Challenging Conditions but only two blank days for August.......

This is Celso Viera from Spain who had never fished a river before -
- his fishing experience being for tuna off the south of Spain.
On just his second day fishing (Saturday 24th.) with us (guided by Glenda)
he caught his First Ever Salmon which was exceptional enough,
but he then went on to catch his second the very same day.

This brings our total of First Ever Salmon caught here to 13 for the season.

On the 25th., Mark Allsop (UK) caught his first ever on the fly.

Fishing remains challenging due to the low water (Ballyduff gauge on 0.19m),
but we are still getting fish virtually every day in spite of the conditions.

 We had superb fishing in early August, but it has slowed up
in the last 2 weeks due to low water.
For the 7 days to Saturday 10th.,we landed 108 fish to 12lb. for just 87 rod days.

The August total is 175 for 205 rod days which is excellent given the conditions.
We have only had two blank days in August - the 2nd.  & the 26th.

One Italian guest landed 46 salmon in the 20 days to the 23rd., and he lost one very large fish on the 21st. on the upper river which he estimated at 1.10m long & about 25lb.  He had played the fish for at least 10 minutes and had seen the fish very clearly.

See my latest Newsletter (August 18) on http://goo.gl/Hu9urG

 The water continues to fine down very slowly & is @ 0.24m on the Ballyduff gauge. this morning. There is some light rain forecast for Thursday & again on Saturday.

There have been few rods fishing in the last couple of days, but we had 3 fish caught on Sunday, & two rods on one beat yesterday (Monday) landed 8 fish & lost 4 more.

The August total is 128 which is already the best for the month since 2009 - & this is only in the first 12 days! The season total to date is 270.

See my latest Newsletter (August 7) on http://goo.gl/ghgdxo

Prospects are looking good for the coming week.

Superb Fishing in the last Week.........................................

With the spell of dry weather, the river has fined off to summer level.
The Ballyduff gauge is now on 0.26m this morning & the clarity is 4-5 feet.
The forecast for the week is dry except for some light rain perhaps on Wednesday & Thursday.

We have had superb fishing in the last week. For the 7 days to Saturday 10th.,
we have taken 108 fish to 12lb. for just 87 rod days. The August total is 118
which is already the best for the month for the last 4 years - & this is only in the first 10 days!

Fresh fish are continuing to run in good numbers.
One angler who was fishing our top beat just below Mallow (28 miles/45km upriver)
caught 4 sea-liced grilse in one hour in the late afternoon & lost 2 more.

Prospects
Excellent for the coming week. Very small flies are the most successful.
There's no problem for availability for fishing & accommodation for most of August.

Another 18 Salmon yesterday.......................................

18 fish caught yesterday to 9lb. for 14 rod days.
Total for last 5 days is 89 for 66 rod days.
August total 97 & Season 239/
Forecast continues dry so superb conditions continue!

Best Day Record for 2013 broken twice in the last 2 days.

The Best Day for 2013 record which was established on Sunday with 20 fish caught
lasted just 2 days.
On Tuesday, we caught 21 fish to 12lb. for just 10 rod days.
This new record however only lasted one day as yesterday we recorded 22 fish to 7lb.
for 17 rod days.
We have now caught a staggering 71 fish for 52 rod days in the last 4 days.

The August total is now 76 fish, & the Season Total is 219.

Four foot flood helps us smash Best Day of Season record............

A Well-needed Flood

A dirty 4 foot flood hit the river on Friday, August 2nd. peaking at 1.28m.
This was just what we needed to bring the huge numbers of fish waiting in the tidal reaches
up into the main river. This resulted in our only blank day in the 16 days to August 5th.

The Day Record is Smashed!
By Saturday evening, it had dropped to 0.51m but was still coloured.
There were 4 fish caught that day.
The river fined down to good order on Sunday, and we smashed our record
for the Best Day of 2013 with 20 fish to 11lb.caught for just 12 rod days.
The previous best day was eight fish. Two anglers each had four for the day, one of which had both his first & second ever fly-caught salmon. The other had fish of 11,10, 7 & 3lb.
Nine fell to fly & 11 to spinner. Fourteen were caught on the upper river & six on the lower beats.

Mat Burbridge with his First Ever Fly Caught Salmon which he released.


We now have 60 fish caught for just 70 rod days in the last 16 days.

There was very heavy rain in the middle catchment for a couple of hours on Sunday evening which gave another 1½ foot flood yesterday morning

 This is the picture of rainfall & Ballyduff gauge height for the last month.
It has been very unsettled for the last fortnight, but is now settling.

This was the picture of the river below the Lodge this morning after the two recent floods.
Ballyduff gauge height 0.43m. 
Clarity 1-1½ feet early this morning improving to ~2 feet by lunchtime.

Prospects
With a river fining down rapidly, a dry forecast for the week & large numbers of fish running,
we look set to have fabulous sport in the coming week.

At last - a rise in the river and fish running in good numbers!

Yesterday, just one rod (Daniel Kadlubowski above) went out at about 2.00pm.
He released a couple of grilse around 6.00pm & I joined him at 7.30pm.
Shortly after I landed this 11.8lb salmon for him which is his Personal Best.
I then released a grilse & lost a bigger very fresh fish of ~6lb. All fell to small flies.
Another grilse was caught on the upper river late in the evening making the total 5 for the day.

This was the river below the Lodge @ 08.40 this morning.
Gauge height then was 0.71m and the clarity was ~ 1-1 ½ feet.
At  11.30 it was up further to 0.78m.

This was the rainfall radar picture @ 12.00 today showing further heavy rain
which looks as if it will get into the upper catchment.

Whilst we probably won't get a very big flood, the rain falling in the upper catchment
will help to maintain the level and give the river a good flush out.

There are reports of good numbers of fish moving from the tidal water
up into the main river, so the prospects for sport
are looking superb coming up to the weekend.

In spite of the low water in the last week or so, we have not had a blank day for the last 11 days.
We have caught 24 fish to 11.8lb. for just 43 rod days in the 11 days.