Blackwater Lodge Newsletter - August 10, 2011
Following some moderate rainfall, the upper river rose 35cm at Millstreet (90km upstream).
The lower river however, only rose about 5cm as a result. The change in the weather nevertheless livened the fish up, and the grilse run has certainly picked up significantly. Despite low water conditions downriver and very few rods out fishing, we have caught 21 fish in the last 5 days. Daily catches for the last 5 days were 3,3,3,7 & 5 fish.
The upper river is quieter, with only 4 fish caught above, as most of the rod effort has been concentrating on the lower river as even fresh grilse don't seem to be moving very far up. The majority of the fish caught have been grilse, but we have also landed fish of 7.5, 8.2 & 10.3lb. Yesterday a very large fish was lost on Beat 3 downriver by one Italian angler, who has caught 8 fish to 10.3lb in the 5 days.
The water clarity is excellent, and - whilst a good number of the fish in the last 5 days fell to shrimp, the fish are now starting to take the fly more freely.