Upper blackwater

[Gary Condon]

Hi everyone,its my first post on here.
After years of buying day tickets for various rivers and beats,my father in law has gotten me into a small syndicate a couple of miles past Mallow,and im delighted he has as its saving me a small fortune.Ive fished it maybe three times a week since march and ive caught nothing but trout from it.Speaking to a local angler in Mallow town,he said that the upper parts of the river are best fished in the latter stages of the season as fish are holding below the strech im fishing and will only come up as far as there when there about to spawn.Is this true??ive only ever saw 1 fish passing through it so far and to be honest im losing faith in the spot and m tempted to go back to paying for day permits on my tried and tested spots.Any help would be really really appreciated as its getting so frustrating to blank so often on such a big name river
Gary

[Klink]

Gary, stick with it. I can assure you that salmon are going through the stretch that you are on. Fish are being caught, although not in great numbers, well above Mallow. The guy you were talking to was talking crap, pure and simple. The fact that you have not seen fish does not mean that they are not there and moving up river right under your nose. The river has been high now for the past couple of weeks but is finally dropping off and clearing in the last couple of days. I know of one big fish,18lb, caught about twenty miles up river of where you have your fishing. Your season will come good yet, I've yet to catch my first this year also. If I was you I would definately be hammering it this week.

[potbelly pig]

With all this high water your beat should be coming into its prime. However it is a fact of all rivers that not all areas are holding areas. It is also a fact on all rivers that fish hold in different areas at different water heights. Spring fish will run hard if given half a chance so Mallow and above should have fish. Grilse are a different story and done run as hard and do arse about.

I would not follow Klinks view and totally discount what the local man said. To learn a new beat you should try and fish it with an old hand. The local man could have fished that area for donkeys years and know what he is talking about. Talk to the other rods, are any of the other rods getting fish on the beat?

If after all this high water and the amount of time you are spending the beat is not producing fish I would be having serious doubts too.

I myself gave a beat 10 miles+ above Mallow a run with the high water in early June. It was great water but was dirty and we gon a few trout. It is only starting to produce a few fish now.

[Castleconnell]

Kieran Bolsters water is fishing it's socks off!Conehead park shrimps being the fly of choice!