Salmon as cheap as kippers

Angling Notes/Derek Evans: Author of The Great Salmon and Sea Trout Loughs of Ireland and a regular contributor to Trout and Salmon, Bill Rawlings has now set his sights on producing salmon smolts at his Cornwall base in the UK.

In an open letter to the Minister for the Marine, Rawlings says that with new technology and a modest investment, salmon smolts can be produced for €17 per 100. With a 5 per cent return ratio from the ocean, adults will cost only €3.40. According to Rawlings, this would make "smoked salmon as cheap as kippers".

As an initial programme, he suggests adopting two major rivers damaged in the past by hydro-electric schemes, the Shannon and the River Erne, Co Donegal. If each river released 500,000 smolts a year, the minimal return of 5 per cent equates to 25,000 adult salmon.

In a natural rearing environment, with unfed fry in lakes at low density and left entirely unfed, smolts that migrate will look after themselves, a very different environment to those reared in concrete tanks of a hatchery, he says. To manage the project he plans to launch the St Neot Salmon Trust in autumn. Details at tel: 0044 1932 873400.

Carton House Estate is one of Ireland's best kept secrets. Situated near Maynooth, Co Kildare, the estate comprises a historic mansion house surrounded by more than 1,100 acres of enclosed parkland and lakes.

Formerly the ancestral home of the dukes of Leinster, Carton was acquired by the Mallaghan family in 1977 and now boasts two championship golf courses, O'Meara and Montgomerie, an equestrian centre and some wonderful fly fishing.

The River Rye runs through the estate, creating a natural lake above the salmon weir, encompassing 45 acres of fishing with breathtaking landscape backdrops.

While primarily a wild brown trout fishery, the river receives a good run of salmon during the autumn spates and the gravel riverbed is ideal for redd beds during the spawning season. Trout feed well on good hatches of blue winged olives, alders and sedges and fish up to 8lb are resident in the river. Fishing is by fly only.

Carton also has two stocked lakes of brown and rainbow trout. Here, both fly and spinning are permitted. The stocked lakes remain open all year.

Recently appointed fishery manager, Gerry Buckley provides expert tuition and fly-casting instruction. Rates for 2004 are €95 per rod, including equipment and ghillie, plus €25 extra for boat hire. Catch and release is compulsory for wild brown trout and a bag limit of two for rainbows.

For further information, tel: 01-6286271 or e-mail: sales@carton.ie.

It was another quiet week on Lough Mask, Co Mayo, due to brilliant sunshine and high temperatures. Fisheries staff got a water temperature reading of 23 degrees, far too high to expect fish to feed near the surface.

However, conditions much improved from Wednesday onwards, with rain and ideal winds, and fish responded with some excellent trout coming to the wet fly. Two UK anglers out from Aasleagh Lodge landed eight trout, best 2lb, and returned seven.

A similar story prevailed on Lough Corrib, Co Galway, with a marked improvement in the latter part of the week. Simon Tarpey, Oughterard landed five trout, some to 2lb, all of which he released. Prospects look excellent for the coming week.

E-mail: angling@irish-times.ie