Is a river alive?  What a question….it throws up so many if, buts, maybes, but most importantly, why not?

They are our lifeblood, our circulation, our healing waters.  

But they also need saving now in these troubled times of extraction, industrialisation and pollution.

To kick off Season 2, we’re taking the big picture view when it comes to rivers, and we’re asking shouldn’t the rights of nature be respected in our laws and constitutions?  If a limited company can have legal rights why then can’t our rivers?  

Without our rivers, without due care, without oversight…..well, we all know what can and is happening in terms of water quality and how that is affecting us all, not least of all the wild salmon.

So to help with some of these existential questions, celebrated nature writer, Rob Macfarlane joins Jim Murray to discuss how he set out on journeys around the globe, from Ecuador to India and Canada, and finally to his own home waters in Cambridge, to ask is a river alive?

The Last Salmon Season 2 is supported by The Missing Salmon Alliance.

Image: Richard Davies via https://www.instagram.com/racdavies_photos/

The Last Salmon, presented by actor and salmon activist, Jim Murray MBE, offers hope and solutions to the tragic story that is unfolding for an iconic species in crisis - the wild salmon.  

For regular updates, follow the show at Instagram.com/TheLastSalmon.

Wild salmon are in a perilous state.  But we can’t and won’t give up.

The Last Salmon with Jim Murray is back for another season, launching July 25th, addressing the problems and hearing from all sides of the argument, to find the solutions to help save our wild salmon.

It’s not too late, the salmon haven’t give up, and nor can we.

The Last Salmon, presented by renowned actor and salmon activist, Jim Murray MBE, offers hope and solutions to the tragic story that is unfolding for an iconic species in crisis - the wild Atlantic salmon.  

Listen and follow on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and for regular updates, follow the show at Instagram.com/TheLastSalmon.

Season 2 of The Last Salmon launches in July 2025 with more insights from salmon anglers, fishery scientists and conservationists.

We should never stop learning – and in fly fishing especially, we’re never done.  

This week we hear from Packy Trotter a life long fly angler, guide and instructor who epitomises the spirit of teaching and learning in the sport.

STANIC and APGAI qualified, Packy then travelled to the Catskills where he took the FFF certified and FFF masters qualifications becoming, at that time, only the second person in their history to pass both exams at the one session.

Suffice to say, there’s plenty we can learn from Packy

Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.

Continuing our fly fishing in hot waters theme on the show, this week we’re joined by Ronan Collins, a well-known and well-travelled fly angler who is just back from a trip to Gabon in west Africa.

Ronan tells us why fly fishing in Africa should be on everyone’s bucket list with an incredible array of species to be caught from crevalle to snappers, tarpon, barracuda and sharks.

Ronan is also on the board of Salmon Watch Ireland and he talks to us about this year’s very poor spring run and why a multi-faceted, multi-agency approach is drastically needed to address the emergency situation relating to salmon numbers in Ireland.

Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.

This week, with the hot temperatures we’ve been having and the noticeable lack of rainfall, we wanted to speak to renowned fisheries scientist, Ken Whelan, who gave a talk at the recent Irish Spring Angling Fair, called ‘Trout in hot water’.

Ken details the impact and consequences of rising temperatures on our freshwater fish as well as their food sources and he challenges anglers to start thinking and adapting to the changing habitat and waters that we are going to be seeing.

As always with Ken, he’s got some thought-provoking and fascinating insights well worth listening to and considering.

Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.

This week, in honour of the midsummer solstice, we’ve recorded a midseason review to find out how the fishing has been so far, the highs and lows, and what we can expect for the second half of the season.

It might be the height of summer but it won’t be long before the long days start getting shorter so make the most of your fishing while you can.

Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.

This season we’ve heard about the disastrous spring salmon run and there hasn’t been much to report yet for the grilse run – all in all, our worst fears about salmon numbers seem to be coming true – and not just in Ireland.

One of the worst culprits of course is aquaculture and the effects that sea lice from salmon farms has on migrating salmon, which the industry – and the Government via the State body, the Marine Institute – try to lessen by quoting from a dubious scientific paper.

However, the hugely respected fishery scientist, Paddy Gargan, has led and released what’s been called a landmark study which shows that, contrary to the Marine Institute and salmon farming’s stance, sea lice does have a major and significant effect on the mortality of salmon.

This paper has just been released and its implications will be far reaching.

Plus, staying with salmon, we also speak to John Murphy, from Salmon Watch Ireland.  John is back from last week’s NASCO conference where the stark reality about the future of wild Atlantic salmon was laid bare.

For more on Paddy Garagan’s sea lice study:

https://salmonwatchireland.ie/2025/05/29/issue-number-14-30-may-2025-salmon-watch-ireland/

Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.

A week ago the Irish fly fishing team was in the Czech Republic getting ready for their shot at the World Fly Fishing Championships and with a very respectable sixth place last year in France, hopes were high for the team that they might even medal – something that has never been done before by an Irish team at the World Championships.

Team Captain, Dec Conlon, joins us on the latest show to tell us how Ireland fared.

And you can also check out Joe Quinn’s videos from the Championships at:

https://www.youtube.com › @JoeQuinnFollow_the_fln 

Irish Youth Fly Fishing Team Fundraising Raffle

We wanted to also mention the Irish Youth Fly Fishing Team Fundraising Raffle with prizes of a lake boat, fly rods, engine, hotel stays, angling vouchers all up for grabs.

Tickets are €50 each and limited to just 500 and all proceeds go towards the youth team costs for attending the World Youth Fly Fishing Championships in the USA later this year, so all for a great cause and tickets are on sale now from Frank Dempsey on 087 2351830 or email [email protected]. The draw takes place on June 21st.

Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.

We’re nearly into June and the mayfly is finally petering out.  It’s hard to believe that it began at Easter time on Corrib, whilst recently, Sheelin has been described as being ‘polluted with fly’ where fly anglers have been left with pretty much only suntans this year.

So, this week, to find out more, joining us for our annual mayfly season review is Jackie Mahon, fly tyer and guide on Lough Arrow, and Ronan McWilliams, who embarked on a month long road trip taking in Corrib, Arrow and Sheelin.  

But all did not go to plan as you’ll find out in the episode.

Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.

Ballisodare Fishery is a name that’s probably familiar to you from the salmon fish kill last summer that hit the headlines but after the deaths of one thousand plus salmon, why did it happen and how can we ensure it doesn’t happen again?

Despite the events of last year, the fishery is determined to showcase what it does have – namely great fly fishing water in Sligo throughout the entire season.

Gerry Merrick, chairman of the Ballisodare Fishery joins us on this week’s show to tell us about the fishery, the fish kill of last year and why there can be a silver lining to it all.

For more from the fishery visit: https://www.ballisodarefishingclub.ie/

Plus, Tom has an update on the mayfly from Corrib and we bring you news of salmon fishery closures this week due to warm water temperatures.

Keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.