Last weekend I went down to fish the River Blackwater between Kells and Navan in County Meath. This was my first time to fish this river. It is a limestone river which flows from Lough Ramor in Cavan to meet the river Boyne at Navan Co. Meath. It was early evening when I arrived. Being my first time on this river, I had no idea what to expect from it. The Blackwater is one of the rivers which suffered from the work to it in the late ’70s. The works were carried out by the OPW (Office of Public Works) under the arterial drainage programme.
river blackwater
The river has now recovered and it holds a good stock of wild brown trout. In 2004, a fish of nine pound eleven ounces landed as well as several fish to over three pounds being reported. It is also a river noted for its hatches of Mayfly which unfortunately were coming to an end at this time of the season. However, upon looking about i could see a few Mayfly duns appearing on the water. With this i decided on setting the rod up with an olive klinkhammer variant which i tied up myself. It’s a fly i have being trying out over the last while with varying degrees of success. There were a few trout occasionally rising to the duns, one in particular drew my attention so i had a go at him, but i only succeeded in putting him down. I tried several more before i hooked and landed nice red spotted wild brownie of about 33cms.
I had another four fish on the klinkhammer before night started to fall. With some sedges appearing, i then changed from the klink to a balloon caddis which brought instant success with a very nice fish about the pound and a half mark. I caught three more fish on the balloon before calling it a day. All fish were returned to the water.
Drainage works undertaken in the last century left the river with high banks and the river bed dangerous for wading. You will find a long handled landing net very useful to reach down from the higher banks. In all, it was a sucessful first time on the Blackwater. I shall be looking forward to my next outing on this river.
