Fishery

The Fishery is privately owned and totals 1.2 miles. Kilcoleman is fly only. However we can arrange fishing on other beats of the Bandon River for those who prefer to use alternative angling methods. The Bandon River flows through The Kilcoleman Park Estate which totals 240 acres of park and agricultural land. There are ten named salmon pools. There are also excellent stocks of wild brown trout which average 12ozs with over 1lbs not unusual.
Our fishery is preserved primarily for our 'residential' guests. Day tickets are only available when there are no residents. Also we do not provided a gillie (guide) service to non residents.

Fishery reports are published throughout the season in "Trout & Salmon" magazine (a UK production) and also on this web site- see Bandon River Reports . An article featuring this fishery appeared in the December 1994 edition of Trout & Salmon magazine. Author Jim Repine (known to many of our American friends) has published articles about Kilcoleman on The Internet, Fly rod & Reel magazine, Japanese journals, and also in The North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Journal. Links to his site can be found at the bottom of our page titled "Articles about Kilcoleman".

Tackle : From the opening of the season up to about the 1st of June a double handed 13ft rod is recommended. Thereafter a single handed 10' to 11' is adequate. However the tendency in recent years has been to use a single handed rod throughout the season. Leader strength 10 to 12 lbs. Floating and intermediate lines are the most popular. Choice of fly pattern is purely ones own preference. We have had salmon caught on flies from all around the world and our conclusion is that it really doesn't matter. The most favored here seem to be the Irish shrimp patterns as well as stoats tail both black and silver. Size is far more critical and the Bandon tends to fish best with small patterns. Size 10 down to 14 are the norm.  For trout a 9ft weight 5 to 6 is good with leader strength of 3lbs. Fly choice is more difficult as there is an over abundance of fly hatches on the river. Generally various Olives, Hawthorn, Black Gnat, various cadis nymphs, partridge and orange, and May Fly variants do the trick. We have a large selection of flies for sale here at Kilcoleman. Thigh waders are adequate. Gaffs are strictly forbidden and we advise our guests to bring a good landing net.