Spring Salmon on the Lee

Last night the Bandon rose, was falling this morning but was on the way up again by late morning. A quick cast this afternoon confirmed it would be an uphill struggle, with the water visibility 6 inches to a foot at best. It's been quite lately on the salmon and sea trout front, some are running and I saw a salmon jumping the weir this afternoon. These latest floods fining down with the impending blast of warm air will see sport pick up.

So with the Bandon out of order my attention turned to the Lee. I have been meaning to fish it this spring but have just not got around to it so this evening I thought no time like the present! Passing over the bridge in Ballincollig on the way to the petrol station to get my permit I could see that the river was bowling down. I wasn't deterred by this though, at least I knew fish would be there and anything that was in the river would be headed up towards the dam.

Arriving at the dam  the water was huge, creating a massive back eddy on my side of the river. In this type of water it's hard to keep in contact with your lure at times but it's imperative you try to keep in contact with your lure as much as you can otherwise you'll end up snagging the bottom, your will lure not work properly or worse of all you'll miss a take. Working my way down, I spun using a size 4 flying c in various colour and blade combinations. For the first hour or so the place was quite enough until I noticed a splash a few yards down the river. Working my way down I saw another one so it was obvious a few fish were coming in. It was overcast now and with the colour in the water I put up a black and copper flying c. Casting upwards and bringing the lure through the back eddy the line stopped. Lifting the rod I met resistance and the line screaming off, I was into my first fish of the year. Like the strong swirl of the river, the salmon was surging around in circles. Twice he threatened to go down river but luckily before he got anywhere I managed to turn him. Now the the realisation struck me, I forgot the net! Ah well I don't usually have it with me but in a new place like this it would have been very handy. Tiring the fish out a bit more I eventually got him in close and tailed him. Relief!

Over the moon is an understatement, at last I caught a springer! I've never had enough time to put in the effort due to school, college, work, travelling etc etc but this year I've put in a decent effort and its nice to have the effort pay off. I thought the fish was 9 or 10lbs weight but the scales back home read just over 12, good, broad fish. I fished on for another couple of hours to no avail. No one else caught anything either, but I did have the pleasure of meeting Paul Hanley. He missed 2 and caught a pike also. His knowledge of the river and the Inniscarra stretch is encyclopedic, he knows every inch of it. He has been having a good season so far and you can read his blog here. 

Back broken now, if the water drops the fly rod will be out, 13 days left to get a springer on the fly rod!

Argideen Silver

Having fished fruitlessly for bass yesterday on very weak tides I decided to just have a drive around looking for marks to fish when the tides get better. The mild weather has got the bass going a bit again and with just over a week left to fish for them until the ban is in its worth making the effort to catch while you can!
Pondering wheter I would have another cast somewhere on the dropping tide I thought to myself maybe a look at the Argideen river could be worthwhile. Walking some of the banks familiarising myself with some of the pools I spotted a few trout and that was my evening planned!
Home to get the fly rod, rig up and out again to get my permit at Inchy Bridge from Argideen Anglers Association. I fished here years ago with the worm during the day but night time on the fly would be a totally different kettle of fish. I would have to recommend having a walk along the banks here during the day if you are intending on going out at night time. Its safer and it is going to save an you an awful lot of hassle with getting flies stuck in trees and the likes.
After much talk of fishing up at the bridge first cast was at 10.30. I chose a small size 10 fly with a weighted body fished off a long leader and floating line to start off with. A few plucks from small trout coming down the pool until I got to the tail and BANG. Line screaming, water erupting and all in the pitch black, you just can't beat fly fishing at night for sea trout. Playing the trout hard it still took the best part of 5 minutes to draw it to the bank, a 2lb sea liced bar of silver.

I took a quick photo and brought it back into the water and held it for while so it could regain its energy. A flick of the tail and away she went. The Argideen is C&R this year with single barbless hooks, no worms allowed. I fished on for another couple of hours changing tactics but to no avail, just missing one more trout and a few more half hearted plucks. Starting earlier in the night could have yielded better results, especially at this time of year as although the weather is milder you still wouldn't call it balmy...not a single trout rose all night.

Variant Sea Trout Flies

Below are some sea trout flies I tied up in the last week in preparation for their arrival. A couple are running now with the milder weather, with one small one coming unstuck a few nights ago. Great to have the opportunity to go out again after the long cold spell, however the water is still on the high side.

As you can see the main ingredients all come from different, very successful flies such as Alexandras, Teal Blue and Silver, Executioner, Stoats Tail, etc. That's the beauty of tying your own flies, combining various aspects of different flies and combining them into one. The bottom 2 tubes are tied on 15mm aluminium bottle tubes, the top tied on plastic tubing and the single hooks are Sprite, size 8 and 10 respectively. As well as these ties, which are geared towards night time use, here are another 2 flies which I will be giving a swim during the day when there's a touch of colour in the water, which I find is a near must to success. A light breeze to boot and your in business.

The fly on the left, looking like a Dunkeld, has an orange brass bead added to the front, as well as some fine lead wire wound around the body, to help it sink on hitting the water. 

On the salmon front there was a pick up last weekend on the river with a few fish being caught on a dropping water, the biggest weighing 21 pounds and caught on fly. This week has been quiter than anticipated, with the water dropping steadily. Yesterday I spotted a couple of early grilse and the last time they appeared this early we had a very good year for them, so fingers crossed.

Above is a dead brook lamprey I found today while out for a few trout (had to have something on the end of the line with this salmon drought irrelevant of how small they were!!) Once the water reaches 10 degrees Celsius these lads start spawning, with groups of 10-30 in a nest. Don't get excited if you happen to see a few dead while out fishing thinking that there's pollution as they die after spawning.

Bring on the Southerlies!!

Well at last it looks like the winds may be a changing and its about time! For what seems like ages now the wind has been continuously dominated from an easterly direction. The snow was bad up the country and even down here we woke up to a light covering of snow 3 mornings in a row. The water is still freezing and last Good Friday while trying out some New Zealand style nymphing, well, I may aswell have been piddling against the wind! I would usually have a few spring sea trout picked up by now but they have yet to start running the river. Still there are signs of some fresh salmon running, more so the last couple of days. The rise in temperatures over the weekend will see more lads out and hopefully some fish being caught, as long as we don't get too much rain. I'd be out this evening now with the winds easing a tad, only I have a head cold kicking in!
Tied some flies a few evenings ago, Ally's and Parks. Having tied a few with just finn raccoon I found that too much of the time I was getting the dreaded tail wrap. No use in throwing a fly out and it not swimming properly, only wasting time which is of the essence at this time of the year and every cast has to count. Now I have started to tie in a light bunch of bucktail prior to tying in the finn raccoon and the results have been great with the tail wrap now eliminated, yet I have still kept the great movement of the finn raccoon. Below is an Ally's Shrimp tied on a size 6 single Daiichi 2421 multi use salmon hook and the Park is tied on a size 10 Ken Sawada SD1 low water hook. The tails may look bulky and fluffy but in the water they thin out and really come to life.

This is a great time of year to see otters in the day time. In the last 2 weeks I have seen no less than 8 individual otters, the last 6 as pairs and all at different parts of the river. Managed to get a couple of shots.