Why fish the Blackwater
There are many rivers named Blackwater in Ireland but there is only one Munster Blackwater River, probably Ireland's most famous salmon fishing and fly fishing river. You can read numerous accounts of enormous runs and prolific catches, including grilse and multi sea-winter fish, written by anglers such as Augustus Grimble in "The Salmon Rivers of Ireland", and John Ashley-Cooper in his well-known book "A Salmon Fisher's Odyssey". For many, the Blackwater is where they caught their first Irish salmon or trout and lives therefore long in the memory.
The Blackwater was at one time noted for extremely large fish. Dublin-based fisheries scientist Arthur Went compiled records of portmanteau fish (fish in excess of 40 lbs) caught in Irish rivers between 1874 and 1933, and noted fifteen such fish were caught in the Blackwater, a figure beaten only by the Shannon with seventeen. For fly fishers seeking a break from salmon, large brown trout and sea trout are regularly caught on the fly too.
Aside from the quality of the fishing, anglers will be able to lose themselves in the peaceful, scenic Blackwater Valley with picturesque towns such as Mallow, Killavullen, Fermoy, Ballyduff and Cappoquin, imposing castles such as Lismore, and in the upper reaches the grandeur of the Mullaghareirk Mountain as a backdrop.