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Post by bwlodge on Apr 14, 2011 21:58:13 GMT
Lodge Opening - Egging you on for Easter!Due to the good run of fish & increasing demand, we will now be opening the Lodge full-time for B&B accommodation from Easter weekend right through until the end of September. Current ConditionsModerate amounts of rain fell on Tuesday night & Wednesday . There is just about 1mm forecast for Friday and it is then dry for at least a week with temperatures in the range 12-15°C rising to 17-18°C early next week. The upper river rose about 13cm & peaked at Millstreet @ 01.00 this morning & @ Kanturk @ 05.00am. At Ballyduff, it peaked around 14.00 @ 0.42m (also up 13cm) & was back down to 0.41m by 19.00. The clarity is down a little bit, but is still quite good @ 2½-3 feet. Water temperature is 13°C. There were a few fish moving through Cappoquin this morning, though up-river seems to be rather quieter at the moment. There's a very good early run of bigger seatrout reported in the tidal reaches - fish of 4-5lb. Prospects Looking excellent for the coming days & probably right up to Easter. We have high tides peaking Monday/Tuesday next week which should help encourage fish to run. Air pressures will also be rising through the weekend which should put fish more in a taking mood. AvailabilityThere is no problem for availability of rods & accommodation for the coming weeks. Glenda will be demonstrating & giving free tuition & we will have a stand at the following Irish fair in a fortnight. Ballywalter Game & Country Living Fair: Ballywalter Estate, Co. Down on April 30 & May 1. www.ballywaltergamefair.com
Glenda will also be hosting a Ladies Introduction to Fly-fishing Day in aid of Action Breast Cancer in conjunction with IFI. This will be held at Rathcon Trout Fishery, Co. Wicklow on Sunday, May 15. Contact IFI or Glenda to book a place. And Finally - An Air Travel Funny Those of you that come to Ireland by air will especially love this one! www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPyl2tOaKxM
You might think its come to the end, but just keep looking . It's absolutely feckin' hilarious.
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Post by bwlodge on May 6, 2011 12:02:25 GMT
Report for May 4th.These two very fresh fish were taken today (Wednesday) from one of our 8 beats on the upper river. Two rods fished & each had one - both on spinner & both 7lb. They saw a few fish moving thru' during the day. There were a couple of fish seen moving on the lower river as well. A band of quite heavy rain came across the catchment from the south in the early hours of this morning, but didn't really get as far as Ballyduff where we only had 1.5mm on the gauge this morning at 09.00. Later in the day we had 10mm but it seems to have been mainly confined to the lower catchment. By this evening the lower tributaries from Ballyduff to Lismore were well in dirty spate but should run off quite quickly as rain stopped late afternoon. The lower river at Ballyduff Bridge peaked @ 0.50m @ 15.00 on Tuesday & was down to 0.30m this morning (Wednesday). By evening it had only risen 2cm but still with quite good clarity. There was a small rise on the upper river this morning. Some heavier rain is due in the upper catchment tonight. The weather will continue broken into the early part of next week. The upper river peaked Monday evening with a rise of 43cm & was dirty. It fell back 33cm by this morning (Wednesday) but rose 11cm again by lunchtime and then stabilised. Clarity reasonably good. It looks as if there is a fair amount of rain still to come over the weekend. This would be very welcome as it will encourage the fish waiting in Youghal Bay to run into the main river.
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Post by bwlodge on May 6, 2011 12:03:20 GMT
Report for May 5th."I haven't seen so many fish running the river since I was fishing with my father 25 years ago! And all big fish."Quote from one angler who was out on one of our upper beats early this morning. He saw at least 50 big fish running & lost one at the net on spinner which was ~14lb. A band of heavy showers came across the middle to upper catchment from the south during the night. There is a band of heavy rain coming in now extending right through the catchment. Heavy rain here at 10.00am. The weather will continue broken over the weekend through into the early part of next week. The upper river is now rising quite quickly & clarity has fallen from ~2 feet to (still) a good foot between 7.00 & 12.00am this morning. The lower river is rising slowly at the moment - up 4cm overnight to 0.36m. Clarity is quite good today (midday) @ 2-2½ feet. It looks as if we could be seeing the start of a run of large May fish which would probably be the progeny of the huge run of these fish we saw in 2006.
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Post by bwlodge on May 6, 2011 12:04:22 GMT
Report for May 6th.This is the Blackwater just peaking this morning at 09.00 at 0.74m on the gauge. A band of heavy showers came across the middle to lower catchment from the south during last (Thursday) night. 10mm fell here but less in the upper catchment There is some more rain forecast for the next 3 nights. The weather will continue broken over the weekend through into the early part of next week. The upper river peaked in the early hours of this morning & is starting to drop. The lower river also peaked at 9.00am @ 0.74m & is down 2cm by 11.00. Clarity is poor but looks to be improving slightly. It has a sedimenty colour which usually drops out quickly. Apart from the big run of large fish seen going through the upper river & the lost fish of ~14lb., there was a 9.2 pounder taken on spinner on one of our lower beats yesterday afternoon. The prospects for the coming days are moderate as the river is just starting to fine off. Too high for fly at the moment but moderate spin/worm conditions. All depends on how much rain falls! May could turn out to be a very good month! See Blackwater Lodge Fishing Report page: bit.ly/fzavChSee Ian Powell page: on.fb.me/dYddlZFollow our Tweets. twitter.com/#!/blackwaterlodge
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Post by bwlodge on May 9, 2011 19:24:49 GMT
Well - we did say we wanted rain!This is the river at 19.00 this evening - 1.90m & still rising. There was very heavy rain in the upper catchment (more towards Mallow than Killarney). The river peaked at Millstreet @ 07.30 (up 1.00m) & at Kanturk @ 13.30 (up 1.40m). At Ballyduff, it is still rising @ 19.00 (up 1.30m). It looks as if there is going to be yet more rain tonight in the upper catchment which could push it even higher. It'll probably be a couple of days before the upper river comes into fishable order. Prospects must be superb once the flood fines off with the runs of fish we saw going through the upper river late last week. Yous'e can all stop the rain dance now please!
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Post by bwlodge on May 11, 2011 19:46:51 GMT
This the river below the Lodge @20.00 this evening. Ballyduff gauge 0.87m. The level is dropping steadily on the upper & lower river. Clarity 1-2 feet throughout. The lower river is down to 0.87m @ 20.00. (see picture) Prospects for the coming days should be superb. Thursday/Friday will be spinning/worming & it should be into fly order for Saturday. No reports of fish moving yet, but I would expect the upper river to fish from tomorrow. Should be in fly order for Saturday. The forecast is mainly dry for the remainder of the week. For all the latest info, see also: www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/FishingReport/fishingreport.htmwww.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000222088579or follow us on twitter.com/blackwaterlodge
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Post by bwlodge on May 12, 2011 11:45:21 GMT
The level is dropping steadily but slowly on both the upper & lower river. Clarity on the upper river this morning is ~2 feet. Perhaps a bit less on the lower river where the level is down to 0.76m @ 09.30.
I had reliable reports of 3 fish hooked (1 landed) in 3/4 hour 15km above Mallow yesterday evening & 3 more caught 10km below Mallow by 10.30 this morning. All were very fresh double-figure fish. The May run is coming.
With the forecast dry thru' the weekend, prospects are excellent for the coming days.
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Post by bwlodge on May 17, 2011 10:53:05 GMT
Great Weekend's Fishing. The First Grilse is Caught !With the upper river already coming into fine fishable order late last week and the lower river in fly order by Saturday, we had some excellent fishing over the weekend, catching more fish for the weekend than we had had caught for the whole season to date. Grilse are running with a few caught & a lot more of these soft-mouthed fish lost, and sea-liced May fish being caught through even to the upper river. This is the river levels currently. Now fined off to a beautiful height. Things already started to happen last Thursday (12th.), when a fine 10.3 pounder was caught on the upper river on our beat at Killavullen by Conor Arnold. He fished the same beat the next day (Friday) and caught this sea-liced 6 pounder and released another very fresh 10 pounder. Taken on spinner at Ballyhooly (photo courtesy Glenmore)Due to the conditions downriver, Glenmore from Fortwilliam brought a party to fish on our upper river beats on Friday the 13th., and it was a gamble that worked. They only got to the river at 12.30 and within an hour Kevin Collins had caught a beautiful sea-liced fish of 8lb. on fly at Ballyhooly A little later Michael Conway had this very fresh 10 pounder on spinner. We hosted a group from Bandon A.C. on Saturday 14th., and Anthony Buckley had this fine 8 pounder on fly on Lower Kilmurry. The First Grilse!Rob Smith from the same group then had the honour of catching (& releasing) the first grilse of the 2011 seas - on fly at the Hut Pool on Upper Kilmurry. This fine 9 pounder was also caught on Saturday by Mike Sheridan from our very top beat just below Mallow. On Sunday (15th.), Billy Jewitt released this fine 11 pounder caught on fly at Castletownroche. Stephen Casey from Kerry had a 10½ pounder on Rapala from Kents (lower river) and Terry O'Keeffe had the best fish of the day with a 12½ pounder from Ballincurrig (upper river) - also on spinner. Yesterday (Monday), Garry O'Shea from Dungarvan caught this fine brace of 9 pounders also from Ballincurrig, and released a 5lb grilse. All taken on spinner. he's the first angler to catch 3 in one day this year. This sea-liced 4lb. grilse was caught by Philippe Bargwil from Britanny yesterday. It was his first day ever salmon fishing. It was taken on spinner at the Hut Pool on Upper Kilmurry, and on the BBQ within 10 mins!
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Post by bwlodge on May 19, 2011 10:08:20 GMT
Best Fish of the Season so far on Fly!Apologies for the pic quality, but this was off a phone camera. Mick Kennedy caught this fine fish on fly at Castletownroche yesterday evening. It's the biggest on fly so far. The same beat has already produced a very fresh 8 pounder on fly this morning by 9.30am for Jim Shanahan. It was his first ever with a double hand rod. They are reporting a good run of grilse & salmon going through the upper beats this morning. Yesterday morning there was a big run seen going over the weir in Fermoy as well. There are quite big tides peaking today at 3.8m Yesterday evening I also got a very reliable report of a number of fish caught on a private beat below Kilmurry. Half a dozen mostly ~10lb. There were also at least 3 very big fish lost in the last 2 days - all estimated ~20lb. Prospects superb coming into the weekend, with the Ballyduff gauge reading 0.37m this morning & good clarity.
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Post by bwlodge on May 20, 2011 22:53:48 GMT
Best Fish of the Season - taken on Fly on May 19(Apologies for the photo orientation. Came from an Iphone & no matter how I treat it it comes out sideways!)Chris Ryan (r) & Tony Finlay (l) arrived lunchtime yesterday for a half day on the river. They started fishing on the Hut Pool on Upper Kilmurry @ 2.00pm and by 3.30pm had landed these three fine fish. One for Tony of 10.5lb., and two for Chris of 9lb & 14.5lb. which is the Biggest Fish of the Season to date. All three fish fell to fly! Evidently they arrived to the pool at the same time as the fish. The run of fish seems to have slowed up a bit in the last couple of days, but there is more rain forecast for tomorrow night which should liven things up again. This said, we have caught 31 fish in the last eight days, and a total so far of 36 for May & 48 for the season.
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Post by bwlodge on May 23, 2011 12:27:00 GMT
There was heavy rain in the upper catchment last night. The river has risen 30cm at Millstreet in the last 3 hours & is dirty & unfishable at Banteer. At Castletownroche the clarity was still 18" at 11.00. At Ballyduff, it peaked this morning at 0.62 & is falling up to lunchtime. Clarity ~2½ feet. After a fantastic week last week, fishing was quiet over the weekend. We had one 8 pounder from upriver on Friday & no fish reported for the weekend. Hopefully this next flood will liven things up a bit. Expect upper beats to fish probably by Wednesday. There is more rain forecast for Thursday! For all the latest info, see also: www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/FishingReport/fishingreport.htmwww.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000222088579or follow us on twitter.com/blackwaterlodge
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Post by bwlodge on May 25, 2011 22:50:34 GMT
There was a fair amount of rain at the end of last week giving a (smallish) flood. Fluctuating water levels & coloured water meant that no fish were caught over the last 5 days. The level is now falling back very slowly but steadily and is now back to fly height & the clarity improved today to about 2½ feet. It was in quite good spinnable order since yesterday when we had 3 fish lost on upper beats as fish were taking short. Coming into the weekend it will be in fly order - certainly on the upper river.
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Post by bwlodge on May 28, 2011 15:04:42 GMT
Garry O'Shea from Dungarvan went to one of our 8 beats between Ballyhooly and Mallow this morning. He lost a fish of ~7-8lb first cast & landed this fine sea-liced 11 pounder fourth cast. The river is falling slowly but steadily above & below. Good spinning/worming conditions all over, but still rather coloured for the fly. Clarity is ~2 feet on the upper river. Forecast looks to be dry for the coming days so the river (especially the upper beats) should be in cracking order.For all the very latest information please see:- Blackwater Lodge Fishing Report page on : www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/FishingReport/fishingreport.htm Facebook Page (Ian Powell): on.fb.me/dYddlZ Facebook Page (Blackwater Lodge: on.fb.me/gsGQLt or follow us on twitter.com/blackwaterlodge
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Post by bwlodge on May 28, 2011 19:52:00 GMT
How about that for a First Ever Salmon?Clive Gronow from Wales had never been fishing before. His first experience was a guided day with Glenda with 3 friends yesterday. Today, under Glenda's watchful eye he caught a magnificent sea-liced 13.1 pounder on worms on the Island Stream on Lower Kilmurry. As we say - it's all downhill from here! Prospects for the coming days are superb with sea-liced fish of this quality being caught on the lower & upper river.
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Post by bwlodge on Jun 1, 2011 23:11:39 GMT
A Cracking Start to June!Mike O'Driscoll from Cork caught this beautiful sea-liced 12.8 pounder on spinner on the Island Stream on Beat 5 - Lower Kilmurry today. We have caught 11 fish to 13.1lb in the last 5 days. The total for May was 45 fish to 14.5lb. and the season total to date is 59. The river is fining off well, at a perfect fly height with clarity about 5 feet. Prospects from the remainder of the week look very good as there is a steady run of both larger salmon and good-sized grilse (4-6lb.)
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