The Kirkwood Beat is around one and a third miles in length and is single bank only (the right hand bank). There are 12 named pools although some are only good at certain heights of water. The river is quite wide here, up to 30 yards in places, as Kirkwood is only 8 miles from the estuary. In places it is deep, so chest waders (and life vest) are essential. For salmon on fly a 14ft-15ft rod is advised and for sea trout an 10ft-11ft rod.
It is beautiful fly water with some slow pools but also some rapid, streamy water. Thus it is normally fly fishing only; and spinning / worming is only allowed when the river is above a certain height ie in flood and fly fishing becomes difficult/impossible. In exceptional circumstances the owners may give permission to spin at lower levels (eg children or those finding wading impossible etc). However, it is impolite to spin within sight of fly fishermen even when permitted. This is mainly fly water. Only FOUR rods are let and the owner – Anthony – keeps two back for himself which are only used occasionally so unlike other beats it is never crowded.
The beat normally catches 25 – 60 salmon per year and around 50 – 130 sea trout. But the last few years have been very poor for sea trout.
Remember its a small beat with only 4 rods let.
5 Year Average | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Total |
Salmon | 1 | – | – | 4 | 5 | 16 | 16 | 9 | 51 | |
Sea Trout | – | 1 | 2 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 45 |
Fishing Prices | Kirkwood |
Spring (mar – Mid May) | £40/day £128/week |
Summer (Mid May – End Aug) | £128/week |
Autumn (Sep – Nov) | £160 – £256/week |
Winter (coarse only) | £15/day £48/week |
Download a map of the beat Kirkwood Fishing.