Already second best July since 2003.......

This is the river height at Killavullen on the upper river.
The level is now hold more or less steady at 1.34m.

At Ballyduff the level has held at 0.50m since Saturday evening.
The level above & below is the lowest since June 6th.

Fishing remains consistent. We had 4 fish caught on Saturday (3 on the upper river).
Yesterday (Sunday), there were 6 fish caught to 11.2lb. One angler had 2 sea-liced fish to 10.7lb.,
and lost 2 more - one of which was 15-20lb.  All were hooked on spinner.
The total catch for the month is now 112 for 129 rod days. This is the second best total for July since 2003 (best was 169 in 2010).

With the river settling & fining off nicely, prospects for the week are superb!

Biggest Fish of the Year

Biggest Fish of the Season so far.....!
Joe Lonergan from Ardfinnan, Co. Tipperary landed the Biggest Fish of the Season on the Lodge Fishery to date. It weighed 18.1lb. and he caught it on spinner on the Island Stream on Kents on the lower river.

Both the upper & lower river are dropping away slowly & steadily.
The clarity on the upper river is now good again & fish are being met on spinner.
it will be in fly order for the weekend

Weather settles & a big fish is landed.........

The small dirty flood of yesterday afternoon didn't significantly affect the level. The clarity on the upper river this morning is however barely a foot, but the level continues to drop..

The lower river peaked late yesterday afternoon @ 0.80m & is down to 0.65 @ 09.00 this morning.
Clarity is good at 2-3 feet.


The 5 day weather forecast is now dry, so the river should fine off into cracking order over the weekend.

Superb Fishing.
We have had 44 salmon to 14.5lb for 44 rod days in the last week, including the Best Fish of the Season & the (joint) Best Day with 11 fish caught.

Far Better than Average

Year	May	June	July
2012	40	77	100
10 Year Average to 2011	29	58	105
5 Year Average 2011	28	40	98

Notwithstanding tha fact that there are fewer rods fishing than normal, our catches for the summer so far are well above both the 5 & 10 Year Averages. Both May and June are well above, & the July total to the 19th. is already highr than the 5YA & almost up to the 10YA with 10 days to go.

Stop Press
Just had a report (14.00 Friday) of a fish of 14-15lb. caught on the lower river.

Prospects
The 5 Day weather forecast is dry so the river should fine off well & we can expect superb sport over the weekend & into the coming week.

One last little flood & now dry weather...................

The upper river at Killavullen rose 30cm since yesterday morning peaking at
  9.00am today. Already dropped 18cm by 22.00 Clarity was still quite good.
  Report @ 15.00 of dirty (chocolate) water at Lombardstown - 10km. above
  Mallow but the level hasn't been affected.

At Ballyduff, it peaked in the late afternoon @ 0.80m. Down to 0.70m by  21.00. Clarity 2-3 feet but still quite peaty.

We had six fish to 10lb. caught for the day - five from the upper river.
The fishing is remarkably consistent. We now have 106 salmon for 105 rod days for July.
The season total is now 240.

The weather forecast is now dry right through the weekend & into next week.
This should ensure that the river drops & fines off & the prospects for next week should be outstanding.

Joint Best Day & yet another flood........

Joint Best Day of the Season..............
The final tally for the 2 rods (Ivan Tucker from Carlow & Michael Dix from Dublin) was 10 fish.
Michael had 5 fish on the one beat releasing 3, & Ivan had 3 to 10.7lb. from the same beat. He then moved to another beat in the evening & caught 2 more.
There was just one other grilse caught for the day making the total 11.




The upper river rose yet again last night due to very heavy localised showers in the upper catchment.

This is the Killavullen gauge graph.

The river rose 30cm peaking at 09.00am.
The clarity was however still good.

The lower river was on 0.60m yesterday morning, 0.66m this morning & 0.76m by 15.00 but the clarity is still good.
At 15.30, I had a report that the river at Lombardstown (10km above Mallow) was muddy dirty.
Thank goodness the forecast is for dry weather now through until at least Monday.

Seven fish on one beat today........

The river has now reached the lowest level since June 6th. and is fining off.
The final catch on Sunday 15th. was 6 fish to 14.5lb., including 3 on the fly for Fergus Glynn from Co. Clare on the Hut Pool on Upper Kilmurry.
On Monday, there was just one fish caught on fly on Ballyhooly & yesterday (Tuesday) there were four to ten pounds caught all on the upper river.

Today I already have a report at 16.00 of seven fish to 10lb. landed on one beat for 2 rods.

New Best Fish of the Season...................

New Best Fish of the Season!

This fish was caught today by Garry O'Shea from Dungarvan. It was caught on spinner at the Wall Pool
on Ballinaroone beat on the lower river just a mile above the Lodge.
It weighed 14.5lb and was heavily sea-liced.

I also had a report by 11.30am that Fergus Glynn from Co. Clare had already caught three sea-liced fish to 8lb. on fly at the Hut Pool on Upper Kilmurry.
We have one of these on video & will be putting it up on Youtube shortly.

Second Best Day of Season takes us past 200 fish......

Friday 13th.!   The (Joint) Second Best Day of the Season.
Ten fish caught which takes us past the 200 Salmon for the Season mark!!!!

Notable on the day were Conor Arnold who released 5 fish on the top but one beat in just 3 hours fishing in the evening. He landed four fish of 4, 7, 8 & 10lb. on spinner & an 11½lb. on fly.

Father & son Padraig & James O'Keeffe (left)  from Glanmire, Co. Cork tried their first fishing ever as a half guided day with Glenda & released fish of 6 & 13lb. respectively on spinner on the lower river.

David Walsh released an 8.5lb. on spinner at Ballyhooly, Kieran Conlon a 7 pounder on Woodstream & Pat O'Donovan killed a sea-liced 5lb. also on Ballyhooly.
 




Saturday 20th.
Another good day with six fish caught including four sea-liced fish from the upper river.
Best were Pat O'Donovan's 10.6lb. on spinner from Bridgetown, Kieran Conlon's 10lb. released on fly at Ballincurrig & Christopher Whelan's sea-liced 8.6lb. from Ballinaroone.



By yesterday (Saturday) evening, the river was down to 0.80m on the gauge at Ballyduff Bridge.

Prospects
Superb for the coming week as it looks as if
we won't get too much rain on Monday

Yet another rise in the water.......

The river rose 27cm upstream at Killavullen on the 11th. & fell back but has risen another 25cm this morning.  The gauge in Ballyduff is also up this morning at 0.91m.

There were 3 fish all between 10 - 11lb. caught for 3 rod days yesterday.

This was 11 years young James Shanahan with his Second Ever Salmon which weighed 11lb. & was taken on spinner at the Junction Pool on Bridgetown Abbey.

This sea-liced 10.4lb. was taken by Mike Whelan
on spinner on the Jole on Lower Kilmurry.

His son Christopher also released a 10 pounder caught in the same pool.
















Prospects for the coming days are excellent with mainly dry weather over the weekend.

The great fishing continues.........

On Monday 9th., 6 fish were caught (including the 13lb. First Salmon in last blog entry) making it the Fifth Best Day of the season. This included a couple of sea-liced fish from the lower river from Kilmurry & Kents.

 On Tuesday 10th., 9 fish were caught which made this the Third Best Day of 2012.
Mike Whelan caught these three fish all between 9-10lb. on Kilmurry on the lower river.

 

Stefan Kadlubowski released this 9½ pounder on fly on the Wood Flat on Woodstream.

 

Joe Tynan caught his first fish on the fly yesterday too.
It weighed 4lb. & was caught on the Castle Flat on Ballyhooly.

Both the upper & lower river are dropping today but slowly due to the localised showers.
Yesterday both rose - the upper by a foot to 1.81m & the lower by 15cm.
They are down to 1.61m & 0.88m respectively this morning.  
Clarity is fair here @ ~2-2½ feet.  It is similar upriver. Some quite heavy localised showers  are still keeping the river topped up.
The heavy rain forecast for today fell south of the catchment.

Superb prospects for the coming weekend.

The Biggest First Ever Salmon..........?

This is probably the Largest Ever First Salmon that has been caught on the Lodge Fishery. It was taken Monday on Woodstream on the upper river (over 20 miles upstream of the Lodge)
on spinner by 19 year old Dan Kadlubowski (UK) on his first day fishing at the Lodge.
He very sportingly released the fish alive.

Sunday, July 8. The Second Best Day of the Season

A total of 10 fish were caught for just 9 rod days.  George Sandamas (UK) had this 12.2lb & released a 5 pounder - both sea-liced on spinner on Lower Kilmurry. John Harte had 3 to 9lb. on Woodstream, Garry O'shea 2 to 7lb & Christopher Whelan a 5lb. all on the top beat Ballygarrett, Jim Shanahan a 7lb. on Ballyhooly & Gavin O'Shea a 4lb. on worms on Carrig..

The river was pretty coloured above & below yesterday - just beginning to clear off by evening.
There were just 2 fish caught yesterday of 7 & 9 ½lb. from (you've guessed it!) the Castle Flat in Ballyhooly.
The river has fined off well this morning. Down to 1.00 at Ballyduff & 1.68m at Killavullen.
Clarity good at 2½-3 feet. There's already a couple of fish caught from our top beat Ballygarrett by one rod in his first 20 minutes of fishing this morning.

Looks as if we're going to get a few dry days before another band of rain comes in Thursday.
Brilliant prospects for the beginning of the week.

The Last Flood for a while..............?

 

The Bad news!
Some heavy rain swept up the catchment from the east last night. I had 9mm on my gauge here.

The upper river peaked @ 11.00 @ 1.98m & dropped to 1.83m by 19.00 today.
The clarity was poor in the morning but is improving slowly by evening.  The lower river peaked @ 1.28m this afternoon is is back to 1.22 by 20.00.   Clarity ~1½-2 feet.

The Good news!
The 5 Day forecast is now dry right up until Wednesday next week.

The Prospects
Even with the floods we have had some amazing fishing so far for July with 26 fish for just 27 rod days.
The prospects have to be absolutely superb for the coming week, as there have been great runs of large sea-liced fish coming through the upper river in recent days.
Even yesterday with the Killavullen gauge at 1.65m, 2 rods slipped into Ballyhooly at 6.30pm & released two fish on the fly.

Second Best Day of the Season.....

With one more fish caught by Tim Harty on fly from Ballyhooly reported to me very late last night, the total for yesterday was then 7 fish (3 on fly) which made it the joint Second Best Day of the Season.

Rain swept up the catchment from the East last night - we had 9mm here.
The upper river is rising this morning but looks to be peaking at ~2.00m - up 35cm from yesterday afternoon.  The water is apparently very dirty!
The Ballyduff gauge is on 1.16m this morning - up from 0.98m last night. Clarity is OK at ~2 feet.

Prospects
The forecast is for dry weather into next week. If the river drops & fines off, the prospects for sport are superb in the coming week.

Joint Third Best Day of the Season!

This is the rainfall radar @ 17.00 today & it's absolutely pouring down in Ballyduff as I write (17.15).

And here's the one at 19.00 as the band of rain moves down from the NE.

Both the upper & lower river have steadied. The lower river remained at 0.98m all day.
The Killavullen gauge has fallen just 1cm through the day.

Six fish were caught which made it the Joint Third best Day of the Season - for just 7 rod days.
Best fish of the day was a 12 1/2 pounder for John Harte on spinner from Ballincurrig.
This one above was 11lb. & caught by Gavin O'Shea on Carrig.
Steven Slattery had an 8 pounder on fly in the evening on Ballyhooly & Joe Lonergan had 2 on spinner & Dennis O'Donnell one on fly on Killavullen.

The next rain is on the way.......

This is the radar at 12.45 today. This band of rain is coming in from the East.
It remains to see how far it'll extend up the catchment.

The river today is fining off. 0.98m in Ballyduff with clarity ~ 3 feet.

Reports of a lot of fish running on the upper river, but not taking.

Fining off but a couple of cm up upriver....

This is the river at 09.30 this morning. 1.10m on the Ballyduff gauge & clarity 2.5 - 3 feet.
The upper river was dropping but has risen a couple of cm early this morning at Killavullen.
Clarity on the upper river yesterday afternoon was 3-4 feet.

River falling slowly & plenty of fish about.....

The river was out of order on Monday (2nd) & no rods fished.
Yesterday, it was still high & a wet day, but 3 of our local rods went to do some bank clearing at Ballyhooly (2 on strimmers & 1 with a rod alternating.) Apart from doing a great grass cutting job they managed to catch 3 fish on spinner. James Hill had these two of 3.7 & 5.7lb & Christopher Whelan released one about 5lb. The clarity of the water was only about 1 foot.
Today, Tim Harty & Steven Slattery from Co. Limerick fished Ballyhooly & caught 5 fish on spinner between the two of them for the day.
Steven released 3 fish of 12, 8 & 3lb & Tim killed a 9.5lb (bleeding) & released a 6lb.
The clarity of the water there at the end of the day was around 3 feet.

Surprisingly (considering the showers), both the upper & lower river are dropping slowly but steadily since yesterday & the water is fining off nicely.

By 19.00 this evening the gauge in Ballyduff was on 1.20m with clarity 1 1/2 - 2 feet.
There's a bit more rain for Friday night but then it looks to be drier through the weekend & into next week.

Prospects for sport are superb as soon as the river fines off a bit more.

The Amazing River Height Statistics for June.......

These are the remarkable statistics for the June River Height. I have kept accurate records since 2004.
The average height for 2004-2011 for June is 0.36 metres with the highest month being 2009 when it was 0.46m. It is 1.16 metres this year. There are only 3 individual (spring) months in this period where the water levels have been higher.

Yet another flood

As expected, the band of heavy rain came sweeping down through the catchment.

I had 12mm of rain on my gauge this morning.
The word from the upper river is that it is up 1 1/2 feet & dirty.

At Killavullen it has risen 40cm since 04.00am.

I just heard (11.30am) that there is a very dirty
flood coming through the lower river now which is obviously coming in from the Araglen tributary.

The lower river will be sure to rise again as well.

Superb fishing for the few rods out.....................

 
With the water very high it looked as if no-one would venture out on Friday.

Eventually Kieran Conlon went out for a half day at Ballyhooly - the only rod out on the fishery.

It turned out to be very well worthwhile.

He killed one fish of 6lb. on worms (below on net) & released a grilse on spinner & this 11 pounder on fly.

A remarkable result considering that the clarity of the water was at best between 1 - 1 1/2 feet.

Yesterday (Saturday) Tim Harty (left) & Steven Slattery also fished Ballyhooly.

They released two fish on spinner - this lovely 8 pounder for Tim & a 5 pounder for Steven.

Pat Quirke also had two sea-liced fish from Kents on the lower river on spinner.

He kept an 8.8lb. and released another fish of ~6lb.

 Ballyhooly is definitely the place to be at the moment. 

Today (Sunday) Chris Whelan (left) landed three - these two fish of 9.1 & 9.4lb & a grilse he released.

Larry Sheridan (right) fished with him & took this 7.4lb. They lost another three fish as well.

They saw a large number of fish running through the beat during the day.

Joe Lonergan caught a sea-liced 5 pounder at the Jole on Lower Kilmurry on the lower river to make it 5 for the day.

The upper & lower river were both dropping slowly overnight.

However some heavy rain later yesterday (especially in the upper catchment) brought the upper river up 27 cm this morning, peaking at lunchtime & now falling again slowly.

The clarity above wasn't great as the rising water was rather dirty.

The lower river was rising slowly & steadily through the day, but the clarity was good at 2 1/2 - 3 feet.





Prospects
As I write (23.00) there is another band of quite heavy rain coming into the upper catchment which will keep the river topped up.
With the high water & the superb run of fish coming in, prospects of sport in the coming weeks are brilliant!