Had the pleasure of guiding Mr. Barton from Scotland today who caught this lovely, sea liced grilse on the fly. Great sport on a single handed rod! Very encouraging to see a good run of grilse pushing through the system at the moment.

The best salmon fishing so far this season was experienced over the last week. Thankfully, the Bandon received a rise in water levels on Monday, however it was extremely short lived. At least it freshened up the system and got fish moving. Salmon caught ranged in size, from bigger, stale fish to bright grilse in the 3-5lb range. A good number of these were released and a few more were met and lost also.

As a result of the very low water conditions, I've heard of just 5 salmon being caught since the 7th of June. 3 were tempted by the shrimp, 1 succumbed to a worm and another fell to a spinner. Although the river is clean and easily fishable, a flood at this stage would be more than welcome. Alas, there is no sign of any meaningful rain on the way just yet.

No fishy photos this week but take a look at these stunning shots taken by club member Ebor Benson. You can see more of his fantastic work on his Facebook page, https://m.facebook.com/EborBensonPhotography/, and we can look forward to a few more beautiful shots of the river in the not too distant future.

Since our last report on June 1st, a further 10 salmon have been reported caught on the river. Weights have ranged from 4.5 to 21lb with 5 of these being over 10lb.

Also, more detail of the impending food relief scheme have surfaced as work is intended to commence in mid July. A contractor is expected to be announced in the next couple of days.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/euro22m-cork-flood-defence

Big congratulations to BAA PR Officer David Forde for catching this magnificent specimen salmon of 21lbs 2oz!

David Ford from the Evening Echo tells Willie Roche IFI about a superb 21lbs 2oz salmon taken in Bandon River on 1st June: Having attended a meeting which finished at 9 pm in Bandon David headed out for a cast to wind down for the evening. Drove to river, water was low and lovely weather so went down in ‘meeting clothes and shoes’. Fishing a 12ft rod and a size 12 Cascade he got a small touch on 4th cast and then a take on the next cast to the same lie. Lifted and fish began to fly around the pool. And so began a ¾ hr struggle – down to the backing twice, then ½ way down to backing and fish jumped and then David realised the size of it. Played it to a standstill as had to and then tried to land it in his trout net. Missed the first time and fish took off again, at third time of trying fish was scooped into the net and in the lifting the net handle broke. But David caught the net rim and landed.

David has caught 100s of salmon from different waters but this was ‘the one’. The best fish ever – officially weighed and specimen claim will be coming to ISFC very shortly. It was a sea trout evening – balmy, dusk, low water – but rivers like the Bandon are producing not alone sea trout but some superb salmon even under less than ideal conditions.

David Forde is no stranger to large fish. In April 2013 he had another super 21lb salmon from the Bandon

Source: http://fishinginireland.info/news/salmon-reports/the-best-fish-ever-says-dav../