MrKingfisher3

MrKingfisher3 Fishing for all species of fresh and saltwater fish on the fly or spinning with information and tips on catching and releasiing fish.

05/06/2026

Sadly another fish kill, every agency involved is going to have to step up it's monitoring and prosecutions of all offenders otherwise we will lose some of our best rivers and lakes etc in the coming years. Anglers need to record all spillages etc and put them on social media to highlight the blatant disregard some people have for our waterways. Also fines need to be vastly increased to stop further events happening.

26/05/2026

Due to the high temperatures today I decided to leave the trout fishing alone and enjoy the sunshine with a little bass fishing by the sea. It wasn't exactly as had been reported, there was a strong onshore wind enough to knock off my baseball cap a couple of times but the sun was hot especially in shaded areas.
I was asked to show my popper and eel set up so I decided to put up a short video showing how i put it together and fish it. All my new videos going forward will be in 4k but as this was shot from my phone it's only HD. I met a few bass today mostly small schoolies on metal lures due to the strong onshore wind because everytime I put up the popper or slider the wind was knocking off about 50m of my casting range. The metal lures cut through the wind allowing me to get beyond the reef and meet bass at long range. I ended up with a few small bass not bad for a first session out this season. I did miss a few due to them falling off on the outer reef but that can be sorted out with bigger hooks. The popper and sand eel combo has been a favourite of mine over the years especially in low water, along gulleys and over shallow reefs because you control the depth the sand eel fishes at by keeping it moving or stopping which allows the sandeel to sink 3ft under the popper. Try it out this season and let me know how you get on. Video of set up below. Remember like and follow for more posts. Important..... Watch the whole video for complete set up.

17/05/2026

The weather report for today was strong winds and heavy rain so we decided to hit ardaire springs for a stocky bashing session on the fly. If the weather got too bad we could shelter in the shop and have some coffee etc till it passed but in reality it wasn't that bad, some strong winds a few showers and sunshine but definitely no heat.
All day it remained cold but at least the trout were up for a challenge, old saying when fishing at ardaire if in doubt put up a small black emerger and target moving trout. It worked really well for me all day using a size 20 barbless emerger I had trout after trout to the net possibly over 25 trout in total and as you can see in the video plenty of fat fast trout taking all the fly line well into the backing. There were a few old warriors in the mix but in total most of the great fighters were freshly stocked chrome trout and they were happy to take me on a tour of the lake tearing out fly line and backing non stop. Definitely a good day out. Remember like and follow for more posts. Video follows.

Part two of the Blackwater Valley salmon and trout Fishery beats on the Blackwater River, beat 2 ballyduff Bridge. When ...
26/03/2026

Part two of the Blackwater Valley salmon and trout Fishery beats on the Blackwater River, beat 2 ballyduff Bridge. When looking upriver from ballyduff bridge the left bank is beat 2 which starts from the small hut heads down past the bridge and is on the right bank looking down river. We fished from the small hut to the bridge with spinner as its probably the only method that can be used in high water due to the higher banks and caught a few trout but no salmon. I have fished below the bridge (right bank) before in lower water and there is a nice pool there but we didn't cover that far due to time constraints. Here are the photos of beat 2 ballyduff bridge and remember like and follow for more posts.

We did another salmon fishing session on the Blackwater Thursday morning hitting the 2 beats that Blackwater Valley salm...
21/03/2026

We did another salmon fishing session on the Blackwater Thursday morning hitting the 2 beats that Blackwater Valley salmon and trout Fishery have just above ballyduff Bridge left bank looking up river from the bridge. It was a lovely day bright sunshine, warm about 15 degrees but water clarity really didn't improve as it was still about 2ft at best. The guage was saying 0.73m so still high ish preferably 0.40 to 0.50 being optimal as this will slow down travelling fish from tide. Now it was ideal for spinning in some areas but for fly fishing it was fast and coloured on beat 1. I used my 13ft 9in double handed salmon fly rod with a skagit line, float/ hover/ intermediate /sink 3, a 10ft sink 5 tip and a heavy tube covering the far bank all the way to the bend but no pull. I was getting good depth but only when box casting and high sticking mending the line allowing the tube to search the far run. It's a nice gravel bottom there so easy wading when the water is lower but there are a few bank pools that one has to get back on the bank to fish around. From the bend to the start of the beat 2 it's mainly spinning from the high bank as its a huge pool definitely one that will hold up fish travelling from tide. So the start of beat 1 will be spinning but once you pass the bank pool it's all fly water to the bend. We did meet a few trout on both beats but for this post I'm only concentrating on beat 1 as there are too many photos of both beats to put up on this post. After fly fishing we did spin all the water just to cover the parts that we couldn't reach on fly and unfortunately only a couple of trout no salmon seen or caught. Remember like and follow for more posts. Pictures of beat 1 below showing the fishing hut long flat and walk boards etc, beat 2 will follow on the next short post.

Myself and Noel did a short morning salmon fishing session on the Blackwater last Sunday, just a couple of hours having ...
10/03/2026

Myself and Noel did a short morning salmon fishing session on the Blackwater last Sunday, just a couple of hours having a look at a few beats. I will be putting up pictures and video of all the beats that Blackwater Valley salmon and trout Fishery have on the Blackwater River over the coming weeks. After leaving Noel I wandered down to the Woodstream beat to have a look and a cast knowing that the water was up a bit around 1.68m on the guage and clarity only about 2ft at best. But that beat is just perfect for fly as you can cover both bank's easily with a fly rod especially from the start of the beat with out even entering the water. Even entering the water at the start of the beat at that height, it was just above the knees with a nice gravel bottom perfect for wading. I fished through with my 13ft 9in double handed salmon fly rod with a scandi hover fly line, a 5ins per second 10ft sink tip and a small bullet tube fly covering practically all the water with ease but unfortunately no pull. Saying that it's one of the nicest beats for fly anglers as it fishes the fly perfectly giving good presentation at all times, basically once you get the fly across the river the current straightens everything out and you're fishing. As you move down the beat it opens up and then it was time to exit the river as it deepens there but in summer levels it's probably possible to fish further down to the end of the beat. I went back up and covered it with my spinning rod just in case I missed anything but again not a touch. It's beautiful fly water and with no road noise etc it's just so peaceful. Here are a few photos of the beat and as I said I will be doing more in depth photos and videos of the beats in the coming weeks. If you want to book a fishing beat you can contact Noel on number below.

07/03/2026

While doing a bit of salmon fishing yesterday I came across a shoal of small smolt heading down river towards the sea. It was probably hatchery smolt due to the amount of smolt in close proximity.
Sadly I saw a few cormorants that were just starting to hunt the school and scared them away but that was only a short reprieve as they're going to meet the gauntlet of predators between here and the feeding grounds. I had fished a short evening pike session earlier in the week just above the dam and encountered a few kelts moving down the reservoir towards the dam staying in close proximity to the bank. It was hard to make out the clean kelts but a couple had UDN so that showed up in the glare and I was able to film them on the last part of their journey. It's amazing to think that those small smolt will swim that hazardous journey to once again return back to this river to spawn as adult salmon and thus completing the cycle. Small video will follow. Remember to like and follow for more posts.

We did a late morning start to the 2026 trout fishing season and had a drive about to see what the conditions were like ...
15/02/2026

We did a late morning start to the 2026 trout fishing season and had a drive about to see what the conditions were like in a few rivers. The Lee was at 73cm, the bride had a small flood with 2ft clarity and the shournagh was again in flood but reasonable clarity.
We decided to fish the grotto but it was busy and had plenty of traffic before we even had a cast with streamers. Guys were spinning, worm and bait fishing so a vast array of baits being thrown into the mix. I was using my 10ft fly rod floating line and a beaded streamer to get down under the surface, I had a few hard pulls and landed a couple of trout to the bank plus dropping a couple in the reeds. It was lovely and sunny earlier but then came the heavy showers and cold wind. Due to the fact it was so busy we decided to call it quits around 5 but still landing and missing a few on opening day is still a good result. We saw a few kelt salmon jumping during the day which was great to see as they were only 100 metres from the kingsley weir so almost near tidal water and off to sea to hopefully to return in a couple of years bigger and better. Remember like and follow for more posts. Just a few pictures of the half day showing the water height and trout landed on streamers, plus frog spawn in the reeds swans etc.

13/02/2026

Just a short post to thank everyone that followed me as we've shot pass the 1k mark, I will be busy this year with salmon, trout, bass, pike etc so plenty to keep people interested plus I'm now recording in 4k so better quality videos for YouTube. Roll on the better weather and hopefully a few early salmon. Might do a meet up during the early season to see if followers need a bit of help setting up their salmon and trout fly or spinning gear, possible venue the Lee fields or grotto. Let me know if people are interested and we'll move forward on it. .

It was high water on the Lee today so I decided to give it a hard spinning session. It was 73cm on the guage so running ...
12/02/2026

It was high water on the Lee today so I decided to give it a hard spinning session. It was 73cm on the guage so running fast but reasonably clear. I started with a size 4 black/silver flying C and was surprised it was hitting bottom half way back so I knew I was definitely going to move fish that's if there was one there at all. I fished beat 1 dam side and meticulously covered every bit of water because at this time of year there's no real holding areas or lies. Later on in the year fish will settle into known lies but in spring and high water it's cover everything. In years gone bye I have caught spring salmon and afterwards said I didn't expect the fish to be there.
I moved on down through the beats covering the croys, flat water and close bank but only a couple of trout hit the spinner at least there was some life. I changed over to a size 5 flying C and instantly took bottom so I just held the rod high and spun it slightly faster to keep it off bottom and straight away I hit and lost another trout, technique was good but no salmon. I fished all the way to beat 4 and gave it a couple of hours before fishing back up to beat 1. It was a pity the water was just too high to fly fish, normally I'd give it a go but with all the croys on beat one you're going to spend most of your time stuck in them as the strong flow pushes the fly under the rocks. I finally finished up around 4 and headed home no fish seen or caught. Normally it's March that we get a trickle of fish coming through but being there on the right day... that's the trick. Like and follow for more posts. Pictures of lee today at 73cm. At least the trout season is opening on Sunday so that should be fun.

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