Ian Powell - Blackwater Lodge

Garry O'Shea from Dungarvan went to one of our 8 beats between Ballyhooly and Mallow this morning. He lost a fish of ~7-8lb first cast & landed this fine sea-liced 11 pounder fourth cast. The river is falling slowly but steadily above & below. Good spinning/worming conditions all over, but still rather coloured for the fly. Clarity is ~2 feet on the upper river. Forecast looks to be dry for the coming days so the river (especially the upper beats) should be in cracking order. For all the very latest information please see:- Blackwater Lodge Fishing Report page on : http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fish...shingreport.htm Facebook Page (Ian Powell): http://on.fb.me/dYddlZ Facebook Page (Blackwater Lodge: http://on.fb.me/gsGQLt or follow us on http://twitter.com/blackwaterlodge

There was a fair amount of rain at the end of last week giving a (smallish) flood. Fluctuating water levels & coloured water meant that no fish were caught over the last 5 days. The level is now falling back very slowly but steadily and is now back to fly height & the clarity improved today to about 2½ feet. It was in quite good spinnable order since yesterday when we had 3 fish lost on upper beats as fish were taking short. Coming into the weekend it will be in fly order - certainly on the upper river.

There was heavy rain in the upper catchment last night. The river has risen 30cm at Millstreet in the last 3 hours & is dirty & unfishable at Banteer. At Castletownroche the clarity was still 18" at 11.00. At Ballyduff, it peaked this morning at 0.62 & is falling up to lunchtime. Clarity ~2½ feet. After a fantastic week last week, fishing was quiet over the weekend. We had one 8 pounder from upriver on Friday & no fish reported for the weekend. Hopefully this next flood will liven things up a bit. Expect upper beats to fish probably by Wednesday. There is more rain forecast for Thursday! For all the latest info, see also: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fish...shingreport.htm http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000222088579 or follow us on http://twitter.com/blackwaterlodge

Best Fish of the Season - taken on Fly on May 19 (Apologies for the photo orientation. Came from an Iphone & no matter how I treat it it comes out sideways!) Chris Ryan ® & Tony Finlay (l) arrived lunchtime yesterday for a half day on the river. They started fishing on the Hut Pool on Upper Kilmurry @ 2.00pm and by 3.30pm had landed these three fine fish. One for Tony of 10.5lb., and two for Chris of 9lb & 14.5lb. which is the Biggest Fish of the Season to date. All three fish fell to fly! Evidently they arrived to the pool at the same time as the fish. The run of fish seems to have slowed up a bit in the last couple of days, but there is more rain forecast for tomorrow night which should liven things up again. This said, we have caught 31 fish in the last eight days, and a total so far of 36 for May & 48 for the season.

Best Fish of the Season so far on Fly! Apologies for the pic quality, but this was off a phone camera. Mick Kennedy caught this fine fish on fly at Castletownroche yesterday evening. It's the biggest on fly so far. The same beat has already produced a very fresh 8 pounder on fly this morning by 9.30am for Jim Shanahan. It was his first ever with a double hand rod. They are reporting a good run of grilse & salmon going through the upper beats this morning. Yesterday morning there was a big run seen going over the weir in Fermoy as well. There are quite big tides peaking today at 3.8m Yesterday evening I also got a very reliable report of a number of fish caught on a private beat below Kilmurry. Half a dozen mostly ~10lb. There were also at least 3 very big fish lost in the last 2 days - all estimated ~20lb. Prospects superb coming into the weekend, with the Ballyduff gauge reading 0.37m this morning & good clarity.

Great Weekend's Fishing. The First Grilse is Caught ! With the upper river already coming into fine fishable order late last week and the lower river in fly order by Saturday, we had some excellent fishing over the weekend, catching more fish for the weekend than we had had caught for the whole season to date. Grilse are running with a few caught & a lot more of these soft-mouthed fish lost, and sea-liced May fish being caught through even to the upper river. This is the river levels currently. Now fined off to a beautiful height. Things already started to happen last Thursday (12th.), when a fine 10.3 pounder was caught on the upper river on our beat at Killavullen by Conor Arnold. He fished the same beat the next day (Friday) and caught this sea-liced 6 pounder and released another very fresh 10 pounder. Taken on spinner at Ballyhooly (photo courtesy Glenmore) Due to the conditions downriver, Glenmore from Fortwilliam brought a party to fish on our upper river beats on Friday the 13th., and it was a gamble that worked. They only got to the river at 12.30 and within an hour Kevin Collins had caught a beautiful sea-liced fish of 8lb. on fly at Ballyhooly A little later Michael Conway had this very fresh 10 pounder on spinner. We hosted a group from Bandon A.C. on Saturday 14th., and Anthony Buckley had this fine 8 pounder on fly on Lower Kilmurry. The First Grilse! Rob Smith from the same group then had the honour of catching (& releasing) the first grilse of the 2011 seas - on fly at the Hut Pool on Upper Kilmurry. This fine 9 pounder was also caught on Saturday by Mike Sheridan from our very top beat just below Mallow. On Sunday (15th.), Billy Jewitt released this fine 11 pounder caught on fly at Castletownroche. Stephen Casey from Kerry had a 10½ pounder on Rapala from Kents (lower river) and Terry O'Keeffe had the best fish of the day with a 12½ pounder from Ballincurrig (upper river) - also on spinner. Yesterday (Monday), Garry O'Shea from Dungarvan caught this fine brace of 9 pounders also from Ballincurrig, and released a 5lb grilse. All taken on spinner. he's the first angler to catch 3 in one day this year. This sea-liced 4lb. grilse was caught by Philippe Bargwil from Britanny yesterday. It was his first day ever salmon fishing. It was taken on spinner at the Hut Pool on Upper Kilmurry, and on the BBQ within 10 mins!

The Best Day of the Season so Far - By a long way! The river is fining down well after the big flood and there is a great run of large fish going through the upper & lower river now! Just two beats have both produced a total of 5 fish today. Conor Arnold from Killavullen - who had caught a 10.3 pounder on our beat up there yesterday - returned to the scene again this afternoon and caught three fish in about 3 hours fishing. The first was a sea-liced 6 pounder and he then released another two very fresh fish each of about 10lb. The first two were caught on spinner, & the third on fly. Taken on fly at Ballyhooly (photo courtesy Glenmore) Due to the conditions downriver, Glenmore from Fortwilliam brought a party to fish on our upper river beats and it was a gamble that worked. They only got to the river at 12.30 and within an hour Kevin Collins had caught a beautiful sea-liced fish of 8lb. on fly. A little later Michael Conway had a very fresh 10 pounder on spinner. The level is dropping steadily but slowly on both the upper & lower river. The clarity is ~4 feet on the upper river & ~3 feet downriver. The lower river is down to 0.60m @ 18.00. It's great to see the river holding the water well & only dropping off slowly which is giving the fish a good chance to run. This was the river at 13.30 this afternoon when the level was 0.63m. Prospects for the weekend and into next week look absolutely superb. The water is still a touch high especially for fly, but with the forecast remaining dry, even the lower river should start to fish with fly from tomorrow. For all the latest info, see also: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fish...shingreport.htm http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000222088579 or follow us on http://twitter.com/blackwaterlodge

The level is dropping steadily but slowly on both the upper & lower river. Clarity on the upper river this morning is ~2 feet. Perhaps a bit less on the lower river where the level is down to 0.76m @ 09.30. I had reliable reports of 3 fish hooked (1 landed) in 3/4 hour 15km above Mallow yesterday evening & 3 more caught 10km below Mallow by 10.30 this morning. All were very fresh double-figure fish. The May run is coming. With the forecast dry thru' the weekend, prospects are excellent for the coming days.

This the river below the Lodge @20.00 this evening. Ballyduff gauge 0.87m. The level is dropping steadily on the upper & lower river. Clarity 1-2 feet throughout. The lower river is down to 0.87m @ 20.00. (see picture) Prospects for the coming days should be superb. Thursday/Friday will be spinning/worming & it should be into fly order for Saturday. No reports of fish moving yet, but I would expect the upper river to fish from tomorrow. Should be in fly order for Saturday. The forecast is mainly dry for the remainder of the week. For all the latest info, see also: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fish...shingreport.htm http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000222088579 or follow us on http://twitter.com/blackwaterlodge

Well - we did say we wanted rain! This is the river at 19.00 this evening - 1.90m & still rising. There was very heavy rain in the upper catchment (more towards Mallow than Killarney). The river peaked at Millstreet @ 07.30 (up 1.00m) & at Kanturk @ 13.30 (up 1.40m). At Ballyduff, it is still rising @ 19.00 (up 1.30m). It looks as if there is going to be yet more rain tonight in the upper catchment which could push it even higher. It'll probably be a couple of days before the upper river comes into fishable order. Prospects must be superb once the flood fines off with the runs of fish we saw going through the upper river late last week. Yous'e can all stop the rain dance now please!

This is the Blackwater just peaking this morning at 09.00 at 0.74m on the gauge. A band of heavy showers came across the middle to lower catchment from the south during last (Thursday) night. 10mm fell here but less in the upper catchment There is some more rain forecast for the next 3 nights. The weather will continue broken over the weekend through into the early part of next week. The upper river peaked in the early hours of this morning & is starting to drop. The lower river also peaked at 9.00am @ 0.74m & is down 2cm by 11.00. Clarity is poor but looks to be improving slightly. It has a sedimenty colour which usually drops out quickly. Apart from the big run of large fish seen going through the upper river & the lost fish of ~14lb., there was a 9.2 pounder taken on spinner on one of our lower beats yesterday afternoon. The prospects for the coming days are moderate as the river is just starting to fine off. Too high for fly at the moment but moderate spin/worm conditions. All depends on how much rain falls! May could turn out to be a very good month! See Blackwater Lodge Fishing Report page: http://bit.ly/fzavCh See Ian Powell page: http://on.fb.me/dYddlZ Follow our Tweets. http://twitter.com/#!/blackwaterlodge

These two very fresh fish were taken today (Wednesday) from one of our 8 beats on the upper river. Two rods fished & each had one - both on spinner & both 7lb. They saw a few fish moving thru' during the day. There were a couple of fish seen moving on the lower river as well. A band of quite heavy rain came across the catchment from the south in the early hours of this morning, but didn't really get as far as Ballyduff where we only had 1.5mm on the gauge this morning at 09.00. Later in the day we had 10mm but it seems to have been mainly confined to the lower catchment. By this evening the lower tributaries from Ballyduff to Lismore were well in dirty spate but should run off quite quickly as rain stopped late afternoon. The lower river at Ballyduff Bridge peaked @ 0.50m @ 15.00 on Tuesday & was down to 0.30m this morning (Wednesday). By evening it had only risen 2cm but still with quite good clarity. There was a small rise on the upper river this morning. Some heavier rain is due in the upper catchment tonight. The weather will continue broken into the early part of next week. The upper river peaked Monday evening with a rise of 43cm & was dirty. It fell back 33cm by this morning (Wednesday) but rose 11cm again by lunchtime and then stabilised. Clarity reasonably good. It looks as if there is a fair amount of rain still to come over the weekend. This would be very welcome as it will encourage the fish waiting in Youghal Bay to run into the main river.

Lodge Opening - Egging you on for Easter! Due to the good run of fish & increasing demand, we will now be opening the Lodge full-time for B&B accommodation from Easter weekend right through until the end of September. Current Conditions Moderate amounts of rain fell on Tuesday night & Wednesday . There is just about 1mm forecast for Friday and it is then dry for at least a week with temperatures in the range 12-15°C rising to 17-18°C early next week. The upper river rose about 13cm & peaked at Millstreet @ 01.00 this morning & @ Kanturk @ 05.00am. At Ballyduff, it peaked around 14.00 @ 0.42m (also up 13cm) & was back down to 0.41m by 19.00. The clarity is down a little bit, but is still quite good @ 2½-3 feet. Water temperature is 13°C. There were a few fish moving through Cappoquin this morning, though up-river seems to be rather quieter at the moment. There's a very good early run of bigger seatrout reported in the tidal reaches - fish of 4-5lb. Prospects Looking excellent for the coming days & probably right up to Easter. We have high tides peaking Monday/Tuesday next week which should help encourage fish to run. Air pressures will also be rising through the weekend which should put fish more in a taking mood. Availability There is no problem for availability of rods & accommodation for the coming weeks. Glenda will be demonstrating & giving free tuition & we will have a stand at the following Irish fair in a fortnight. Ballywalter Game & Country Living Fair: Ballywalter Estate, Co. Down on April 30 & May 1. http://www.ballywaltergamefair.com Glenda will also be hosting a Ladies Introduction to Fly-fishing Day in aid of Action Breast Cancer in conjunction with IFI. This will be held at Rathcon Trout Fishery, Co. Wicklow on Sunday, May 15. Contact IFI or Glenda to book a place. And Finally - An Air Travel Funny Those of you that come to Ireland by air will especially love this one! You might think its come to the end, but just keep looking . It's absolutely feckin' hilarious.

The upper & lower river are both falling steadily. The Ballyduff gauge is on 0.32m this morning. Clarity throughout is ~3 feet. Water temp. 10C. In the last few days there have been very few fish seen on the lower river. There are good numbers of fish showing on the upper river, but they are very reluctant to take. This one was caught and released by Mick Kennedy on fly on the middle of the upper river on Thursday (sorry - phone picture!). Springer number eleven for the fishery. The forecast is now looking mainly dry for the coming week and with the river approaching summer level, flyfishing conditions are ideal. For all the latest info, see also: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fish...shingreport.htm http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000222088579 or follow us on http://twitter.com/blackwaterlodge

Martin Kiely (Co. Clare) caught & released this ~7lb. springer on Saturday - the first for April & the 10th. for the season. The river was already rising Saturday afternoon & peaked Sunday morning having risen ~30cm. It was coloured on Sunday & yesterday (more so upriver), but is back down at Ballyduff this morning to 0.42 with clarity ~ 2-3 feet with a nice beery colour. Perfect for spinning & excellent height for fly albeit a bit coloured. The upper river rose again by ~20cm during the night, but has already peaked and started to drop. The forecast is for dry weather for the rest of the week. Looks promising!

Just had this picture sent through by phone. A thirteen pounder caught on the upper river at Castletownroche This is the sixth for March & the ninth for the season so far.

Only four rods out today, and John McSweeney from Co. Cork caught & released the seventh fish of the season on the Lodge beats - a fresh fish of ~6½lb on spinner on Kents on the lower river. The river is in absolutely perfect fly order. The gauge height is 0.33m this evening with excellent clarity. The weather forecast is dry up to the middle of next week. For all the latest info, see also: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fish...shingreport.htm http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000222088579 or follow us on http://twitter.com/blackwaterlodge

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. This is the river at 09.30 today with the gauge reading 0.60m. 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. Availability There is no problem for availability of rods for the coming week. For all the latest info, see also: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fish...shingreport.htm http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000222088579 or follow us on http://twitter.com/blackwaterlodge

Best Fish and Best Day of the Season so far! Yesterday (Saturday) turned out to be a very good day indeed with six springers met in the day, and two landed and released. Michael Sheridan (Dungarvan) caught and released the Best Fish of the Season to date - a 12¾ pounder on spinner on Kents. He also lost another fresh fish of about 7lb. Lawrence Fitzpatrick (Cork) caught and released one about 7lb. on Ballinaroone and 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 and a large fish was lost on fly at Ballyhooly after taking nearly 100m of backing off the angler's reel. This makes a total of six springers recorded on the Lodge fishery so far this season. There was heavy rain in the upper catchment on Friday night and the flood was hitting Ballyhooly by late afternoon. The upper river @ Millstreet (90km up) peaked @ 11.30 on Saturday having risen 90cm to 1.25m. It is back down to 0.51m @ 18.30 today (Sunday). At Kanturk (70km up) it peaked @ 1.05m at 13.30 on Saturday and has dropped to 0.39m @ 18.30 this evening. The lower river peaked @ 0.97m @ midday today (Sunday) and had dropped to 0.86m by 18.00. The clarity is very poor but should improve quickly as the water drops. With quite a lot of fresh fish being seen in recent days and the number of fish met on Saturday the prospects look very good indeed once this latest flood subsides. There is some more rain forecast for tomorrow (Monday) so we'll have to see what that does to the river. For all the latest info, see also: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fish...shingreport.htm http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000222088579 or follow us on http://twitter.com/blackwaterlodge

A third springer weighing 9.7lb was caught on spinner on the upper river (20 miles upstream from the Lodge) on Monday, making our total 3 for February. This was the first fish of the season on the Lodge's 9 beats between Ballyhooly & Mallow. There was a confirmed report (from Fisheries Officer) of another caught upstream from a beat at Lombardstown, which is well above Mallow. The river is continuing to drop & is just coming into fly fishing order from today. Clarity is a good 3 feet. With dry weather forecast for the coming week, the prospects for the coming days are superb. For all the latest info, see also: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fish...shingreport.htm http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000222088579 or follow us on http://twitter.com/blackwaterlodge

The Second Salmon of the Season is caught on Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishery Only 2 rods out on the river yesterday. Tony O'Keeffe from Mallow was fishing at Kilmurry with his father Dan and caught this 6.6lb. fish on Flying C on the Island Stream on Lower Kilmurry. Sea-lice can be seen in the picture - two on the top of the tail and one below the adipose. 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 also saw a fresh springer show that they estimated at 15-20lb. - also on Lower Kilmurry. The upper river had a slight (5cm) rise yesterday. Occasional light rain in the upper catchment had been responsible, and this has meant that the lower river has held it's level at 0.85m. The level is currently too high for good flyfishing, needing to be below about 0.6m to be able to wade and fish comfortably. The weather forecast now looks as if we can expect a dry spell of at least a week. This should ensure that the level will come down to fly order. When it will be very interesting to see how the upper beats from Ballyhooly to Mallow will fish. For all the latest info, see also: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fish...shingreport.htm http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000222088579 or follow us on http://twitter.com/blackwaterlodge

This is the Blackwater this morning. Gauge is 2.77m and rising. The upper river peaked last night and is falling. Little rain fell in Ballyduff, but there must have been a considerable amount in the upper catchment. Prospects Poor in the coming days with this flood & more rain for today and then Wednesday. Temperatures are very mild (10-12C) so the high warmer water should encourage more fish to run, and may bring them to the higher beats (Ballyhooly to Mallow) once the flood subsides. For all the latest info, see also: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fish...shingreport.htm http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000222088579 or follow us on http://twitter.com/blackwaterlodge

The First Spring Salmon is Landed on February 3rd.! Derek O'Keeffe, from Thomastown, Kilkenny came to the Lodge for a casting lesson with Glenda on Thursday 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. It was a colour variation of the PoshTosh as seen in "Trout and Salmon", February 2010. The fish was hooked 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. This was the river below the Lodge yesterday when the fish was caught. Current Situation This was the river at 15.30 on the 4th., with a half metre rise. This is the gauge height on the upper & lower river for the last five days. Prospects On the 3rd., the river ws at a perfect height and clarity for the fly. On the 4th., the lower river was up approximately half a metre but peaked late evening. There was very little fishing effort and gales, but a couple of fresh silver fish were seen jumping amongst the kelts. Certainly spinnable for the 5th. Fly is doubtful. For all the latest info, see also: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000222088579 or follow us on http://twitter.com/blackwaterlodge

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...........................Cast Yes - it's now only 5 days to go to Opening Day! This is the Cork Blackwater river today - 27th. There was a 20cm rise on the river yesterday (26th.) following rain in the upper catchment. This brought the lower river up about 10cm, but it has already started to fall back. The forecast is then dry from now until the 1st., and the river is in excellent fly-fishable order with great clarity even after the slight rise. It should be perfect for the start of the season. Here's the rainfall and river height at Ballyduff to this evening. And here's the gauge heights for the last 5 days on the upper & lower river. For the very Latest Info: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fishing Report/fishingreport.htm

Only 12 Days to Opening Day! This is the graph of the height of the river up to this morning. Dropping off steadily after a 2 metre flood on the 16th.,which has given it a good flush out. The forecast is for mostly dry weather right up to the Opening Day on February 1st., so it looks as if it could even be in fly order by then. With temperatures falling again - as low as -5C at night - and the lower water levels, the best chance of a fish at the start will be on the lower beats below Clondulane weir. For the Latest Info: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/Fishing Report/fishingreport.htm