgetown Abbey Beat today and will take the salmon single handed rod, trout rod as well as the spinning gear.

I have added below the link to Youtube with  video of me catching my third salmon. Apologies for the lack of composition, it was hard to get the camera headband on whilst playing the fish. I shall improve.

My third salmon of the season caught at Woodstream

Thursday, 16th May 2013 - Fished for a few hours as showers increased and the water dirtied up and rose. The water level and clarity was just about perfect when the showers came and obviously been heavy upstream earlier given the increased colour and sediment induced turbidity. No luck.

Salmon fishing appears to be very water level and clarity dependent.

Casting Platform and Island on Upper Kilmurray Beat, River Blackwater

Hut Pool and Island on Upper Kilmurray Beat, River Blackwater

Upstream end of Island and Lower "Inches"  on Upper Kilmurray Beat, River Blackwater. 

"Inches"  on Upper Kilmurray Beat, River Blackwater. This beat is just downstream of the famous Careysville beats.

Had a quick look at Woodstream and witnessed a grey dun hatch with trout rising

 Upper Woodstream Beat looking downstream

Upper Woodstream Beat looking Upstream

The long walk home through farmer Tom's field

Last week, I traveled to Kerry and stayed at Glencar House in Glencar. Liam, Eilis and Lizzie (their Westie) made me very welcome, as always.

I went down to Waterville overnight to fish Lough Currane with fellow River Blackwater  fisherman, Paul Amos, who was over for a fortnight from the UK. Paul took me out in a brutal westerly wind, fresh off the Atlantic Ocean. We caught a couple of brown trout, but the conditions were too rough to seriously bother any salmon. Paul did a great job as my "Ghillie" and handled the lake boat like he was born to it! You really have to watch out for submerged rocks around the Lough as they appear and disappear with the Lough water level.

Paul Amos playing the role of Ghillie on Lough Currane, Waterville, Co. Kerry

This is the view of  the Blackwater River, County Waterford, Ireland from my cottage on the Blackwater Lodge estate. It was in flood at the time

Welcome to my blog. I have relocated to Ireland to balance my life between work and my lifelong pursuit of fishing. I have taken a share of the Blackwater Lodge syndicate where we have 11 beats with each beat being the fishing along one bank of the river roughly 0.75 miles long.

For those of you that know already, I apologise, but for those who are new to salmon fishing, I will explain the life cycle of the salmon and the salmon four distinct runs up river.

Salmon return to the river of their birth to breed in four runs, which overlap:-

1. Spring run - usually these fish are hen fish and have spent 2 or 3 years at sea and start to run up the river in February to May. Typically fish between 6 - 20 lbs. Very fresh "springers" are bright silver, well conditioned and if caught within 2 or so days of leaving the salt water, still have sea lice attached to their bodies.
2. First run Grilse from mid April to June - these are fish that have only spent one year at sea and are usually male fish. They have a different shape, more rounded at the head and thinner bodies. The early run grilse are often 2 - 3 lbs. .
3. Second run grilse from June to August - these will again be mainly male but of heavier average weight of 3 - 8 lbs.
4. Autumn fish, often again mainly female and these run from August to December and can be up to 30 lbs.

When the fish have spawned, they return down the river and are are known as kelts. Kelts are usually long and skinny. It is usual practice to return all kelts to the water as quickly as possible. They have done their job and are exhausted. Kelts are caught usually between January and mid March.

Fish from the same tributary usually follow the same run timing each year as their parents. 

The female lays her eggs in a shallow gravel river bed known as a redd. The male salmon will fertilise the eggs as soon as they are laid and the female will cover the eggs with gravel flicked on by her tail. Three months later the ova will hatch and form alevin (small fry who stay in the gravel feeding off an attached egg yolk sac. After a 3 - 6 weeks, the alevin will leave the gravel and become fry. The fry will grow into parr over the autumn. The parr will stay in the river from 1 - 3 years until they grow to 6-10 inches long when they turn into smolts. The smolts begin the journey downstream to the sea and their metabolism changes to handle the saltwater environment.

There they will journey to parts far and wide until they return to breed in the river of their birth.

Salmon do not feed once the return to the freshwater and so why they fall to flies, lures and baits is not fully understood.

The salmon will move quickly through the river and loughs in high water and tend to rest before obstacles such as weirs or in deep pools during period of lower waters. The "best" fisheries such as Carysville Fishery are below obstacles such as Clondulane Weir on the River Blackwater near Fermoy or Butlers Pool on the narrow exit from Lough Currane to the sea.

Clondulane Weir on the River Blackwater

Butlers Pool on the short outlet from Lough Currane to the sea

I have been here since 8th April 2013 and it has rained every day except one! The daytime temperature can climb to 14 Deg C and typically has been around 10 deg C. Around 2 deg. C at night.

So far I have fished the following beats:-

Ballygarrett

Killavullen

Woodstream

Bridgetown Priory

Ballyhooly Bridge

Upper Kilmurray

Lower Kilmurray

Ballinaroone

With three salmon to show for my efforts.

7.8 lbs Springer  - 24th April 2013 - Woodstream - taken on a No. 4 Black Flying C with Silver blade

 3 lbs. approx Grilse - 28th April 2013 - Upper Kilmurray - taken on a No. 3 Black Flying C with Silver blade

8.6 lbs.Springer - 14th May 2013  - Woodstream- taken on a No. 3 Black Flying C with Silver blade

7.8 lbs Springer Salmon - Woodstream

8.6 lbs Springer Salmon - Woodstream

Spinning is not my preferred method of fishing, fly fishing is what I would do if the river level was lower.

I have had one lesson on the double handed fly rod and will need to get proficient before the river levels drop much more. Keep posted for progress.

 I am also going to be taught how to fish the shrimp by a local legend. I am told that you hold the line with your finger, reel bail arm off and you will feel the salmon take the shrimp. That will be something!

The river level is lower now and the water much clearer. It was like cocoa when I arrived in April.