Angling
for Salmon on
Ireland's Cork Blackwater
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Cast your eye over our site using this navigation bar
2004 - End of Season Newsletter
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From left: |
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Incredible First Ever Salmon
Stories Jeremy Costeloe
John Sumner (UK)
Linda McNulty (USA)
Merri Lynch (USA) |
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No Price Increase for 2005!
We have decided to keep our prices exactly the
same as in 2004.
Prices are posted on the website (links above).
Special Offers for 2005!
Book Early - Pay Less:
Book & pay in full now & you get
a 1%/month discount on fishing & Lodge accommodation.
(Conditions apply - see Booking
Terms)
Free Fishing in February:
One day's free fishing for each night's
accommodation (Dinner B&B)
booked & paid for in full in advance.
Book Early for 2005!
With the excellent fishing - particularly in the
autumn - places are already
filling up, so don't leave it too late to book or you might be disappointed.
Number of Fish Caught
Total Season: The number of salmon taken
this year was 1,079
- this was the 7th. best season ever recorded.
852 salmon were caught in the 48 days from August 14 to the end of September.
1997 - 2004 Salmon Catch Statistics
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The Top Ten Fish of 2004
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Even more interesting is to compare this with the averages per season.
Compared to the Average
for all the seasons from 1986 to 2003 - Up by 26%
Compared to the 10 Year Average for the seasons from 1986 to 2003 - Up by 30%
Compared to the 5 Year Average for the seasons from 1999 to 2003 - Up
by 43%
Phenomenal Autum Fishing - the best ever.
Only equalled by the 1992 season.
The main reason for this was undoubtedly the good conditions we had in August
& September. The weather finally broke in early August when ¾ inch of rain
produced a good flood on the 12th. From then until the end of the season, rain
kept the river topped up, and the fish just kept on running.
In the first 13 days of August, only 25 salmon were caught - in the remaining 18
days, a further 328 were taken - an average of over 18 per day!
The final August total was 353 and September was 524.
Both the totals for August and September were the second best ever recorded -
only just beaten only by the 1992 totals of August - 377 &
September - 590 when there were actually more rods fishing than this year.
Again, it is even more interesting is to compare this with the averages per
season.
Compared to the Average
for all the seasons from 1986 to 2003
- August up by 101% and September up by 87%
Compared to the 10 Year Average for the seasons from 1986 to 2003
- August up by 111% and September up by 98%
Compared to the 5 Year Average for the seasons from 1999 to
2003
- August up by 120% and September up by 113%
On the downside: The grilse run was poor again this year, with the catches for June & July being well below average.
To view the full table of Number of Fish caught by Month & by Year - click here
Below are the monthly reports for August
& September as normally found on out Fishing Report page
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Sept. 1 36 fish to 9½lb. including 4 each on fly for 2
separate rods. |
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Aug. 1: One sea-liced grilse on fly. |
Average Size of Fish Caught
Total Season: The average size of the
salmon taken this year was the highest ever recorded.
The average size for May & June were the highest ever
- those for July, August & September were the second highest ever.
The average sizes for May to September inclusive were
all significantly higher than the average size from 1988-2003.
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Average 1988 - 2003 |
May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Total |
| 7.0 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 5.3 | 5.1 | |
| 2004 Season | 7.7 | 5.6 | 5.0 | 5.3 | 6.1 | 5.9 |
| % increase over average | +11 | +29 | +22 | +12 | +16 | +16 |
To view the full table
of Average Weight of Fish caught by Month & by Year - click here
Number of Fish Released
Conscious of the need to preserve stocks (more of which in an
accompanying newsletter), anglers were encouraged to release as many fish as
possible.
In August - 284 salmon were killed
and 69 released alive.
In September - 224 salmon were killed and 300 released alive.
Conservation Limits & Numbers of returning spawners
On July 29th., - the day after the closure of the net fishing
season - our beloved Minister for the Marine announced recommended catch &
release for August & a reduced bag limit of one fish per day for September
for this season only. This was done as there was apparently a lower than
expected run of salmon which was giving concern over the level of spawners that
would return. In spite of having being warned of this by the Marine Institute in
June, it took him until the end of July when the nets closed to consider doing
anything about it. Conservation would have been far better served by curtailing
the nets than by imposing limits on rod anglers.
All the more reason to give full support to the "Stop Salmon Drift Nets
Now" campaign.
In fact, looking at statistics from the National Salmon Commission, of 17 fishery districts in Ireland - only 3 have salmon spawner stocks which exceed the conservation limit. These are Lismore - which is the Blackwater river only - and Ballina (Moy) and Ballinakill districts.
This was borne out by the superb run of fish which came into
the Blackwater in the second half of August & the whole of September.
Following closely on the closure of the net season, we had high water to bring
the fish in, and stormy weather which hampered any illegal netting activity.
The numbers above speak for themselves in terms of the quality of the run of
fish.
Smoked Salmon & Gravad Lax by Mail Order
Once again this autumn, we will be producing our superb
smoked & marinated salmon for mail order delivery.
Visit http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/smokedsalmon.htm
for details.
