Frank Cawley
One Lucky Salmon
By Frank Cawley
4, Dec 2006 - 21:02

Léim an Bradán - Salmon Leap, Co Mayo, rather than Co Kildare.  This is one of the few lucky bradans that managed to avoid Rockies fishing tackle in the 2006 fishing season.  Of course you can find most other species of fish and fisherman lorrying down soup in his famous tavern in and out of season...

I’ve been a long time visiting this particular waterfall not too far from Castlebar trying to get a picture of a salmon jumping the current on their way to the spawning grounds in the hills. This year I thought numbers were down on last year's. The thick hungry drift fishermen must have done untold damage in Kilalla Bay. Or maybe the fish made their successful attempts to clear the falls while I was asleep or upside down from hooch in Rockies tavern listening to tall tails (pardon the pun) of salmon lost, and even bigger fish to fry.

The picture quality is brutal, but I must have tried 500 times and this is the best I could do. I didn’t have a tripod to hand and the light was insignificant. Not as significant however as the annual salmon migration through the hills of Mayo.