The river drops & fish are starting to take.............

The rain has finally stopped & the weather is starting to get warmer.

The upper river peaked in the very early hours of yesterday morning @ 2.18m and has been falling steadily since.

It was down to 1.59m this evening, and the clarity on the upper river was 2 feet or more by evening.

The lower river peaked @ 1.50m in the early hours of yesterday & has fallen steadily since.

It is down to 0.80m by 20.00 this evening & the clarity here is also improving rapidly.

This was the river below the Lodge at noon today with the level already down to 0.85m & clarity improving.

Now the rain has stopped & the water level is falling, fish are being met more frequently.










There were only 2 rods fishing yesterday & one 5 pounder was released on an upper beat.

Today, there were 4 rods fish & one pair had 3 fish of 5 (released), 6 & 9lb. all on spinner on our upper beats. Another fish was lost on an upper beat & a double figure fish lost on a lower beat.

Plenty of fish were seen on the upper river especially in the morning, & fish were starting to show on the lower river too.



Prospects.
The Irish 5 day forecast & YR.no forecast for next week are giving dry weather right through to the end of next week, so the river should come rapidly into excellent condition.
The prospects of sport for the coming week are superb.

The last flood.........................?

15mm rain fell during the night & another 8mm this morning.
The Ballyduff gauge peaked this lunchtime @ 1.46m & was down to 1.30 by 16.30.
Moderate clarity @ 1-1½ feet.

At Killavullen, the river peaked yesterday @ 2.01m at 14.00 fell until 20.00 when it rose again - peaking again at 2.14m @ 06.30 this morning.

It fell again to 1.84m  @ 14.00 today but has now risen 7cm since.

Prospects
Dry summery weather after today thru' the weekend at least.
The river should come into fishable order before the weekend.


Just 2 rods fished yesterday
& although conditions weren't ideal,
Sigi Hummelsberger from Germany
had 2 fish including this 12 pounder
which he released alive.

Latest flood fining off................

There were no fish caught yesterday as the water was heavy & coloured. The upper river is dropping steadily & clarity is close to  2 feet on the upper beats.

The lower river peaked late last night @ 1.30m & is back to 1.00m at 11.00 this morning.
Clarity is similar.

The is some more rain forecast for tonight & then it is summer right through to early next week!
Prospects for the weekend could be brilliant!

And yet another flood.........................

There was just one fish caught yesterday which was an extremely fresh 5 pounder from our very top beat 28 miles upriver which was a bit surprising as most of the fish seem moving in the last 2 days didn't look very fresh.

Yet more rain has brought the river up once again.
I had 19mm on my gauge this morning.
The upper river at Killavullen rose 40cm to 2.01m
peaking at 14.00 this afternoon.

The lower river is rising slowly all day & was at 1.20m @ 16.30 this afternoon from it's level yesterday evening of 0.86m.
The clarity was surprisingly good at 1 1/2 - 2 feet.










Prospects
There is some more rain forecast up to Wednesday though hopefully not as much as recently.
The forecast then right through from Thursday into the weekend is warm, dry & sunny.
Perhaps we'll have some semblance of summer in the river and the weather over the weekend.

Third Best Day of Season between the floods......

The river had dropped off & started to fine down on Friday 24th., which was the joint third Best Day of the Season with 10 fish to 13.4lb. caught.

Heavy localised showers caused the upper river to river yet again on Saturday.
It was completely out of order for Saturday 25th.

This was the picture for the upper river up to this morning.

The lower river was also completely unfishable yesterday (Sat. 25th.)

Today the clarity has improved somewhat to 1 - 1.5 feet on the lower river & about 2 feet on the upper river.

I already have a report of a very fresh 5 pounder caught on our top beat just below Mallow today after only 3 casts.

Friday 25th. was the 3rd. best Day of 2012.
Francesco Legario was Top Rod with four fish from our top beat just below Mallow.
Pat O'Donovan landed 3 at Bridgetown, keeping only a 13.4lb. & releasing 2 grilse.

There looks to be yet more rain from tonight to Wednesday!!!!!!!

Six fish yesterday..................

The upper river at Killavullen was rising & falling repeatedly in the last 36 hours.
It is now falling once again. The Ballyduff gauge was also still rising at nightfall
from 1.06 in the morning to 1.20m by nightfall. It was down again to 1.06m by this morning.
Clarity is barely 1 foot on the upper river & ~2 feet on the lower.

This was the river below the Lodge at 12.15 today.
It has fallen a further 6cm to 1.00m.

Six Fish to 9lb. were caught yesterday.
We have also had 3 First Ever Salmon caught
in the last 3 days.

The total for so far for August is 79 to 13.9lb
for 109 rod days.

The season total to date is 366.


More rain is expected this evening & tomorrow.

Six floods in August.........

 

We have had six floods since the beginning of August and the average Ballyduff gauge height to date is 1.28m.
The average height for August for the previous 8 years is 0.47m (varying from 0.10 to 0.98m).
The highest level during this month was 2.90m on August 16^th.
Between the numerous floods, the river comes back into order quite quickly is fishing improves during these windows.
On the 6^th., we shattered the Best Day record for 2012 with 18 fish to 12.9lb. landed.
The August total to date is nevertheless 73 to 13.9lb for 93 rod days to the 21^st.
Yesterday - 5 fish were caught - four by women, two of which were First Ever Salmon.

The season total to date is 360.

 

River fining off

The river continued to drop today with the upper river down to 1.70m & the lower river down at 0.88 by evening.
7 fish to 13.9lb were caught today - 6 from the upper river & a 10 pounder from the lower river.
The forecast remains dry up to Sunday so the prospects are excellent for Friday & Saturday at least.
Total for August is now 39 fish for 39 rod days.

River falling fast. Three fish caught in high dirty water.....

The upper river has fallen to 1.85m @ 18.15 this evening.
The lower river is down to 1.02m @ 22.00. Clarity improving rapidly.

There were three fish to 8lb. taken on one of the upper beats this afternoon.
With no rain, the conditions are improving rapidly & should be much better for tomorrow.

The upper river peaked at 19.15 last night @ 3.73m.
It is down to 2.00 at 10.15 this morning.

The Ballyduff gauge peaked in the early hours of this morning at 2.30m.
It is already down to 1.90m @ 10.00.
Clarity poor but silty which will drop out quickly. Could be spinnable down river by afternoon
in the few places that fish in this height of water. Similar situation upriver.

Highest Flood on the upper river since June 8.........................

The upper river at Killavullen peaked at 21.15 on the 7th. @ 3.73m.
This is the highest level here since June 8th.

 The Ballyduff gauge was still rising at 23.00 & was at 2.26m.
 This is the highest level here since June 26th.

Prospects
After the superb day yesterday, the outlook must be brilliant as soon as the river gets back into some sort of fishable order. This may happen on the couple of good high water spots tomorrow, but will definitely happen from Thursday on as the forecast is dry until the end of the week.

The latest band of rain looks to be heavier than was predicted yet again.
This was the radar picture at 05.15 this morning with the band tracking almost due east
right through the catchment from top to bottom.
At 06.30 this morning I already have 12mm of rain on my gauge at the Lodge.
There is already a 4cm rise on the gauge at Killavullen by 05.30am this morning and we can expect
a significant rise yet again with the amount of rain that is falling.

However, if it produces fishing like we had yesterday when 18 fish to 12.9lb were caught for just 8 rods,
we shouldn't have any cause for complaint!

Total Catch for One Day Record for 2012 shattered..........

The record catch for one day for the 2012 season was shattered today when 18 fish to 13.9lb. were caught. The previous Best Day was 11 fish on June 6 & July 18.
One rod caught (& released) 6 fish to 12lb. on an upper beat, & another 2 rods also recorded 6 fish to 12.9m on a lower beat.

The weather has been dry for the last 2 days & the forecast is for mainly dry weather through until next weekend, so the prospects are superb,

Latest Flood drops & 300 salmon mark passed for 2012....

After 2 dry days, the river is dropping back & beginning to fine off to moderate fishing order.
The upper river at Killavullen is down from 2.72m on Saturday morning to 1.68m this morning. Clarity is ~2 feet on the upper river.

 The Ballyduff gauge is down from 1.80m on Saturday evening to 0.90m this morning.
 Clarity is ~1½ feet on the lower river.

This was the river below the Lodge @ 08.00am this morning.


Catch Total passes the 300 mark!
At 12.30 I already have reports of one 6lb. fish from the upper river & four to 13lb. from Lower Kilmurry - all on spinner. This brings the total for the season so far to 303 with 14 so far for August.

Second Best July since 2003...................

Even although we only caught four salmon for the last 4 days of July, it still ended up as the Second Best July since 2003.
The final tally for the month was 153 to 18.1lb. for 185 rod days. This included eight First Ever Salmon and of course, the Biggest Seatrout ever caught at the Lodge.

August kicked off with a 60cm flood on the 1st  - the graph for the Killavullen gauge is above.
The water was very dirty & there was no fishing that day.

On the 2nd. the clarity improved somewhat, especially on the upper river where it was 2-3 feet, but the water was still very peaty. One grilse was caught on spinner on Woodstream. On the lower river visibility was only 1-1½ feet,  but three rods who only fished for a couple of hours in the evening caught four fish to 13.9lb (pictured above) - all on spinner.
On the morning of the 3rd. there were some heavy showers crossing the upper catchment & more in the afternoon. Six fish to 6.5lb. were caught, the biggest was on fly on the lower river & the other five all came from the upper river of which 3 also fell to fly. The gauge rose during the day from 0.52 to 0.60m by evening.
The upper river peaked @ 09.00 at 2.72 - up 1.20m from the level on August 1. It was falling through the morning & then rose a little again by evening.
Today (4th.) the river was already up to 1.06m by 07.30 & it rose through the day peaking at 1.80m by early evening & just starting to fall once again by dusk.
The clarity was very bad & there was no fishing for the day.
The total so far for August is 11 for just 15 rod days and the total for the season is 298.

No problem for availability of rods & accommodation in the coming weeks.

  

Biggest Seatrout Ever.......

The Biggest Seatrout Ever!
On the 29th., Gavin O'Shea from Cork caught this monster seatrout on fly
whilst salmon fishing on Kents on the lower river.
It weighed 7.8lb & is being registered as a specimen as specimen weight is 6lb. here.
The fish took a Green Butt Gold Cascade.
It is certainly the biggest seatrout caught in the history of the Lodge
& I haven't heard of a bigger one caught on the river in the 27 years that I am here.