Liam lands a 5.5lb Salmon at Glenbeg Beat

My cousin in law, Liam, had success at Glenbeg on Sunday evening. A 5.5lb salmon that had been in the river a few days at least as the sea lice had all dropped off. Caught spinning with a black body and copper blade No. 3 flying C.

Liam with his 5.5lb Salmon

Glenbeg Beat looking upstream along a favoured stretch with deep water to the near side

Glenbeg Beat looking downstream

 The previous day, I too had a bit of success landing my first decent grisle of the season. At 3 lbs, it will make a nice feed. Caught spinning again with a No.3 black flying C with silver blade.

My 3 lbs. Grilse

Note the forked tail and more torpedo like shape that defines the early season small grilse.

Glenbeg Beat - mid way - Note electric fence in foreground

 Fly fishing on Glenbeg, I back cast and caught the electric fence and had a little heart starter when I wrongly assumed that the fence was not live! Tip - do not tap the fence then when seems okay - grab it with wet hands!

The rain has started again and should be set in for most of the week. This may not be a bad thing as I hope that a slightly increased flow will encourage a run of grilse plus any tardy May salmon that are hanging around in the bay waiting for a spring tide.

The salmon are not taking the fly at the moment on the Blackwater and apparently not elsewhere. Possibly because they are still rushing through the lower and mid section beats. Prawn and spinning are accounting for most fish. The May run was behind schedule due to the late spring and prolonged cold weather. I am hoping that we have a "catch up" period over the next few weeks.

The West Coast rivers have had a bumper start to the season with the Moy taking a weekly average of 200 salmon over the last couple of weeks. The Upper Caragh River has fished strongly for a spate river and Lough Currane has performed, particularly for large sea trout.

The trout in the Blackwater have been remarkably fussy eaters, possibly due to the large numbers of midge on the water. Caught only a couple to date, one on a salmon cascade shrimp treble hook fly - bit ambitious for a wee trout!. On the banks you see black, green and blue bodied Mayflies along with various duns. As the season warms up, there should be some fine evening fishing. I have joined  the River Bride Anglers Club (for the princely sum of 15 Euros) and have access to stretches of the river between Aghern and Conna Bridges and down past Conna Castle. It is now a catch and release only river.