I am working in Tuam these days so it is highly likely I will try my luck on the Clare River and its tributaries this season. The Clare system has been seriously abused by successive governments since the middle of the 19th century, with devastating consequences for the local ecology. Here is an old article from Ecofactireland which gives some excellent information of the sorry tale of drainage on the Clare.
https://ecofactireland.com/2015/05/08/river-clare-drainage-scheme
It would be nice to say that in these more enlightened times the river is now safe from further dredging but that is simply not the case. The OPW has one cure for flooding – bring in the machines and get dredging! Of course we all know this only exacerbates the problems and increases flooding but the OPW don’t seem to care.
Despite the predations by humans there are still trout and salmon in the system. The Clare and its tributaries hold some excellent brown trout and many areas are very lightly fished. There used to be healthy runs of salmon but my information is that the last two seasons have been very poor for the silver lads. I will post any successes (and failures) through the season.
Claretbumbler 