River fining down beautifully before the last 2 days of the season................ Six fish landed today..!

The river below the Lodge this afternoon with the Ballyduff gauge
reading a very respectable 0.35m

Another small rise hit the upper river about 0.30 today & this appeared
to put fish down. As it fined off later in the afternoon, fish came on the take
& four to 14lb were landed on the upper river in the late afternoon.

 Conversely, on the lower river a couple of fish were taken
earlier in the day as the river fell until lunchtime.
It then went quiet as the river was rising in the afternoon.

Two fish around 6lb. each were landed by Frank O'Hare
in the morning on Lower Kilmurry.

Bernard Seal (above) had two fish to 9lb. at Kilcanwy on the upper river.

Billy Jewitt had one fish of 8lb. on Killavullen
& then moved to Bridgetown where he landed one of 14lb.

Conditions are looking very promising indeed for the last two days with
no rain in the forecast, and the river at a nice height & fining off steadily.

River has peaked & is starting to fine off to good order for the last days...

There are a few rather heavy showers still coming in to the upper catchment
which will help to keep the river topped up

At Killavullen, the river peaked yesterday evening at 1.54m at 21.30
& is now falling back - 1.45m @ 07.45

At Ballyduff, the river peaked this morning at 0.55m at 05.00
& is now falling back - 0.53m @ 07.45

There was more action on the river yesterday with a number of fish met.
Four fish to 10lb. were landed - mostly on small bright flies on intermediate tips
even although the clarity was between 1 - 2 feet.

Prospects for the last few days are starting to look promising
as the river should fine down into good order.
Hopefully we will start to see some fresh fish moving in with
the extra push of fresh water & the tide still peaking at 4.2m today.

There is no problem for availability for the last 3 days of the season.

More water - & more fish moving...... and taking!

Showers have continued - especially in the upper catchment -
all day which is keeping th upper river topped up.
The air temperature was a balmy 8C @ 08.00 -
compared to just 1C yesterday morning, when there was a good frost!


Millstreet peaked at 08.30 this morning @ 1.06m
& was down to 0.85m by 22.15.


The river at killavullen rose 35cm & was just peaking @ 1.54m @ 21.00.
Clarity was about 2 feet in the morning but down to a foot by evening.


The Ballyduff gauge rose to 0.38 by 13.00, fell & is now rising again.
Clarity on the lower river was quite poor falling to about a foot.


Conor Arnold landed 3 fish to 7.5lb & Dave Walsh a 10 pounder - all on the upper river today before the clarity deteriorated in the late afternoon.
There were a good number of fish seen moving -
especially on the upper beats.

Best conditions tomorrow will probably be on the lower river
as the clearer water from upriver earlier today comes down.

With a comparatively dry forecast for the rest of the week,
the river should settle into good order for the last weekend.

There's no problem for availability of fishing & accommodation.

High Tides & rising water should pull fish in...........

It's a loely sunny day here now, but there's a few more showers
creeping into the top of the catchment at the moment.

The upper river at Millstreet has peaked @ 1.06m @ 08.45 this morning -
a further rise of 0.53m. By 11.15 it is down to 1.00m.

At Mallow it is rising - up 4cm so far,
At Killavullen, the rise is just starting.
Clarity on the upper river is ~1 1/2 feet.

At Ballyduff it is @ 0.37m @ 11.15 - up 12cm since late last night.
Clarity on the lower river is poor with a lot of colour coming in from the Araglen.

This latest rising accompanies high tides which peak today & tomorrow
at 4.2m which should hopefully bring fish from the tidal reaches & estuary
into the main river.

Rain again overnight & the river is rising this morning.................

This was the rainfall radar at 03.15 this morning
with some heavy showers in the upper catchment.

By 06.00, the showers were concentrated towards the lower catchment.
I have 14mm rain on the Lodge gauge by 06.30 this morning.

 The river at Millstreet up 16cm again @ 06.00 & rising fast.

 
The river at Ballyduff up just a couple of centimetres at 05.45.

 This should help to flush the river out & bring fresh fish up from the tidal water where many fish are concentrated at the river mouth at Youghal.

The weather forecast looks to be dry from tonight on, so we could have a very good last few days up to the close on Sunday.



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A couple of fish caught today as the upper river starts to fine off........

Report for 20.00 yesterday 7th.

 

The upper river continued to fall steadily from the peaks reported
in yesterday's blogpost.
The lower river rose further peaking at 0.46m @ 21.30 yesterday evening
& has dropped steadily since to 0.26m @ 18.15 this evening.

 

The clarity was only about 1 1/2 feet during the day, but it began to fine off
more quickly on the upper river where Henri Saarinen (Finland)
caught a 7 pounder & Conor Arnold a 4 pounder. 
Very few fish were seen during the day.

A reasonable rise but rather dirty water..................................

It was a fine dry sunny day today. The forecast is for broken weather
up untilWednesday & then clearing up from Thursday to Sunday!

At Millstreet, the river has fallen from it's peak of 0.98m @ 03.00 this morning to 0.69m @ 18.30.


At Killavullen, the river peaked at 13.30 at 1.46m & is now falling
& down to 1.38m @ 18.30.
The clarity on the upper beats was about 3 feet early this morning,
but fell to ~ 1 1/2 feet by late afternoon.
At Ballyduff the river was dropping until 12.20 when it started to rise again
& was still rising at 18.30.
Clarity had improved somewhat by late afternoon to close to 2 feet.



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An inch of rain brings the river up........................

The river below the Lodge at 08.00 today - up 30cm. to 0.43m

I have 24mm of rain on the Lodge gauge in the last 18 hours
& there was 20mm fell in Mallow.

The river at Millstreet has risen 57cm - peaking at 0.98m @ 03.00am today.
At 07.30 it was down to 0.86m but looks as if it is just about to rise again due to more showers back west.


At Killavullen it is up 20cm to 1.21m @ 07.00 & is still rising. The clarity
on the upper river there is about 3 feet with little suspended sediment.

 
The Ballyduff gauge has peaked at 0.43m at 06.30 this morning
& is currently just down to 0.42m @ 07.00.
The clarity here is poor at around a foot to a foot & a half max.

Rain sweeps through the catchment this evening............

The above image is the rainfall radar picture at 18.45 this evening
with the rain sweeping in from the south-west across the catchment.

This second image is the radar at 21.30.
The front passed through quicker than I would have liked
but should have a positive effect on the river.
I have 10mm rain on my gauge at 21.30 & there was 14mm in Mallow.

A small rise, a couple of fish & more rain to come..........

Yesterday's rain affected the lower catchment rather more than the upper.
The graph above shows rainfall & river height at Ballyduff for the last month.
This is the highest the river has been at Ballyduff since August 31.




The graph above show the Millstreet (80km upstream) gauge for the last week. The river peaked at 08.00 this morning - up 8cm.

The next graph above show the Ballyduff gauge for the last week.
The river peaked at 12.00 this morning - up 13cm.

This was the river below the Lodge a couple of days ago
when the gauge was on 0.05m.

 This was the river below the Lodge @ 16.00 today - gauge height 0.17m.

There were just 4 rods out today - 2 on the upper river & 2 on the lower.
The upper river had good clarity @ ~5 feet with just a touch of cloudy sedimentary particles & no weed coming down.
Two fish of 6 & 10lb. were taken on the top but one beat, where a good number of fish were showing & some moving to flies presented to them.  

Conditions were not so good on the lower river where the clarity was only about 2 1/2 feet & a lot of weed was coming down the river & hooking up on flies.      

 

The Five Day Met Eireann forecast is still showing heavy rain right across the catchment for tomorrow night so we should get a good rise in the river on Monday. Hopefully this will clear quickly and we will get some good fishing from mid-week to the close of the season on Sunday October 12.

There is no problem for availability for fishing & accommodation
for this last week of our season.

18mm rain today & still a lot more forecast for Sunday night..........................!

This was the current rainfall radar picture this evening at 19.15.
There was steady rain throughout the catchment
especially in the afternoon & early evening.
I recorded 18mm here at the Lodge up to 21.00 & there was 17mm in Mallow.
The river is up about 5cm (2") on most gauges at 22.00 this evening
with a slow steady rise which should continue into the night.

The Met Eireann Five Day forecast is consistently showing heavy rain from late Sunday evening which - if it is correct - should produce a much bigger rise.


Following the 18mm of rain here, the Ballyduff gauge has risen
from 0.05 to 0.10m by 21.00.

Prospects
The river has been so low for so long that it needs a really good flushout.
When it does rise it will probably get dirty & have a lot of weed coming down.
The higher it rises the faster it'll clear.
I suspect that tomorrow will see a small but dirty flood & that the real flushout will come after Sunday night's rain.
Let's hope that that will fine off to give us good water conditions from mid-week on.

Availability
No problem for availability of accommodation & fishing
for the remainder of the season.

Some rain today & a lot more for Sunday.......................

This is the Rainfall radar picture at 12.30 today.
Some rain across the catchment but nowhere near as much
as I would have liked to have seen.
Some more is due tonight.

This is the Met Eireann 5 day forecast prediction for Sunday midnight.
It looks as if we should be getting heavy rain then
& continuing broken weather into the start of next week.

Please.......Please......Please..........Please........!!!!!!!!!!

Will it or won't it.............RAIN?

The forecast for the coming days is playing games with us.
A couple of days ago it was looking like heavy rain for tomorrow - Friday 3rd.
but this has now changed to be less rain!
 
This is from the Met Eireann 5 Day forecast for noon tomorrow
which is now showing light rain.

 
However, the forecast for Monday morning (06.00) now looks as if
we will have a whole lot more at the beginning of the week.

The Magic Seaweed 8 day forecast is also showing rain
through to mid-week.

Fingers crossed that it will bring the river up, flush it out & get fish running
for the last few days of the season up to the close on October 12th.

There's no problem for availability of fishing & accommodation 
for the last week - last chance to wet a line for this year!

Satrting to look promising weather-wise for the coming weekend............

Current Situation & Prospects: Monday, September 29 @ 21.00


Weather: 

Continuing dry up to Thursday/Friday. Looking broken for much of next week.

LThis is the Magic Seaweed forecast for 15.00 on Friday next.

And this is the Met Eireann forecast for 12.00 on Friday next.

River Height:    

 

This is the Ballyduff gauge height @ 19.00 this evening.

  Millstreet:  Down to 0.41m @ 20.00 & steady.

Killavullen:  Down to 1.01m @ 19.00 & steady.  

   Ballyduff:  Up 1cm to 0.07m @ 19.00 & steady.  

Colour/Clarity:  

It is about 7-8 feet throughout.
 
Temperatures:  

Water @    Ballyduff:    13.2ºC      55.8ºF.
 Water @ Killavullen:    14.3 -  15.8ºC.
     Air @    Ballyduff:     17ºC  @ 17.00  today.

Run of Fish: 

There are no fresh fish moving on the lower river.
Even the resident fish are being very dour.
                        
Catches:  

Forty-six fish to 13lb. for the week to last Saturday.
No fish caught in the last two days.

Prospects: 
Challenging until we get a rise in water
which look well possible for the coming weekend.

Availability: 
Is OK for both B&B accommodation & fishing up to the close on Sunday, October 12th.

The Frenchmen do it again!

The 3 rod Bonnet party caught seven fish today on the upper river
including two 12 pounders & a 13 pounder.
All were taken on the prawn & all were released alive.

Best Day's Catch Ever Recorded for One Party

Best Day's Catch Ever Recorded for One Party
September 21, 2014

The three rod French party from Britanny comprising regular visitors
Gerard Bonnet, Louis Cadiou & Florent Franckaert caught twenty-two fish
to 12lb. yesterday from two of our beats on the upper river.

Eleven were caught in two hours in the morning on our topmost beat Ballygarrett and they then moved to Bridgetown where they caught
another eleven between 16.00 and 18.00.
Florent caught ten fish to 9lb., Gerard eight fish to 9lb. and Louis four to 12lb.
All the fish were taken on the prawn and every single one was released alive.

The previous best total for one party in one day dates back to 

June 9th., 1988, when three rods caught a total of 21 fish for the day 

on spinner during a massive grilse run after a flood.
Coincidentally, one of the party from that day is fishing here this week!

Louis Cadiou with the best fish of the day - a comparatively clean 12lb.

This achievement is all the more remarkable when you consider
that the river is approaching it's lowest recorded level.
The last even moderate flood we had was on June 10th.,
when the level rose to a mere 1.04 metres.

Availability
Fishing is fully booked for the latter part of the week,
but reasonable from the 27th. to the 30th.
There is plenty of availability for the Fly only C&R extension to October 12th.

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