RAIN AT LAST... · 1 July 2010
The drought has finally broken. Nearly two inches of rain fell overnight, ending a run of almost three months without significant rainfall. We now hope for some serious salmon fishing over coming days. And there are lots of sea trout around, too.
The last flood was on Easter Monday (April 5th). We have never seen the river anywhere near as low as it was yesterday, with just a trickle of water that would hardly fill a bath. Rocks were emerging that we didn’t even know existed. While the lovely weather pleased the few tourists that were about, the fishermen had a grim time.
Unsurprisingly, June catches of salmon were little short of disastrous. Indeed it seems miraculous that any were caught at all, given the conditions. In fact, ten were bagged in the month, each one a surprise, bringing the season total to a very modest 68 fish.
Somehow a fresh grilse sneaked in on June 29th and was caught in the Meadow Pool by Reinhard Mittman; weighing just over four pounds, the salmon was sea-liced. There had not been a fish for a week prior to that, the last being a 6-pounder taken by Jonathan Smalley on Doolough on June 22nd. These were the only two salmon caught since my last report.
The fishing is very heavily booked for July, although there will be an extra boat on Doolough for sea trout fishing that will be available on most days at a special price of €150 (€75 per rod). The only rods available on the river or on Finlough are on Saturday 10th (4 rods) and there is a single rod available for July 20/21/22 and one on July 27/28/29, both fishing the normal River/Fin/Doo rotation.
August, too, is very, very busy although there are still some gaps, particularly in the latter part of the month. And September offers reasonable availability, especially in the early part of the month which is traditionally a great time for sea trout.
We are expecting a very good seatrout season – maybe the last one for some time because the local salmon farm has reopened in the estuary.
— Peter Mantle
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MIRACULOUS CATCHES DESPITE CONTINUING DROUGHT FISH & CANCELLED RODS
