Flood falling fast at Ballyduff. Paused at Killavullen.

The upper river peaked at midday yesterday & was falling rapidly until about 3.00am.
It stopped falling at 7.00am at exactly 2.00 metres & is dropping slowly once again.
When we had the last big flood, we started to catch fish on the upper river when the
Killavullen gauge was down to 2.10m.

The lower river peaked at 2.90m last night & is down to 1.70m at 08.30am.
Clarity is non-existent for now. Another 10mm rain fell here during the night.

There were 5 fish caught yesterday, including a 9 pounder on fly & a 10 pounder on prawn.
The other 3 fell to spinner. All were caught on the upper river.
The total for the month is now 70 for 106 rod days - a remarkable number for such a low rod effort..
This is the Best Total for June since 2003 when 80 were caught.

The prospects for the fishing once the flood goes does are once again superb.

Yet another massive flood on the way......

This is the Blackwater @  07.30 the morning at Ballyduff Bridge.
Better call it the Brownwater! Chocolate, full of debris & rising fast.

This is the scene most of you will be familiar with from my Fishing Report page,
but we don't see it like this very often in June! 
1.70m and rising fast.

The river at Killavullen is rising at one foot per hour at 08.00. It's already up 1.7 metres.

Best June since 2005

We have already recorded the Best June Total for the last seven years.
65 fish to 13lb. have been caught for a mere 94 rod days to yesterday which is remarkable.
Of these, 12 were double figure fish & 34 were over 7lb., a far cry from the small grilse
that we always used to catch in June before the drift nets were banned.

There were 70 fish caught in 2005, but this total is set to be broken very soon.

There is already one fish of 9lb. reported this morning on fly from the upper river.
It was taken on Curry's Red on floating line as the water temp is. 14C this morning.

Fourth Best Day of the Season.......

Fourth Best Day of the Season -Five fish caught - all grilse to 5.5lb on spinner.
Even more remarkable was the fact that three were First Ever Salmon.
There were two for the Sinde party from Spain on Ballyhooly & one for Joe Wale (UK) from Woodstream.

The upper river fell 7cm to 1.63m during the day & the lower river fell 3cm to 0.88m.
Clarity was good throughout at ~ 3 feet.

12.30 Already 2 very fresh fish on spinner reported from Carrig on the upper river.
River is reported as clearing very well. There were a good number of fish reported caught on club waters on the upper river yesterday including a couple on fly.

Superb prospects for the coming week......

This is the river this morning @ 09.00. Down slightly to 0.91m on the Ballyduff gauge & the clarity the best part of 3 feet. A glorious warm sunny day & the forecast is mainly dry for the coming week so expect the river to come into absolutely stunning order in the next couple of days.

 This beautifully fresh 10.2lb (the sea-lice had just fallen off) was taken on spinner on the upper river yesterday, where big runs of large fish have been seen moving through, especially on Friday.
We had another sea-liced 8 pounder on spinner on our upper beats as well.
Two in total for the day for just 3 rod days.

This is the picture for the gauge at Killavullen which shows very well the fluctuations in height on the upper river. Yet another small rise overnight is about to start dropping & with dry weather forecast it should continue to fall & fine down perfectly.

This is the gauge figures for Ballyduff. Now starting to drop & should continue.

Prospects for the coming week are superb.

Already the Fourth Best Total for June since Ten Years (to the 22nd.)...

This is the Blackwater at 07.30 this morning.

 The river rose 5cm at Ballyduff overnight to 1.05m. Clarity is excellent at 2½-3 feet.

The upper river rose again last night, peaking at midnight @ 1.88m - up 15cm. 
It's back to 1.78 @ 07.45 & falling. 

This 8.9lb. fish was caught yesterday on spinner on Kents on the lower river.
Three more fish to 9lb. were caught on the upper river. All the fish were extremely fresh & all taken on spinner. Several more fish were lost, including one large fish which broke the anglers line - he had already caught two fish of 3 & 9lb. in one hour before. The total for June is now 51 fish (for a mere 68 rod days) which is already the Fourth Best Total for June for the last Ten Years & this is only up to the 22nd.

The Season total to date is 108 fish

The upper river was falling from it's slight rise yesterday, but at 11.30 today had gone up another 1cm.
The lower river is falling & is at 1.00m this morning at 9.00am. Clarity not bad @ 2-3 feet.
No rods out yesterday so obviously no fish caught.

Slight rise, but very fishable....

15.15  The upper river has peaked at 1.78m - just 6cm of a rise. The lower river is rising slowly. It is now at 1.14m - up just 6cm since 11.00am.
There is no dirty flood on the Araglen so the lower river should hold it's clarity which is very good at 2-3 feet.  There are no rods out on the river which is a shame as there would undoubtedly be fish caught today.

Some fine fish in the last few days.....

 Left:  Dennis O'Donnell with a 12.1lb fish from Ballyhooly on Sunday.
Right:  David Walsh with a 12.3 pounder from Killavullen yesterday.
Both were taken on spinner.

We now have 46 fish to 13lb. for 64 rod days for June to the 20th.
Total for the Season is now 103.

18 fish to 13lb. for 16 rod days in the last 4 days alone...

The heavy rain fell mainly in the middle to lower catchment & didn't hit the upper catchment much, though there has been some rain there this morning.
The upper river is up 5cm at Killavullen at 12.15.

We had 19mm rain at Ballyduff overnight. The gauge was down to 0.98m @ 09.00 but up again to 1.08m @ 11.00 & still rising. Clarity is still good however.
There is a flood on the river Funcheon this morning.

Fishing has been very good. We have had 18 fish to 13lb. for 16 rod days in the last 4 days.
Fish are being taken mainly with spinner at the moment but being caught even in very high (& sometimes pretty coloured) water which indicates that there must be a very good head of fish in the river. There have even been 2 fish on fly in the last 2 days up at Ballyhooly notwithstanding the high level.

How not to use a Kelly Kettle.....

This is what can happen when two guides decide to have a race to see who can get their Kelly Kettle to boil first.  Glenda won!!!!!!!

Four fish on a day when the water was too high..........................

 

The river is dropping steadily albeit slowly. Down to 1.16m @ Ballyduff @ 9.00am

Dennis O'Donnell from Golden Tipperary had a great day at Ballyhooly yesterday (Sunday 17th.) notwithstanding the high water.
He hooked 5 fish & landed 3 - this 12.1lb & a 6.7lb & also released a fish of ~13lb. He lost 2 double-figure fish - one at the net.  All the fish were extremely fresh.

Riccardo Giglio Tos caught his First Ever - a grilse of 3.7lb yesterday on spinner on Kilmurry, guided by Glenda. The gauge was at 1.45m at the time.

They said if they caught a fish they would like it BBQ'd so that's exactly what we did for them
at the Hut at Upper Kilmurry in the evening whilst trying out our new solar lighting system in the hut.

His friend Roberto Gall also caught his First Ever this morning (Monday)in the same place. 7.5lb. on spinner.

Three fish already so far for the day......

Two more fish reported today. Both very fresh and caught on spinner at Ballyhooly Bridge.
They were taken by Denis O'Donnell from Golden Co. Tipperary.
He kept one of 6lb. & released another of ~10lb.
The river has quite good clarity & was @ 1.36m at Ballyduff @ 16.00 & 1.97m @ Killavullen.

12.00pm  1.45m on the Ballyduff gauge. Clarity 1-1½ feet.
An Italian guest on a guided day with Glenda has his First Ever Salmon
- a grilse of 3½lb taken on spinner on Kilmurry.  One against the odds!!!!!!!!!

58mm rain fell in the 36 hours to yesterday morning.  
Yesterday was pretty much dry throughout the catchment.
There is some more rain forecast for Monday & Thursday this week.
The upper river was dropping on Friday night until 6.00am yesterday when it rose 24cm again, peaking once more @ 13.30 in the afternoon.   At Ballyduff, the level was down to 2.14m at 14.00, but also rose again to 2.25m by 18.00 yesterday evening. This morning it is down to 1.65m @ 07.00, though the clarity is very good considering the height.

It's too high & heavy to fish today, being a good 50cm over the height when fish were being caught on the upper river last week.

Another small rise but overall the flood is falling......

The upper river was dropping overnight until 6.00am when it rose 24cm again,
peaking once more @ 13.30 in the afternoon.
At Ballyduff, the level was down to 2.14m at 14.00, but also rose again to 2.25m by 18.00
though the clarity is very good considering the height.
There looks to be a bit more rain forecast for Monday & also Thursday next week
and it should also get warmer in the latter part of the week.

Prospects look excellent for next week as long as there isn't more heavy rain.

This is the picture at 07.30 this morning. The Ballyduff gauge is on 2.30m.
As with the last flood, the clarity is surprisingly good at this water height.
It will be good as soon as the river comes down to a fishable height.
The upper river has fallen from it's peak of 3.57m @ 16.00 yesterday
to 2.64m this morning at 07.30.
Prospects are superb for the coming week as soon as the flood fines off.

Heavy rain falling........

This was the radar picture @ 15.30 this afternoon.
One fish 9.5lb. caught today with just 5 rods fishing.
25mm rain fell between 12.00 & 19.00 today with very strong winds
The river at Killavullen is starting to rise by evening..

River clearing. Very large fish running!

The upper river cleared quickly this morning & was fly-fishable. No fish caught above as only one rod out for a couple of hours.
The lower river dropped steadily during the day. Just one 5 pounder was caught on spinner on Kilmurry.
There was a run of "VERY" large fish seen going thru' Kents today on the lower river.

Dirty spate on top of river but 3 fish caught yesterday....

The Kanturk river (one of the major tributaries above Mallow) was in dirty flood yesterday afternoon following very heavy localised showers.
This pushed the river at Killavullen up 15cm last night but it is already back down 10cm.
The clarity is not great however & the upper river is borderline spinnable.
Down at Ballyduff, the river is up 6cm to 0.86m this morning but the clarity is good.

There were 3 fish to 6lb caught yesterday. All were sea-liced & all on spinner.
One from the lower river & 2 from the upper.

Clarity improves dramatically.....

The river is now starting to fall a bit more rapidly than before. The upper river is now only 26cm above the level it was on June 6th. - which was the best Day of the Season.
The lower river was @ 0.82m this morning - still too high for wading on the lower beats.
The clarity is excellent at 3-4 feet.
The sea-liced fish guesstimated when caught at 11-12lb. yesterday on Woodstream
was finally weighed in at 10.5lb.
With the clarity improving rapidly & already excellent, prospects are extremely good
for the next couple of days. More rain is due Thursday night!

Four fish for the day to 12lb.......................

Four fish in total for the 11th. of 7, 8.5 11 & 12lb. all from the upper river.
3 on spinner & 1 on worms. One sea-liced & the others all very fresh.
The river is still only dropping extremely slowly.

Double-figure sea-liced fish - upper river.......

12lb sea-liced fish on spinner on the upper river - just reported!

The upper river is still holding it's level - it hasn't fallen at all since early morning.
One fish ~8lb on spinner reported from our very top beat 28 miles upstream.

Flood only falling very slowly, but clarity good.......

The clarity is excellent. 2+ feet downriver & 3 feet upriver.
The height is holding. At Ballyduff it has held @ 0.95m since 21.00 yesterday evening.
It is only down a few centimetres over night at Killavullen too.
The will help to encourage fresh fish to move in especially as the water is so clear for the height it is at!

First fish after the flood..........................

The first fish after the flood has already been reported from the upper river at 11.00!A very fresh fish ~6lb. on spinner for Garry O'Shea (Dungarvan) from Ballincurrig.

The gauge at Ballyduff is at 1.00m at 12.15. Clarity about 2 feet.
The clarity on the upper beats is ~3 feet already

River is a bit high but has good clarity...... Well fishable!

The heavy rain is over. Next week will see drier weather but still rather broken with some heavier rain
possibly later in the week around Thursday.The river has dropped quickly above & below. It is still high - up 50cm at Killavullen from the level it was at before
the flood.   At Ballyduff, the gauge is on 1.15m this morning. The clarity above & down here is about 2 feet, which is excellent given the height of the water.

Prospects are superb for the coming week.

Flood falls - in order for tomorrow!

The river has fallen extremely quickly both upstream
(1.97m @ killavullen at 22.45)
& down here at Ballyduff where it is down to 1.40m @ 22.45.


Amazingly, the clarity is remarkable good at ~ 1½feet both up & downriver.
I was amazed when I looked at it at 7pm this evening here, & had a phone call just after to say it was the same upriver & would be fishable tomorrow above in higher water spots.

Prospects must be superb for the coming week & rods/accommodation are available.

Biggest Flood is falling........

This was the Blackwater at 10,00 this morning.

The lower river peaked late last night at close to 3.00m & it is just
  starting to fall. It is 2.75m @ 10.00. The clarity is good considering the height
  - more of that light sandy sediment which should drop out quickly.

 The upper river peaked @ 17.15 yesterday- up a full 3.0 metres since the evening before @ 14.00.
This morning @10.00 it has dropped almost 2 metres down to 2.40m.

Superb prospects for next week with the runs of fish & catches up to the 6th.

Biggest Flood of the Year

This was the Blackwater @ 20.30 this evening
- out in the fields!

The upper river finally peaked @ 17.15
this evening @ 4.34m
- up 3.0 metres on 2 days ago.

The lower river is still rising, but should peak in the night. It was at 2.90m at 20.30.
It will probably be unfishable until the beginning of the week.
With drier weather in the coming week & a preview of what may happen with the Best Day of the Season on the 6th., prospects are superb for next week.