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Pictured above: The 4 rod Allison party all caught their very first salmon on the same day (September 24, 2005) on Beat 4 - Ballinaroone.
From Left: Stuart Allison - 2 fish (3.4 & 4.1lb), Elaine Allison (~9lb. returned),
Victoria Brown 6.5lb. & David Brown (4.4lb.)
The run of spring salmon was probably not as good on the middle & lower reaches of the river as it was in the last 3 years. However, I did hear that it was good on the upper part of the river, which gives us some hope of continuing improvement of the spring run.
Water levels were quite high in April, which resulted in a reasonable catch total for the month. However, the level was already down to summer level for the whole of the month of May, which meant that we didn’t see a repeat of the spectacular run which we had in May 2003. Very low water levels throughout the summer meant that there were not many fish in the upper part of the river & those that were there had been so for a good while. Most of these fish were very coloured & we would have expected any self-respecting angler who caught them to return them alive.
In order to conserve these fish, for the first time in the 20 years that I am at the Lodge, we took the bold step to close the beats on the upper part of the fishery completely in August & September.
With the agreement of our conservation-minded clientele, we then concentrated the fishing effort on the lower river, where anglers had a better chance of catching fresh fish.
This certainly reduced our catch totals for August & September, but was of obvious benefit to the stale fish in the upper reaches, which would have been more prone to being caught – particularly on shrimp – in these last 2 months.
Even with this policy, the total catch in August was 108 of which 41 were returned alive. In September, 309 were caught of which 146 (47%) were released safely.
Interestingly, 2005 was joint best year in terms of the percentage of the total catch taken on fly. This was 21% of the total season’s catch – equalled on once previously in 1999.
The percentage caught on fly was the highest ever for the month of July at 43%, & also for August with 29%. June was the second best ever with 40% - only ever beaten once by 43% , again in 1999.
Once again, we saw a very large number of anglers catch their first ever wild Atlantic salmon with us. No less than 42 anglers caught their first ever, of which 19 were taken in the last 2 weeks of September.
Now we are waiting in eager anticipation for the start of the new season on February 1st., 2006.
Booking places for fishing at the Lodge is very easy and can be done by contacting the Lodge at the address below.
Best Regards & Tight Lines
Ian Powell
Proprietor
Blackwater Lodge Hotel & Salmon Fishery
Upper Ballyduff
Co. Waterford
Ireland
Email: info@ireland-salmon-fishing.net
Web: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net
Tel: 00 353 58 60235 From UK: 0871 474 0135 (10p/min any time!)
Fax: 00 353 58 60162 From UK: 0871 474 0136 (10p/min any time!)
Mobile: 00 353 87 235 21 20
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