The Lady Moy River

[SilveDreamDave]

Hi guys, nice to be back with ya. Even though I am still a bit sore form my accident, that aside I would like to do this article on my beautiful Lady River Moy. The River Moy has given me some of the best fishing moments of my fishing career, most of which has been on lure and bait fishing for wild Atlantic salmon, with a little flyfishing to. The first photograph in my article shows the beautiful lady running through the town of Ballina Co Mayo. This system is nearly 100 kilometers long some of its main tributaries rise in the mountains above Tubbercurry in County Sligo. I have had some heart stopping moments on the Moy with fifteen pound + fish, I have seen bigger being landed and seen pictures of salmon in access of 29lbs. For this part of the world the wild Atlantic salmon has been a pretty fearsome apponnent on light tackle and line. But my article is not on catching and photographing salmon, it is on the traps and boxes in the town of Ballina. As you can see the Government run Fishery and structure that straddles the river at the Famous or Infamous Ridge Pool, there are a series of traps or boxes (no longer in use thank god) which were used to catch and kill salmon.

As you can see the whole width of the river is covered by the traps, these replaced some years ago an older type of trap which was similar but made from wood and not as efficiant. The wild Atlantic salmon in their dozens would be taken from them every year from early spring, through to mid summer. This next photo shows the famous / infomous Ridge Pool Fishery in Ballina. This is a state owned fishery and always holds stocks of fish, maybe because the river above them has been blocked by traps? Salmon can still breach this pool through a small gap, and now can safely pass through the unused traps also which were decommissioned around 1998.

These next photos show the front of the traps or boxes as they were known locally, and the grills which were in place to stop the salmon. I actually saw smaller fish trapped in these grills over the years when they were in use.

The following photo is one of the back of the trap or the entrance, where the v shaped construction prevented the fish from escape. Once in the box the salmon would hold in the flowing water awaiting release or capure. After the boxes or traps were in situ overnight or a day or two, they were emptied by Government Fishery Officers with large nets.

Although protests by local clubs, associations, and other concerned bodies in 1996 and 1997 were unsucessful. The government fishery I think at the end of 1998 finally said they would no longer use the traps / boxes for trapping salmon. The Ridge pool boasts catches of over 2.500 per year. Maybe a reason for this is that the structure which many of their ancestors died at, still straddles the river at the Ridge Pool in Ballina.
To closeure was to the delight of private and other fisheries upstream, this was a victory for not only local anglers but for visiting anglers also. Here in the next photo you can see the RIDGE POOL and the traps/boxes in the distance.

The next photo shows the stretch know as the Cathederal Beat, as like the the Ridge Pool prime flyfishing water for Atlantic Salmon.

Long before the boxes or traps were concieved, fish were dragged in nets from the river by tractor or other mechanisims up on to the road in front of the Cathederal. Local people were invited to club the fish to death on the road. I am astounded that the Beautiful Lady Moy has any stocks of wild Atlantic Salmon left at all. For over the years she has been dug out, overfished, and raped to some extent of her silvery contents. I for one was glad and proud to be part of the protests to remove the draconian boxes/traps. The Lady may recover, but every year i'm sure many fishermen and local business people pray for better runs of wild Atlantic Salmon. This is one beautiful lady who has not had it easy throughout her life so far. Like many other great rivers of the world, we should be looking to preserve and conserve the Moy for future generations. And its contents that bring so much excitment and sport to so many. I was taught a very important lesson when I was very young by my father. He took me fishing and I caught a large trout, he asked me if I wanted to keep it or put it back. I wanted to keep it. So he killed it and took it home, on arrival he grilled the fish for me with some butter. Placing it in front of me he told me to eat it. I couldn't, it was just to much for me. Then with a tap on the side of my head he said, "don't take them out of the river if your not going to eat them". Profound, but logical. Regards SDD

[Mutt]

Nice pics and very informative thanks for sharing. I do love to see pictures of where others live like that just awesome.

[FishingLTJ]

Wow, great write up you have there. Thank you very much for sharing the information and pics!