First Springer of the year on the Bandon River

Following on from my success last week on the Drowes, I thought I would be writing this weeks post with a few landscape photos of the Bandon. However, I have a little bit more to write about then that as the Bandon has offered up its first spring salmon of the year.

Opening on February 15th, angling conditions have been favourable for the majority of the month. Brown trout fishing has got off to a promising start, with a good number falling to sunken nymphs. As always for the time of year, the trout are ravenous and will take anything from small nymphs to 2 inch conehead flies intended for salmon.

Further to the good news on the brown trout front, sea trout have also made an early appearance. One angler was lucky enough to catch a sparkling silver tourist on the opening day, estimated at one and a quarter pound in weight. Common place many years ago, its been years since one of these was caught in February. 

Salmon kelts have been less numerous this spring, more than likely due to spawning taking place earlier than usual last year. This is great to see as less will be caught by fishermen thus giving them a greater chance of running the river a second time. Springers are few and far between in early spring on the Bandon, never mind to say February. However, whilst battling the driving wind and rain yesterday with my friend Fergal, I got the surprise of a life time.

Having returned a couple of trout and a kelt to the spinner and fly already, I had another take on the spinner late in the afternoon. Blasting down river and ripping line off my reel, I gave Fergal a shout as I thought this could be something different. Playing the fish for several minutes, we didn't commit to deciding the state of the fish until we had it in the net. As I gained control of the salmon,  Fergal skillfully netted it and we immediately knew we had just landed the first fish of the season. I wouldn't be surprised if they could hear the shouting and roaring of excitement miles away!

Weighing approximately 7lbs, she wasn't carrying any sea lice but was mint fresh. After a quick photo, I set her back off on her way upstream to hopefully spawn the next generation of spring salmon. There's something very special about catching a fresh salmon at this time of year, and its all the sweeter when its on your local river. If conditions offer up the opportunity, I'll be putting more effort into trying to catch a springer on the fly. Using an assortment of tube flies such as Dee Monkeys, Willie Gunns and Green Butt Cascades, hopefully I'll draw a fly close enough to the nose of a springer for him to snap at it.

February Silver on the Drowes

The River Drowes is located in County Leitrim and flows into Donegal Bay. Flowing out of Lough Melvin, it is a short river of only 5 miles in length. Opening on January 1st, it traditionally produces Ireland's first spring salmon of the year. This year the river got off to a slow start but last week saw catches improving. Keeping an eye on updates, water levels and the weather forecast, my buddy Mike made a late call last week to go up there and fish the weekend as conditions looked very good. Time to pack the gear and start the long journey north for our maiden voyage!

Tackling up at 8.30 Saturday morning with the gauge hovering around the 0.65m mark, we began fishing in front of our cottage in Lareen Estate at the Boat House and worked our way down to the Blackwater using fly and spinner. The Drowes in this upper section is quite a shallow running river in most parts, punctuated by several weirs. These weirs produce a diversity of flows, creating several streams to swing a fly in.

Later on we drove downstream to the Four Masters bridge and fished from the Alder Pool down to the infamous Mill Pool. Employing my 13 footer with a RIO AFS Hover shooting head, I attached a RIO Spey Versileader with a sinking rate of 4 ips and a conehead gold Willie Gunn. Mike opted for his shorter switch rod, matching sink tip line and used a variety of flies. Between us we covered the river for a few hours without a pull in all manners of weather, from glorious sunshine to battering hail. Confidence lifted for a short while as I saw a fish head and tail in one of the many pools, alas it looked like it was running hard.

For the evening shift, we ventured back up to the top of the fishery and worked our way through the pools once again. Fly, spinner, shrimp and worm, the lot was drowned at one stage or another. But as the light faded we had to admit defeat and so we retired to the cottage and made plans for the following day.

For the last roll of the dice, we settled on having a look at the fishing around Lennox's Bridge. Wandering upstream equipped with spinning rods, we came to a lovely piece of water called Briney's. The pool consisted of a fast, shallow head, an even flow in the main body through to the tail which held a bit of depth. 

With only a couple of hours to go before we had to hit the road for Cork, I persevered here hoping that at some stage a springer would come by. On my third run down through the pool my black and copper flying c was halted mid way as I struck into a fish. Initially I was startled after hundreds of casts without a sniff, but soon enough I copped on and 5 minutes later Mike slipped the net under a 7lb beauty. 

I was ecstatic with my prize, this being my earliest spring salmon to date. What a feeling to have the fish in the net as our long journey and persistence had paid off. My new Shimano Spheros 6000 reel stood up to the challenge and I'm looking forward to seeing how it copes with spinning in high water conditions for the rest of the year.

The Drowes Salmon Fishery certainly is a beauty, and is managed with the utmost of professionalism and care by Shane Gallagher and Bill Likely. Their hospitality was second to none, from the kettle boiling as soon as we stepped in the door on Saturday morning, to providing a big bag of blocks for the evening fire! Every pool is tended to and wooden walkways along the river make fishing a joy. It sets an example to other fisheries around the country and the long expedition to the other end of the Wild Atlantic Way will certainly be made again.

Narrow Windows of Opportunity

When you think of bass lure fishing conditions there are a number of factors to consider. Ideally, you want a light/moderate southerly wind, a decent but comfortable swell and clean water with a bit of that magical fizz. Match these elements with a favourable set of tides and usually your chances of a fish increase dramatically. All of these ingredients combined early one morning last week when I enjoyed catching 4 west Cork bass before breakfast.

Again, fish were focusing in on hard plastic lures. Interestingly, a couple of the bass had been gorging on a jellyfish- like organism called Velella. These are surface dwelling cnidarians whose travels around the ocean are dictated by the wind. They are also known as "blue by-the-wind sailors" due to their colour and the fact they possess a sail. Opportunistic these fish certainly are!
Last weekend the sea was stirred up by strong onshore winds rendering lure fishing a useless exercise. However over the last 2 days the winds direction reversed and the sea has calmed down. Venturing out for a cast today, before the weather is due to change for the worse, I lost 2 fish. One of these nailed a surface lure after missing it at the first strike, alas it shook the hook. From now on conducive conditions will be fewer and farther between so we just have to make the most of them when they come along!

Finally, for anyone interested in taking up lure fishing for bass, Absolute Fishing are starting to run courses again, free of charge. The course will cover everything from the gear you will need, tides and safety to learning how to read the water and work your lures effectively for optimum results. Courses commence on Saturday mornings from 10am till 1pm. For more information, you can contact the shop through Facebook or ring them on 051393559.

Bass by Night

Before the recent windy weather, day time lure fishing for bass drew nothing but blanks. Surveying various marks and chucking a multitude of lures in different tides all resulted in the same end product. Time to ring the changes and a plan for a night time foray was hatched. Myself and a friend hit the rocks just before nightfall to help us gain our bearings. Already the temperature was down to single figures and dropping with a northerly wind flattening the sea ahead. With the first area provoking little response we scuttled over to another platform of rocks which were now submerged by water with the incoming tide. Clipping on our shallow diving lures the action started from the off. Rod buckling over, I was into the first fish of the evening which turned out to be a new personal best fish brushing 8lbs in weight.

The shear power of this fish was breath taking. Every time I thought she was tiring she sprinted off on another surging run. In prime condition, we admired her before slipping her back into the water. Such a good start to the evening, was this to be it or were there more Dicentrarchus labrax to come? Rob hasn't been fishing for long but has really taken to the sport this year. He caught some great trout in Ballinlough during the spring and ever since has been doing his best to latch onto a bass. All his efforts were about to pay off as the pair of us enjoyed some hectic sport over the next hour and a half.

Putting a very slow, steady retrieve into practise whilst keeping the rod tip up from the water, we hooked 12 fish in all. Sport was frantic as we brought 3 fish each to hand. 2 fish totally did me in by going around rocks and breaking my braid, taking with them my lures. We all hate losing lures but the presence of so many obliging fish more than made up for it. The rest of the fish landed were schoolies in the 2-4lb bracket.

The tides are beginning to build up again and the winds will hopefully die down a bit so hopefully day time sport will improve soon. The weather is still mild and the water temperature is around 15 degrees Celsius so we should see bass attacking our lures for another while yet.

Keeping an eye on the river, fish continued to ascend the weir in Bandon in big numbers. Its such a magnificent sight and many people took the chance to embrace one of nature's greatest events.