Well as always life continues here in the West of Ireland and we are now almost turning the corner when the days will start to lengthen again. I suppose the most memorable factor of the last few months has been the weather. After the fishing season closed we had the most beautiful spell in October, when the countryside can really be seen at it’s magnificent best.
Since the beginning of November it has been a different story with wave after wave of depressions rolling in from the Atlantic. We thought our September flood was big but we have had a couple since that were as bad and one on the weekend of the 5th December that was as high as I’ve seen with a few cars getting abandoned here and there. Our rain gauge on the lawn recorded 111mms in a 30 hour period. Joyce’s in Tawnyard approx. 3kms as the crow flies recorded 208mms (8.18”) in the same period. It was rather wet to say the least!! The river went to 120 or more and I actually did’nt get a photo as I was running around the place checking everything.
The pumphouse flooded to the extent that we had to take the 8 pumps off for about 18 hours and survive on the gravity feed off the high which luckily was in full flood. This is only the third time in 24 years that the pump house has got flooded to this extent. Hopefully it will be another while before ie happens again. Added to the rain we then woke up last Saturday morning with about 3” of snow on the ground which was of course gone within 24 hours.
At the moment we’re busy stripping fish with air and water temperatures that are totally crazy for the month of December. We have plenty broodstock but nothing to compare to Tony Barrett-Jolley’s fish earlier in the year.
At this stage I would like to wish you all a Happy Christmas and here’s looking forward to a good 2016. It won’t be long now before we’ll be getting those rods out again. D.McEvoy