Author Archives: Brian
2012 redd count
May 20, 2013The redd count for the river for 2012 has recently come to hand and while we are still a very long way off the level of abundance seen in the 1960s the trend is mildly encouraging with a total of just over 1200 redds counted which is the second best result since 2001. You can click though to see details of the 2012 count and the comparative figures for the past 15 years along with an earlier report on the November visit to the redds
Report week ending 20 May
May 20, 2013Following a bout of heavy rain the week started off with a bang with Tiernan’s big fish in Enniscorthy. A number of other high double figure fish were lost including one by Eanna Murphy which broke him by wrapping itself around a rock on the Farmleigh stretch. The good fishing was spread along the river with one beat producing 4 fish on Thursday and several lost. Also on Thursday Stuart Feeney landed 2 fish at Kildavin, and Mary Harkin one further downstream on Friday. By the week end the sun and dry weather started to take its toll and I would expect the river to quieten down a bit until we see another fresh.
New Zealand based scientist writes to Minister re salmon farm risk
May 18, 2013The Galway independent, in an article also picked up by the Atlantic Salmon Federation, reports that Professor Mark Costello of Auckland has written to Minister Coveney re the risk of mass salmon fatalities arising from sea lice . The departmental response is depressingly familiar claiming that Irish protocols on sea lice represent the best practice internationally.
Another big springer landed
May 16, 2013Another big fish has been caught, this time by TiernanSludds at Enniscorthy. Tiernan, an experienced angler who has caught plenty of Slaney fish, estimates the fish would easily have hit the magical 20 pounds mark on the scales and you’d find it hard to argue with him on the evidence of this photo.
He also landed another fish about 12 pounds and lost 2 more during the day. This is the third 20 pounder landed in the space of three weeks on the Slaney and while the river is noted for it’s big Spring fish in recent years it is unheard of for it to produce more than the very occasional fish of this quality.
What’s the reason for this significant improvement? Many would argue that the banning of drift nets at sea and the absence of draft nets in the estuary has given these fish a much better chance of returning to spawn. Now that the netting gauntlet is gone we can hope to see many more fish like this one in the coming years, and maybe even one or two more this season.
Scottish Fish fam had pesticide residue levels 400 times above approved limit
May 12, 2013The Herald Scotland reported last week on the fact that Scotland’s environment agency has found 12 salmon farms pesticide residues above the approved level. One Marine Harvest site was reported as having levels over 400 times the approved level!
Report week ending 12 May
May 12, 2013As expected the fresh water during the week brought in a run of new sealiced fish. Although fish were landed at Enniscorthy, Solsboro, Riversdale, Clohamon, the Wood and Kildavin many seemed to be turbocharged and heading upriver fast. This was borne out by reports of 4 (or 5?) fish off the Tullow stretch between Friday and Saturday. Successful anglers included Andy Kelly (Kildavin), Bill Connolly (Clohamon), Teddy Synott (Riversdale) and Francis Connolly (Solsboro). It was not all easy fishing with 4 anglers on one beat (including the webmaster) seeing nothing all day while 2 miles up stream it was a red letter day with 3 fish to one rod.
A couple of interesting items in the press and media
May 7, 2013The Atlantic Salmon Federation have released a very good video on catch and release which can been seen here. Closer to home the Irish Angler’s digest has a very interesting article by Edward Fahy on the two, widely quoted studies of the effect of sea lice on smolt mortality.
River and salmon take a bit of a rest
May 6, 2013With the guage at about 13″ the mid and upper river has gone a bit quiet with no more than 3 fish being reported off any of those beats for the week. For many 13″ is still reasonable May water although some areas are suffering from heavy weed growth. The encouraging fact is that 4 fish were landed and 4 more lost on the Enniscorthy anglers stretch who also report seeing fish on the move suggesting that there is still a run of fish comming in A bit of fresh water might well liven up the river up.
Second Slaney 20 pounder landed in 2 days
May 1, 2013Andy Kelly, fishing at Clohamon on Tuesday landed the second 20lb plus fish to come off the Slaney in 2 days. The 38″ long 18.5″ girth fish estimated at circa 21lbs was the largest off the beat in over 20 years and Andy’s personal best. This super fish was landed on a Monkey tube stripped across the surface on a floating line. Andy had another fish earlier in the year estimated at 16+ on the same techique!
Mossy hits the Jackpot with a 20lb plus sealiced springer
April 29, 2013Mossy Browne had a red letter fishing at Tombrick today with a small yellow shrimp on a floating line. After a fight that twice saw him out on the backing this sealiced springer, a cock fish estimated at circa 22 lbs fell off as Brian Hennesy got him into the net. This is a delighted Mossy’s best ever fish. There are some great quality fish on the Slaney this year.You can get a good idea of its size as it swims off.
