Indian Summer Sea Trout

And so it continues... We waited with anticipation for the elusive big flood at the end of August however it never materialised. The Bandon had to be content with 2 rises of 8 inches in a week to bring her to life. Salmon ran in these short, extremely dirty spates and anglers tried to make the most of it with many picking up a fish or two for their efforts. During the latter rise a stale grilse succumbed to a worm trotted down the current. When the river was showing its bones once again on September 1st, another fish fell to one of my favourite lures for this time of year, the red and silver flying c.

As the last month of the fishing season progressed I took a break from salmon fishing and turned my attention to the Bandon sea trout for a couple of evenings. What has become apparent this season is that the bigger sea trout have had a tendency to run straight through the tidal stretches and on wards up river. Taking this into consideration, I ventured out further west along than I usually do to try and track down these travelers. Using a set up of 2 flies on 8lb fluorocarbon I enjoyed excellent sport with sea trout up to 3lbs in weight, measuring 49cm, and the smallest measuring 37cm.

Trying to winkle these out wasn't easy as the current state of the river doesn't lend itself to comfortable fishing. Many casts saw the flies covered in algae which was flowing down the river. Being patient and cleaning the flies off every couple of casts is the best way to get around this. Snappy roll casting and speedy false casting can also help to rip off the weed. As for flies, anything dark provoked an attack with 99% of fish coming to a bushy fly, like a bibio or zulu, on the dropper. No need to linger for an extra cup of tea while waiting for darkness to set in, as early dusk has seen some good sport. 

Finally, last week I saw a photo of what must be one of the largest salmon ever to come off the river Bandon. This photo comes from Fred Buller's "The Domesday Book of Giant Salmon" Volume 1. It is thought that the salmon was captured some time between the 1920's to 1950's via a draft net in the estuary. At 51/52lbs, will we ever see the likes of it in Ireland again?