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2009 Season
Report for Ireland’s Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishery
The
Biggest Fish Ever since 1986?
On September
15th. last, Tony Murtagh from Co. Dublin landed & released a fish estimated
at approx. 25lb. weight.
This huge
fish was taken on spinner on the Island Stream on Beat 6 - Lower Kilmurry.
The fish was
rather coloured but fin perfect and very well conditioned – being very deep bodied
& broad-backed.
It was
quickly released without even a picture being taken as they had no camera &
no weigh net!
It measured
96cm (38") long with an estimated girth of 50cm (20").
Some of our
recently caught fish were measured for comparison:
A 13.5
pounder measured 81cm, a 15 pounder was 85cm & a 19.1 pounder measured
89cm.
The gillie
that released this fish said that he could only just get his thumb &
forefinger of both hands
around the
wrist of the tail, which was definitely much thicker than the 19 pounder.
Heaviest
Weighed Fish of 2009
On September
18 last, Paul Rosier caught the Heaviest Weighed-In fish of the season
on prawn at
Gorman’s Pool on Kents – Beat No. 4. It weighed 19.1lb & was absolutely
tide-fresh.
The same
day, they saw literally hundreds of fish on the beat, including at least a
dozen
which they
reckoned were the same size as the one he caught – it was the only take of the
day!
Heaviest
First Ever Salmon of 2009
On September
8th., Belgian anglers Guillaume Verlings (l) & Jean-Paul Hendricks (r) both
caught their First Ever Salmon!
They were
both taken on spinner on the Castle Flat on Beat 3 - Ballinaroone & weighed
16.6 & 9.8lb.
Both fish
were sea-liced! Guillaumes' was the Heaviest First Salmon of 2009!
In 2009,
there was much talk about drastically reduced numbers of salmon running into
many rivers.
Here on the
Blackwater, whilst the spring run wasn’t so good, from May on we saw good
numbers of fish running.
May in fact
produced the best number of fish caught
(53) since 1996 and was in fact the third best ever total for the month
since I
started accurate records in 1986. It was only beaten by 1994 (82) & 1996 (72).
Whilst it
was certainly not a year when the number of salmon caught for the whole season
was outstanding,
there were a
couple of factors which help explain the lower catch figures for the backend
& consequently the total season catch.
This was in
part due to less rods fishing ( a consequence of the recession)
which is a
major factor which is often not taken into consideration when looking at catch
statistics.
The other
startling factor in 2009 was the behaviour of the fish themselves.
Whilst there
were large numbers of salmon in the river, especially in August & more
particularly in September,
they
displayed a startling reluctance to take any offering.
This was a
phenomenon which was observed throughout Ireland this last season.
The table
below shows the catches since I took over the Lodge in 1986.
Blackwater
Lodge Fishery - Salmon Catch Statistics.
Catch
& Release
As an aside
– 43% of the fish caught in 2009 on the
Lodge Fishery were released.
This is well
above the national average of 38% in 2008 as recently published in the
Central
Fisheries Board Wild Salmon & Seatrout Statistics report
for
2008. Our guests released 52% in 2008.
This report
also states that 12.9% of all fish caught & released in Ireland in 2008
were on the Blackwater
– the
highest in the country for rivers which were not designated as C&R only.
Graph
1: Catch per Rod Day
A far better
judge of the quality of the fishing is to look at the average catch per rod day
rather than
mere number of fish caught, which of course depends on fishing effort.
This table
above shows these figures for the last 3 years on the Lodge Fishery,
which
corresponds to the period since the drift nets were banned.
It is
interesting to note that in fact August is the best backend month,
which
wouldn’t be apparent from the catch statistics for the number of fish caught by
month alone.
In August, there
are actually far less people fishing on the Lodge beats compared to September.
Graph
2: Dramatic increase in larger
fish.
The
Blackwater has always been better known for its prolific runs rather than the
size of the fish.
I must admit
to having had the impression myself in the first 2 years without drift nets
(2006 & 2007)
that there
was an increase in the size of fish coming into the river,
but accurate
analysis of the weight of fish caught doesn’t actually bear this out.
This graph
illustrates the percentage (of the total catch each year) of fish caught by
weight class.
Please note
that for this purpose - for example - 8lb. represents fish between 8-8.9lb, 9lb
represents fish of 9-9.9lb etc.
For
simplicity, I have only included the figures for fish in the 8-14lb class which
is where the biggest difference can be seen.
Fish in this
class accounted for 33% of the 2009 catch compared to only about 18% for the
period 2004-2008.
The graph
gives data as follows:
- The
average percentage for the years 2004-2006
i.e. the last 3 years when drift nets operated.
- The
average percentage for the years 2007-2008
i.e. the first 2 years without drift nets.
- the
figures for the 2009 season.
We can
conclude from this that there was actually very little difference in the size
of fish caught in the 8-14lb class
for the 3
years before & the 2 years after the drift net ban.
Graph
3: Percentage Increase by Weight Class
in 2009 compared to the 5 Year Average
There is
however a dramatic difference in 2009.
The true
difference is perhaps not adequately illustrated in the above Graph 2.
To better
show the real increase, Graph 3 above shows the percentage increase
in each
weight class by pound compared to the average figure for the period 2004-2008.
From this we
can conclude that - relative to the 5 Year Average (2004-8):
- The
proportion of fish caught in the 8-10lb. class increased by ~50%
- The
proportion of fish caught in the 11-13lb. class increased by ~150-200%
- The
proportion of fish caught in the 14lb. class increased by ~400%
Looking
Forward to 2010
It will be
very interesting to see what will happen next season.
In the early
‘90s we carried out our own scale-reading study of fish caught on the Lodge
fishery.
Grilse: We concluded
that grilse were almost exclusively 1/1 i.e. spent one year in the river &
1 winter at sea.
Therefore we can expect to see the return of a lot more grilse in 2010 –
the progeny of the 2007 run – the first season without drift nets.
Larger
multi-sea-winter fish: These were
2/2 to 2/4. We would expect the first of these to return in 2012, but it will
be very interesting to see
if the increase in 8-14lb. class
fish will be sustained next year.
Prospects
for a great season’s sport for anglers for whom size really does matter!
Ian is proprietor of Ireland's premier salmon fishing lodge with his wife Glenda (APGAI-IRL Salmon & Trout) – Europe’s highest qualified female fly-casting instructor & Emerald World Masters Ladies Salmon Distance champion.