2025 – 2026

The Lismore and Careysville Estates are committed to the long term conservation of our wildlife and wild salmon stocks. Over the last 10 years we have planted nearly 40 acres of native woodland and have left acres a grassland go wild to encourage insects, bees, butterflies, hedgehogs and ground nesting birds.

In 2020 after concerns over declining wild Atlantic salmon stocks worldwide, we introduced our own greatly reduced rod catch limits, well below those as permitted by Inland Fisheries Ireland.  While we appreciate a collective response is required from all riparian interests, Inland Fisheries Ireland and other interested  parties to arrest this decline in  Atlantic salmon, we have considered carefully what conservation measures Careysville might specifically adopt to help preserve remaining salmon stocks in the River Blackwater.

We therefore feel we can no longer justify removing multiple salmon from the river catchment of which Careysville forms part, while stocks are at their present levels.  However, we also recognise that some of our guests may wish to take a salmon home, while it remains legal to do so.

Given salmon catch records nationally over the last 6 years, we maintain that the current Irish State catch policy, led by Inland Fisheries Ireland, of 10 fish per season per angler, including three a day in summer… is not sustainable. Consequently, catch allowances will and need to be reduced and as a responsible fishery we wish to actively contribute to reversing the decline in salmon stocks. Therefore from 2020 Careysville introduced our own catch limits.

2025/2026

1. Each guest is entitled to keep 1 salmon per season. However we do encourage guests to operate a “catch & release” policy.
2. Spinning is only permitted in early Spring and only in certain extreme conditions where it is not suitable for fly fishing.  This is at the discretion of the fishery manager.
3. If a fish is bleeding from the gills, it must be kept as the guest’s 1st fish. If that guest has already taken a salmon, then the fish is given to the house and cannot be taken by the guest.
4. All coloured salmon in August are to be returned
5. September is mandatory catch & release

We do appreciate that these measures may seem disproportionate to some, but given the state of wild salmon stocks internationally, we feel our decision is the correct approach.

We do hope you will support our approach by which and the efforts of many others, be they riparian owners and interests, policy makers, and anglers we might slow down the decline in salmon stocks so that following  generations might enjoy the same quality of fishing we have experienced in the past.

Kind regards

Patrick Devennie

Fishery Manager, Careysville