On the 20th., the Best Fish of the Season was taken by Robert Savage from Kilkenny with a 14.6 pounder from Ballinaroone taken during the Ballyduff Salmon Festival charity fund-raising competition.

There were another 4 double figure fish between 10.9 & 13.3lb also caught on lower beats in the competition on the 20th. The best day of the 2 weeks was the 10th., when 9 fish were caught, but on the 11th., 19th. & 23rd. six were landed each day.

One Italian angler who fished for 20 days up to the 23rd. caught 23 fish, including four to over 13lb. on the 21st.

Five people caught their First Ever salmon in the fortnight. Most notably, on the 11th. Pat Casey brought his 3 young sons

- Tom (9), Rory (11) & Jamie (13yrs) – none of whom had ever fished in fresh water before – for a half guided day with Glenda.

All three caught their First Ever salmon & Jamie caught two. At one point, two of the lads were both playing fish at the same time!

The water clarity is excellent, especially in the second week, and fish are now coming to the fly even on the upper river, where two were caught on fly each day on the 23rd. & 24th.

Prospects

We had 10mm rain in the early hours of this morning & more is forecast later in the day.

I had a report from on of the local Fisheries officers this morning the tidal water is absolutely full of fish

that are just sitting waiting for a rise in water to get them to run into the main river.

This means that there are excellent prospects for the coming week as there is more rain forecast for today and Friday.

Availability

Rods & accommodation are available for the coming weeks.

Best Regards
Ian & Glenda

Blackwater Lodge & Salmon Fishery
Upper Ballyduff
County Waterford

Ireland

Three springers were caught for February & six for March – including a new Best Fish caught by Pat O’Donovan from Castletownroche just above the Junction Pool with the Awbeg at Bridgetown Abbey beat 20 miles upstream of the Lodge. A superb fresh fish for so far upstream.

April has kicked off already with a 7 pounder released by Martin Kiely (Co. Clare) from the Planks on the lowest beat on the Lodge fishery – Ballygally. There are plenty of reports of good numbers of springers running, and a number of fish in the 20-30lb class have been seen, but not hooked – yet! There are also reports of good runs of seatrout going through the tidal reaches.

Current Conditions

We had another small flood overnight on Saturday which is already starting to fine off down here & which has dropped well off upriver (Kanturk gauge currently not working). The forecast is for a bit more rain for Monday/Tuesday, then mainly dry for the rest of the week.

Prospects

Excellent for the coming days. The river rose but was still withing fly height though the clarity was quite poor today. There is a good head of spring fish present. It is one of the best spring runs for many years.

His fishing partner Ger McCarthy also lost a fresh fish on spinner. Another fresh fish of about the same size was lost on fly on Kilmurry. A large fish was lost on fly at Ballyhooly after taking nearly 100m of backing off the angler’s reel, just as the water was starting to rise at Ballyhooly Bridge in the late afternoon.

This makes a total of six springers recorded on the Lodge fishery so far this season.

Current Conditions

There was some quite heavy rain in the upper catchment on Friday. The upper river peaked on Saturday and the lower river peaked Sunday morning. Conditions were very good on Saturday up as far as Ballyhooly, and the number of fish hooked shows that there is a good head of spring fish already in the river, even to the upper beats.

The lower river was completely out of order yesterday (Sunday) – quite high & very coloured. It has fallen back to a flyfishable level during today, & the colour has improved.

The clarity in the late afternoon was about 1 – 1½ feet – well spinnable but no rods fishing. The clarity should be even better tomorrow & so it should be in quite good fly order.

The forecast is looking quite good – little rain, light winds & air temperatures of 7-10°C.

It has fallen to 0.55m by 17.30 this evening.

Prospects

Excellent for the coming days. The river should be in flyfishing order and there is a good head of spring fish present.

Run of Fish

There are more springers running than we have seen for a good number of years. Fish are being sighted every day on the lower beats. We have taken four for the season so far, but there haven’t been many anglers out on the river. The fourth fish was caught last Saturday. The prospects of catching a springer (especially on fly) are the best they have been for years!

Prospects

Excellent for the coming days. The river is in superb flyfishing order with clarity about 5 feet.

There were more on the back & the head of the fish. They also caught a few kelts. There was a couple of rods out on Friday that also caught a few kelts, but they also reported seeing a fresh springer show that they estimated at 15-20lb. – also on Lower Kilmurry.

Weather

It has been dry for the last day or so, and the forecast now looks as if we can expect a dry spell of at least 10 days. The upper river has fallen 10cm in the last 24 hours. The lower river has dropped 7cm overnight & is the lowest it has been since February 5th. It is at 0.78m (& falling) and the clarity is about 3 feet.

Prospects

Excellent for the coming days. The river is In superb spinning order, and although the level is currently too high for good flyfishing (needing to be below about 0.6m to be able to wade and fish comfortably) I would expect the level to drop to this height quite quickly and it should be worth a cast with the fly maybe tomorrow or certainly by Wednesday.

Prospects

The longer term forecast has a bit more rain for tomorrow (Friday) & Sunday, and then it looks as if we will have a more dry settled period up until the end of the month.

With so much high water, at least when the river does start to drop, it clears quite quickly with the clarity coming quite good even at high water levels. The high water should help the spring run to come in, especially as we have a full moon on the 18th. and spring tides peaking at Youghal from Saturday to Monday.

This could mean an interesting last week of February, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a fish or two coming off our upper beats between Ballyhooly and Mallow once the water subsides.

Derek O’Keeffe, from Thomastown, Kilkenny came to the Lodge for a casting lesson with Glenda this afternoon. After the lesson, Glenda invited him to fish on for the rest of the afternoon on Upper Kilmurry. He hooked and landed a lovely fresh fish of about 8lb. on a fly he tied himself.

The fish was caught at the head of the Hut Pool on Upper Kilmurry and took about 15 mins to land having jumped half a dozen times. Derek – a firm believer in catch and release – carefully returned the fish alive.

Not wanting to harm the fish in any way, it was quickly released without even taking a photo as he was fishing on his own – the only rod out on the fishery in fact today.

The river has fined off beautifully from the 2.7m flood we had on January 16 and is in excellent fly order. There was a slight fresh on it today as there was a 20cm rise on the upper river yesterday giving a 6cm rise at Ballyduff.

The forecast is dry until Sunday when 27mm rain is forecast with 8mm more on Monday then 16mm on Wednesday and 21mm Thursday (Source: www.yr.now – which gives an excellent forecast for Ballyduff ! )

The counter only counts a small proportion of the fish that are actually running through as many go directly over the weir rather than up the fish-pass on which it is situated. Most of these are earlier season fish which should anyway have run up earlier in the summer. Many of the prolific autumn salmon run are destined to spawn in the 12 miles or so of the lower river between the tidal limit just below Lismore & Clondulane, so these would not be counted anyway.

All this bodes well for the future of salmon fishing on the Blackwater, and this, together with the recession busting incentives we have planned for 2011 will hopefully ensure that many more anglers will be able to enjoy the peace, tranquility and superb salmon fishing provided by the Cork Blackwater.

Season Report for 2010

The season report is now available by clicking on the above link or here. Catch details by month are also available on this link.

Prices for 2011

In order to counteract the sweeping effects of the current recession, we will be reducing prices for 2011

to ensure that we provide affordable fishing. Our new 2011 Price List is now available on the website (click link).

B&B rates have been slashed by 20%, and fishing rates by between 15 & 50% depending on the month.

Fishing Syndication

We initiated a very limited syndicate scheme in 2010. This will be extended further for 2011 with membership for

either the full season or just the first 4 months. This will provide an enticing opportunity for those who are able to fish the Blackwater more often.

More details on this can be found on this link – Syndication

Fly-Only Sections

To better serve the needs of fly anglers, all beats will have certain sections to be Fly Only at river heights below a designated level.

More information on this is available on the Fishing Page on the Lodge website.

Accommodation at the Lodge in 2011

Based on demand in recent times and with a view to refurbishment, we will now offer:

Self-catering accommodation in the Lodge bungalows – All season.

B&B accommodation in the main Lodge ensuite rooms – From July 16 to September 30.

Where to meet Us

The Irish Fly Fair. November 13-14 at the Galway Bay Hotel, Galway. Glenda will be demonstrating & giving free tuition

& we will have a stand. For more information, please see www.IrishFlyFair.com

Tuition during the Close Season

As always, Glenda will continue to offer tuition throughout the winter months,

so if you’d like to hone your skills before the new season then get in touch with her.

Gift Vouchers

Not socks, underwear or Old Spice again! If you’d like to give or receive a special gift

why not get a Gift Voucher from us – for anything from tuition to fishing or tackle.

Best Regards

Ian Powell
Blackwater Lodge & Salmon Fishery
Upper Ballyduff
County Waterford
Ireland

Mossy McElligott (Tralee) caught the Best Fish of the Season with a 12.4lb on fly on Ballinaroone & his fishing partner Tim Quinlivan also had two on fly of 11.9 & 9.1lb. Tim’s largest was also the second heaviest weighed fish this year

Mossy McElligott - 12.4lb. Tim Quinlivan - 11,9 & 9.1lb. All on fly on Beat 3 - Ballinaroone.

Situation

On Sunday 25th, the level fell from 0.32 in the morning to 0.30m by evening & the clarity was improving to 3 feet. 11 fish were taken for only 6 rod days – 7 on fly.

The total for the season to date is 187.

The July total to the 25th, is an impressive 146 for only 145 rod days, which is already the highest recorded since 2003 when 162 were taken. Most of the grilse caught in the last week have been much better fish – mainly in the 4-6lb. class.

136 have been taken in the last 17 days for 134 rod days, of which 63 came to 39 rod days in the last 6 days.

Prospects

With predominantly dry weather for the coming week, the river will be fining off nicely. There are plenty of fish running – hefty grilse, some good fish in the 10-12lb. class caught and three fish in the last week which were reckoned to be in the 18-20lb. class lost – so the prospects of sport for the coming week look superb.

Where to meet us

Glenda is fly-casting demonstrator at the Irish Game & Country Fair at Birr Castle in Co. Offaly on August 28 & 29th. We will also have a stand at the Fair.

Availability

We have availability of rods & accommodation in the next couple of weeks. Late summer and backend weeks are now filling up fast, so contact us quickly if you are thinking of fishing later in the season.

For all the very latest information please see the Fishing Report Page on our site.

Best Regards

Ian Powell

Blackwater Lodge & Salmon Fishery

Upper Ballyduff

County Waterford

Ireland