River Lee, 21st March

There was some great water on the river today, with levels up about 18 inches, perfect for the Fly and one or two fish about also.

Normally good fishing can be had from Patrick's day onwards.
Water levels have been very good over the last week with generating taking place from lunch time onwards, which certainly seems to be drawing fish up from the lower and middle river.
I walked the four beats today taking a few still shots and some video footage as I couldn't fish and saw two fine Fresh Springers on Beat 1.

Heres a short clip of the conditions today, Perfect !

Yellow Green TD Turbo Disc

A Yellow Green TD incorporating a small turbo disc allowing for great movement of the soft materials even in the fastest of flows.

Here's a short clip of the same fly in action notice how the very slim profile in the above picture flares out once in the water due to turbulence created by the disc giving that classic tear drop profile.

Rusty Nasty TD

A great fly for both peaty and clear water

Another good flood hit the Blackwater on Saturday after very heavy rain on Friday, this time getting well above the meter mark which has encouraged good numbers of fish into the river.

While Saturday was a non runner fishing wise, I decided to give it a go yesterday despite the water still being quite high and with clarity at no more than 12 inches. It was a glorious day weather wise, into the mid twenties and I wanted to try some high water flyfishing tactics.

After Heading up to the WoodStream beat ( Blackwater Lodge),  I found myself greeted by this view of the wheat field in full flow of the Summer breeze.

                             The pathway through the Wheatfield down to the beat.

Arriving at the river I found it still to be still very high and with the clarity bordering on spinning/worming territory at best.
However I decided to give it a go with a 13'7 10/11 GuideLine LeCie couple with I/2/4 line and a 12cm Flaming TempleDog.
After fishing through the usual spots a couple of times I was happy enough with the depth I was getting.

                                                                    12 cm Flaming TD

Having seen a few fish traveling through with no interest in the fly, I decided to go down one size as I couldn't really get any bigger. Keeping to the same pattern though now fishing  an 8cm version I fished though the run again and right at the bottom  I had the a lond draw followed by the weight of a good fish on the line. Unfortunately after playing the fish for a couple of minutes we parted ways, but at least I had hooked a fish on the fly in conditions most anglers would only have spun or wormed.
Would I have caught fish had I been spinning or worming ? Yes probably a couple of fish. Though personally I 'd rather have hooked and lost the one on the fly than banked two on the spinner.
Still it shows that with modern sinking shooting heads and the right flies  flyfishing can be productive even in flood conditions.
All that being said by Tuesday levels and clarity should be in cracking order for the fly, so hopefully I 'll have another update by then.

Good Runs of SALMON

With plenty of rain over the last few weeks water levels have remained high bringing in good numbers of Salmon into the Blackwater.
However it's very much a case of right place right time as I found out myself last Sunday evening when I had 3 good fish in a mad hour on the fly, after two other rods had caught 5 from the same beat during the day giving a total of eight fish for this beat for the day.
The beats above and below accounted for no fish  ?
 I also managed two more fish the following afternoon of the Ballygarrett beat of the Blackwater Lodge again these fish were caught one after the other.

One thing to note at the moment is that fish are generally not being seen on the surface and all seems quiet right till the moment he takes the fly, so don't be discouraged by lack of surface activity.
Keep the fly/bait in the water as your generally fishing for traveling fish with these water levels.

Current Conditions

After a month of good water levels most rivers had  good fishing for May and so far this month.
Though water levels are again back down to Summer levels and will continue to drop unless we get more rain.

However the Blackwater is still providing good fishing with fish caught daily from Mallow down, though the lower beats are providing the bulk of the sport. It's worth noting reports from nets of several very large fish in the 20 - 30 lbs bracket being caught, shame that alot of these big fish are not making it into the river.

While fish to mid teens have been caught, it would  be great to see some of these large fish caught on rod and line. We need a good flood to get these into the system.

There are reports of good fish on the River Lee and while there are a few fish being caught on the lowest beats just above the tide, water levels being maintained by the Inniscarra Dam are not condusive to good fishing, with either very low levels (approx 20 inches below Summer Level, never seen these levels in all the years I've been fishing the Lee) or short periods of very high water which tend to pull the fish straight to the Dam and beyond.

The Laune fished reasonable well over the last 3 weeks with some good fish being caught while water levels were good, though this would be much  better if the nets were not getting the lions share.
I fished it last Sunday from 10am to 10pm and while I had a lovely fish of approx 13lbs on the fly, it was hard work and the only fish seen all day.

There are proposals now to reopen the Castlemaine Fishery, which will further impact stocks for the Laune and surrounding rivers. I would STRONGLY recommend every angler to write to Minister Pat Rabbitte (Communications Energy & Natural Resources) to voice their objection prior to the 17th June or Salmon such as the one pictured above will become a thing of the past on the Laune and surrounding fisheries.

The Lee, Laune & Munster Blackwater

Despite fairly low water conditions for the time a year, fish are still running most rivers here in the South.

The River Lee has started to account for some good fish with fish to 13lbs been taken in the last fortnight. The ESB have been releasing water for short periods of time and this seems to have spurred on a few fish. Last Tuesday week 5 fish were taken of the Inniscarra beats with the best of 13lbs falling to Paul Hanley.

The Munster Blackwater has seen a slight slow down in sport compared to  a couple of weeks ago, though rod effort also seems to be low. However fish are still to be seen moving through the lower beats though somewhat reluctant to take perhaps down to water  & weather conditions. Should water levels continue to drop a little more the fish coming in of the tides will be more inclined to settle in the lower beats giving  a better chance to be caught, either that or  very good flood is required to get a serious run of fish entering the river.

Salmon are being caught in the Laune over he last two weeks and again while not in great numbers the fish are present, but traveling through to the lake at very high speeds, requiring the fly to be dropped on their nose to get a take, early morning with a high seems to give the best results.

A guided trip on Sunday for Michael Coughlan and Friends proved to be quite frustrating. Despite the sunshine Michael and his father both managed to briefly contact fish. We saw several fish going through Beat 1 in the morning though they seemed very intent on pushing through to the lake and only gave the flies a token interest.