First of all, apologies for the delay in blogging this year, but between one thing and another I’ve been a bit snowed under, literally being the case last week, when we had a good four inches of snow on the ground. It’s good to get back up and running, although it must be said the off season allows one to lead a more normal existence, even though we are extremely busy between hatchery, maintenance, and a couple of shooting parties thrown in. It is indeed a blessing to be flat out here as if you weren’t you’d probably go mad considering we had 436.6mms (17.12”), 439.8mms(17.31”), 259.3mms(10.21”), and 316.9mms(12.48”) of rainfall in October, November, December and January respectively. It gets to the stage where you don’t even think about the weather, you just throw the gear on and get on with it. As soon as we get to the 1st of February we’re back to seeing you guys again on a regular basis.
February fishing was slow here as it was more or less everywhere in the country. As months go here it was relatively dry with only 122.3mms(4.81”), which meant the bundorragha river was relatively low for most of the month but fishable. Lower water in February is no bad thing as it will often slow the fish down and therefore give one a better chance to intercept them. Having said that there were only 3 landed in February and a few others met. Bob Hadden was the top rod for the month, landing 2 of our 3 fish. Bob, originally from Dublin, but living in the USA for years, is a frequent visitor to the west coast of Ireland and he landed the first of the season on the 5th from the Meadow Pool on a Gold Allie along the famous wild atlantic way. The fish weighed 6lbs 15ozs. He had a second fish on the 10th from Duck Run of approx 6lbs, again on a Gold Allie. He also met two more for his week’s fishing. The third fish for the month was taken by another frequent visitor, Angus Sutherland, on the 20th from Morrison’s on a Delphi Collie, weighing 13lbs8ozs. Towards the end of the month, the water got very low and before we knew it we were into March and the days were starting to stretch.
There have been 9 fish landed to date in March and despite extremely low water, Heidi once again demonstrated her angling prowess when she landed 2 fish on the 4th of March, with the gauge only at 10. The first, a sea liced 10lbs2ozs fish from the Deadman’s and the second of approx. 8lbs from the Meadow Run. Both were taken on a Delphi Collie. Water levels continued to drop and just before we had the belt of snow Rudi, managed to land the first fish off Finlough, from Salmon City, weighing in at 9lbs5ozs and taken on a Willie Gunn. We then got snow and rain in that order and by Monday the 13th the river has risen to 80. We had 6 fish between the 14th and the 18th. There were 2 on the 14th, with Simon Albertini getting the ball rolling with a nice fish of 8lbs11ozs off the Waterfall on a Cascade. Karsten Kronborg from Denmark then had one in the Stream of 6lbs9ozs on a Black Beaded Nymph that had proved successful for Sea Trout in Argentina, definitely not your regular salmon fly fishing. Then again I often say to people, what is a salmon fly when you’re trying to catch a fish that doesn’t feed in fresh water. On the 15th Karsten struck again, same location, same fly, except this time the fish was slightly bigger at 15lbs12ozs and only 85.5cms. Simon Albertini followed this up with another from the Stream of 6lbs6ozs on a Willie Gunn. On the 16th and 17th there were a few met and lost and even broken in! Then on the 18th Niall Lynch was once again successful, landing a fish from Duck Run of 8lbs9ozs on an Orange Conehead. Petri Jarventausta, one of Hasse’s party followed this up with a fish of 8lbs13ozs on a breakfast fly.
Water levels are now running at 60 and it’s unlikely to drop much this week as there is a good deal of rain forecast. Hopefully, the good catches will continue, but then again with Atlantic salmon, one never knows. We’re fairly busy over the next few months but there is the odd slot here and there so if you’re interested, give us a call.
D.McEvoy
