Cast your eye over our site using this navigation bar

Home Page (return to)	The Lodge	The Fishing	Flycasting Tuition	Site Navigation (click here for Site Map)		Booking  Information	Links	Photo Galleries
Price Lists	Accommodation B&B & Self-catering	Fishing Report (updated daily)	News	Location How to find us	Travel How to get here/Routes	Tackle Shop (Tackle by mail order)	Staff Wanted	Contact us Now on Skype!
Newsletter/Email List:		If you would like to receive our newsletters with the latest fishing and Lodge information, send us an email with your name, address (for any postal mailings)  etc. Click here to email directly.

The River
(click here to go back to "The Fishing" page)

"Island Stream" Beat 6 - Lower Kilmurry	"The Pot" & "Cliff Stream" Beat 12 - Ballincurrig	"Lower Limestones" Beat 15 - Carrig

The Munster Blackwater is Ireland’s second largest river next to the mighty Shannon.  It rises in the mountains of East Kerry, flowing eastwards for 75 miles (120 km) through Counties Cork and Waterford until it enters the sea at Youghal in East Cork.  It has a catchment area of more than 1,200 square miles.  
            It’s also an extremely beautiful river and has well deserved the title “the Irish Rhine”.  As a large mature river, it is not subject to the whims of the weather, like a typical spate river, and consequently can provide excellent fishing even in low water. It has extensive tidal reaches, stretching for approximately 20 miles from the estuary mouth at Youghal to Lismore.  This provides a unique haven for salmon and seatrout in low water conditions when they are waiting to run the main river.
            The best of the salmon fishing is to be found between the tidal limit just below the bridge at Lismore and up as far as Mallow (approximately 45 river miles upstream). 
            Below Fermoy, there is an excellent mixture of fly runs, glides and deeper pools. The fish can run unhindered through the lower river until they encounter the weir at Careysville.  The Blackwater Lodge has seven beats downstream of the weir.

  Compared to most other Irish rivers (notably the Moy), the fishing pressure is very light.  Nevertheless, it is estimated to yield an average of between 5,000 - 6,000 salmon to the rods each year.  It was declared Ireland's most prolific salmon river in 1998. Statistics issued by the Central & Southern Regional Fisheries Board confirm that the Cork Blackwater had the highest rod catch of salmon of all Irish rivers that year. The total was a staggering 8,063 - over 35% higher than the Moy.  It was reputedly the third highest of all the rivers in the North Atlantic (Canada, Iceland, UK, Norway etc.) - beaten only by two rivers on the Kola Peninsula in Russia.