Mid May 2017
Well we have hit the middle of the month and after a very dry and bright start for the first week and a half, the rain has arrived in large amounts. We had a small “fresh” on Sunday(14th) with the river up about 4- 5 inches but today Monday the 15th there is a good flood going down the river with good flows in both the Drumragh and Camowen. Depending on the rain to follow there maybe further rises with more heavy rain forecast for Thursday and Friday.
If the river gets a chance to settle and there is a bit of heat then flies that would and should work well are the Tups, Blue Dun, Iron Blue Dun and members of the Olive family. This mixed with the Hawthorn Fly and the Black Gnat should give anglers plenty to work with!
May 2017
Most of April stayed cold but there were still good days to be had on the river with the fly. The last week of April seen temperatures down into single figures during the day so a bit of thawing out was required after a days fishing.
Hares Ear, Greenwells Glory and Blue Dun were successful flies and despite the colder temperatures some trout were taking on the surface or just under it so klinkhammers and dry flys were also working. A few reports were that anglers were catching on both the wet and dry fly . Again trout being caught were in good numbers .
There were also reports coming in again about the large number of Smolts in the Drumragh, Camowen and the Strule so please handle with care and return safely, some of these little guys could be back again in August with a couple of pounds on.
This first week in May has been poor for fishing with wall to wall blue sky and bright sunshine but being a little warmer it will help with fly life on the river and hopefully the trout will start to fill out. The water levels are very low now and we could really do with a bit of rain (large amount )to clean out the system. Every footstep is rising glar of the riverbed at the minute.
Coming into May and with temperatures up, Iron Blues and Tups Indispensible would be good flies to try out!
April 2017
has started well although the first day was a bit of a wash out with heavy rain and rivers dirty. Sunday seen the water dropping and the upper reaches were good for a throw with the fly. Reports coming in showed that the trout were coming easily to the fly and a few anglers were catching trout in large numbers. Mid April has seen the water levels continue to drop and the temperature has also dropped back a little as well with the temperatures hovering around 12 Degrees during the day.
There were also reports of salmon smolts coming to the fly as well which is quite early. These were caught on the Drumragh and carefully returned. Please remember to treat the smolts carefully they are our salmon for the next few years depending on how long they spend at sea.
Successful flies were the usual ; Greenwells Glory , Blue Dun , Wickhams Fancy and Gold Ribbed Hares Ear.