FISHING Wild Belclare an angling beauty spot

PARADISE The Owenwee River, taken from the Belclare Bridge.?Pic: Graham Horn

Wild Belclare an angling beauty spot


Country sights and sounds
John Shelley

I left the car in the lay-by and took my life in my hands while walking the few yards back to Belclare Bridge. Several cars and a very large truck whizzed past my shoulder, threatening to pitch me into the bushes. Even standing on the grass verge while looking down into the bridge pool I was in evident danger. I scrambled down the stone wall to safety.
The Owenwee River downstream of the bridge would be a painter’s paradise. Both banks are overhung with a wide variety of trees, and wildflowers grow along the shaded banks in wonderful abundance. And as for the river itself, well, whether as it was then, brown and swollen, flecked with foam and tumbling and rushing over moss-covered rocks in its hurry to meet the sea, or as it more typically is, merely boisterous between reflective pools, it is eminently wild, as one might expect of a west of Ireland salmon stream.
It ought to be an angler’s paradise too. I had come to look for the fish that should be showing themselves at the waterfall. While the flood sprung by rain on the flanks of The Reek was beginning to abate there was still ample flow to allow fish free passage, yet 20 minutes of watching yielded little reward, other than a glimpse of a small sea trout sporting at the tail of a glide and the shadow of something much larger nosing briefly at white water.
I would stay here all day. Curse that clock. Down at the sea pool things were different. The tide was halfway into the ebb and any salmon that might have moved into the estuary over the high water period would now be experiencing a change in their environment, as sweet water gradually diluted and overcame the salt. I know from experience that this tends to enliven the fish and often inspires them to enter the river itself.
It is then, when they begin to stir, that they should be more vulnerable to the angler’s lure. But what should be often isn’t. Angling below the bridge is by fly only, which makes the lower Owenwee experience quite challenging, to say the least.
Some years ago I enjoyed an enthralling experience here. A spell of dry weather had caused the river to fall away to little more than a thread of water trickling between the rocks. A few fish had been seen in the estuary, coming and going with the tides. We had seen them an hour either side of high water, cruising back and forth in small shoals comprised of half a dozen individuals in each.
I had cast a fly at them, of course, but without success. Then, an hour into the ebb they vanished. I was sure they had retreated to the deeper waters of the bay until a slight movement caught my eye just inches below the last miniature cataract, at the point the river discharged into the sea. 
I had wandered over to look down into the narrow cut and came face to face with a salmon of five or six pounds in weight. The fish must have seen me as clearly as I saw it, but was not the least bit disturbed. It hung in the water three feet from my boots and then slowly sank into the depths as another took its place. A third appeared, then a fourth, and more, rising to the surface and sinking again shortly thereafter, each of them ocean-silver and undeniably tempting. I fished for them uselessly and could only watch as one by one they made their way into the river, ploughing through two and three inches of water with their backs fully exposed.
There must be a way of catching these fish in the sea pool. After all, on many other waters the tidal stretches are among the most productive. Just think of the world-famous Ridge Pool on the Moy, and the tidal pools on the Glenamoy, which deserve to be better known than they are. Even in Galway City salmon can be seen and caught as the saltwater tide runs off the lower river.
There is good news for the Owenwee. The recent formation of an angling club on the river will hopefully mean a decrease in illegal fishing. This, together with improvements to the river itself, ought to soon lead to a ‘harvestable surplus’ of salmon and, hopefully, one day, sea trout.
Proprietor Tom Bourke tells me that fresh fish are entering the river on a daily basis. Angling day tickets are still available at a very reasonable cost. The continued development of this beautiful water will be a tremendous asset to Westport tourism.

For more detals on the new Owenwee River angling club, contact Tom Bourke on 098 54994 or 086 8331586, or email him at tombourkefishing@hotmail.com. The club currently has ten mebers, and the fishery return to date exceeds 30 salmon and grilse, with the rod test heading towards 50. The sea-trout run has also been strong (though these are not fished).