Falling away once again......

Lower river now falling steadily – down to 1.16m at 07.00 today 31^st.

~
The upper river is also dropping off steadily.

Lower river peaks at 1.41m at 05.00 today 30th..........................

Beautiful cold sunny day today with little rain forecast.


Yesterday’s 56cm rise on the upper river peaked at 17.00 yesterday. Only 0.5mm rain fell on my gauge here at the Lodge during the night. Air temperature is still +3°C at 09.00.


Twelve hours later - at 05.00 this morning -
the Ballyduff gauge peaked at 1.41m – up 58cm.

The picture shows the river below the Lodge at 09.15 this morning.
The Ballyduff gauge had already fallen to 1.35m
Water temperature at Ballyduff: 8.3ºC / 46.9ºF @ 09.00. Down 0.2ºC overnight.

Prospects This latest rise will put the river well above fly level
on all but a couple of spots for Opening Day on Sunday. It should be OK for high water spinning as long as
we don’t get much more rain in the next 2 days.

A 56cm rise on the upper river peaked at 16.30 today .........

Rain was obviously quite heavy in the upper catchment early today.
The forecast for tomorrow (Friday) is drier.
Another 2.5mm rain fell on my gauge here at the Lodge during the day.
Air temperature is still +3°C at 18.00.

The upper river at Millstreet (80km upriver) rose during the day
    and peaked at 16.30 – up 56cm – and has now started to drop.


   The Ballyduff gauge is rising steadily this evening and is up to 1.28m
   at 20.00 and still rising steadily.
   Water temperature at Ballyduff:  8.5ºC / 47.3ºF @ 20.00. 
   Down 0.3ºC during the day.



Prospects
This latest rise will peak on the lower river tomorrow, which will put it
well above fly level on all but a couple of spots order for Opening Day
on Sunday.
It may even be on the high side for spinning depending on if we get
much more rain in the next 2 days. 

A one foot rise on the upper river - and still rising.................................

The river below the Lodge at 11.30 today. Gauge height:  1.06m 

Yesterday was a very mixed bag weatherwise.
It alternated from beautiful sunshine & clear skies
to strong winds & sleet/snow showers.
The forecast is now for more of the same today,
somewhat drier then until we have a bit more rain on Monday.
Overnight I had 2.5mm rain on my gauge here at the Lodge.

Air temperature is +3°C at 08.00.
There must have been rather more rain in the upper catchment, as the river at Millstreet has gone from 0.78m at 09.00 yesterday to 1.13m at 08.00 – a rise of 35cm or almost a foot – and it is still rising steadily.

The Ballyduff gauge has risen from a low yesterday evening of 0.83m
to 1.07m at 12.00 today – up 24cm and still rising steadily.
Water temperature at Ballyduff:  8.8ºC / 47.8ºF @ 08.00.

Prospects
With this latest rise, it now looks unlikely that the river will be in fly-fishable order for Opening Day on Sunday,
but it should be fine for spinning.

Tidying the banks for Opening Day

   I spent last weekend starting to prepare the banks at Kilmurry at
   some of the spring hotspots ready for opening day next Sunday.

I had invaluable help from Chris Whelan on Saturday.
   This was the head of the renowned Island Stream on Lower Kilmurry
   looking upstream towards the Jole in the background
   as we just started work there.

  This was how it was after we had cleared it.

   We also made a good start on the Green Bank on Upper Kilmurry.
   Lots of briars on the sloping bank behind.


   This was the Green Bank after it's initial haircut.
   More to do but getting there!



   This is the Jole on Lower Kilmurry looking downstream towards the
   Island Stream beyond. This is the place where the very first fish
   to be caught on the entire Blackwater river have been caught twice
   in the last three years - by myself in 2012 and by Frenchman
   Charles Quesada (guided by me)  in 2014.

   This is the Jole looking upstream towards the Lug Pool after cutting.