{"id":12330,"date":"2018-12-04T19:00:58","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T18:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flyfishing-blog.com\/flyfishing-blog.com\/?p=12330"},"modified":"2018-12-03T18:28:45","modified_gmt":"2018-12-03T17:28:45","slug":"fishing-book-salmon-of-the-river-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flyfishing-blog.com\/flyfishing-blog.com\/2018\/12\/04\/fishing-book-salmon-of-the-river-lee\/","title":{"rendered":"Fishing book: Salmon of the River Lee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Dan O\u2019Donovan, Salmon of the River Lee is a high quality hardback, thread sewn, production with over 150 photographs \u2013 and would make a great Christmas gift for the salmon angler in your life\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Salmon
Salmon of the River Lee, edited by Jack Power, is available at TW Murrays in St Patrick\u2019s Street, Cork; Rory\u2019s Tackle Shop, Templebar, Dublin; Cong Angling Centre, Cong, Co Mayo; Macroom Bookshop; and online at www.anglebooks.com<\/a> and www.rareandrecent.com<\/a>.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

It may be hard to imagine in the middle of an exceptional Summer drought
\nbut the Lee was once one of the truly great salmon rivers of these islands.
\nToday\u2019s miniscule runs of salmon make it even harder to imagine that there
\nwas once an entire tourism industry built along the river valley because of
\nthe Lee\u2019s magnificent runs of Spring salmon\u00a0 \u2013 but there was. In fact, the
\nfish were so abundant that at one stage there were 18 commercial netting
\nstations along the river and its tributaries.
\nThese memories of the river, especially the river before the dams at
\nInniscarra and Carrigadrohid limited the salmon runs, are fading from
\nliving memory and are on the cusp of being lost forever. With that in mind
\nlocal club, the Cork Salmon Anglers Association has just published a
\nnot-for-profit history of salmon on the Lee.
\n*Salmon of the River Lee*, launched most appropriately in the Inniscarra
\nBar recently, is made up of a series of contributions from a range of
\npeople with specialist knowledge in the area. Dan O\u2018Donovan focuses on the
\nstatistical history of the river and even in a litany of figures
\nincomprehensible by today\u2019s standards one piece of data stands out. In the
\ndry summer of 1975, 90,225 salmon were officially recorded as caught by
\nnetsmen between Ballycotton and the mouth of the Illen River at Skibbereen
\n\u2013 essentially the old Cork District for fishery administration.\u00a0 The total
\ncatch may have been even higher. That the total national catch for the
\nentire country has hovered around the 30,000 mark for the last number of
\nyears gives a chilling indication of how this once great resource has been
\nreduced.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ploughing
Ploughing near Macroom, 1953 \u2013 look closely at the photo \u2013 the angler has a good salmon by his leg\u2026<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The human side of the story is told too through Tommy O\u2019Sullivan, the last
\nman alive to have caught a 40-pound salmon in the river. He caught it near
\nwhere the Lee and Dripsey rivers meet in April, 1950. On his way home he
\ncaught a second fish \u2013 a mere 30-pounder.\u00a0 These details may be lost on a
\nnon-angler but to put it in context, no-one alive will ever repeat that
\nfeat. You\u2019d have a far better chance of winning the Lotto three weekends in
\na row!
\nDiarmid Williams writes of his family\u2019s long association with the river and
\nits angling through their hotel in Macroom \u2013 now the Castle hotel \u2013 and
\nthrough Coolcower House, which was visited by anglers from far and wide on
\nan annual basis. Ciaran Byrne, CEO of Inland fisheries Ireland writes about
\nwhat the future might hold and how we might better help the remnants of a
\nonce great population to recover.\u00a0 Internationally recognised fly dresser
\nDave Carne writes about the old Lee classic patterns\u00a0 and offers some
\nbeautiful examples. Angling historian Martin Lanigan-O\u2019Keeffe contributes
\non the same subject. A unique feature of the book is that some club members
\nhave written short pieces on what the river and its gifts mean to
\nthem.\u00a0 Maurice\u00a0Buckley writes about the tackle trade and manufacturing in Cork over the
\ncenturies. A series of old photographs showing how very beautiful the
\nvalley was before the dams were built are striking too and show what a very
\nheavy price we sometimes pay for progress.
\nThe objective of this project was to honour and remember a once-great
\nriver, hopefully, it has been realised.<\/p>\n

Buy the book\u2026<\/strong>
\nSalmon of the River Lee, edited by Jack Power, is available online at
\n\u2022 www.anglebooks.com<\/a>
\n\u2022 www.rareandrecent.com<\/a>
\nOr from the following shops:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 TW\u00a0Murrays in St Patrick\u2019s Street, Cork;
\n\u2022 Rory\u2019s Tackle Shop, Templebar, Dublin;
\n\u2022 Cong Angling Centre, Cong, Co Mayo;
\n\u2022 Macroom Bookshop; Macroom, Co. Cork.<\/p>\n

By myleskelly<\/a>
\nSource: www.fishinginireland.info<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Dan O\u2019Donovan, Salmon of the River Lee is a high quality hardback, thread sewn, production with over 150 photographs \u2013 and would make a great Christmas gift for the salmon angler in your life\u2026     It may be hard to imagine in the middle of an exceptional Summer drought but the Lee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,2],"tags":[699,3256,22,1400,3257,77,17],"class_list":["post-12330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-product-news","tag-book","tag-dan","tag-ireland","tag-lee","tag-odonovan","tag-river","tag-salmon"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t