Waters

Kells Blackwater (Lough Ramor–Navan)

Baseline tactics

Co. Meath / Cavan · River · wild

Weather check

Issued 08:31

Moderate north-north-easterly8 km/h · gusting 15 km/hBlowing from the north-north-east · fishing waveGusty — hard casting.

Today — conditions every three hours
Time	Sky	Wind	Air	Rain
06:00	cloud	N 6 km/h	1 °C	dry
08:00	sun	NNE 5 km/h	3 °C	dry
10:00	cloud	NNE 8 km/h	7 °C	dry
12:00	cloud	NE 9 km/h	10 °C	dry
14:00	cloud	NE 14 km/h	10 °C	dry
16:00	cloud	ESE 9 km/h	12 °C	dry
18:00	cloud	ESE 7 km/h	9 °C	dry

Times are UTC · wind in km/h · sun and rain read left to right across the day.

Air: 1–12°
Wind: 14 km/h
Rain: 0.4 mm

Water

measured

Cold 7 °C

Fish deep and slow, and expect short windows.

Measured at Fyanstown · OPW

Fishing wave on the forecast.

Today · Kells Blackwater (Lough Ramor–Navan)

Best window today is dusk, around 16:42.

Water · Cold (under 8°C)

Fishability is the engine's own hourly score. Why these conditions matter.

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ExcellentGoodFairPoor★ best of the day

Check season dates with the fishery (link below).

Where & when — all waters ›Pack for this trip — Kit Check ›

Depth character (estimated)

Mixed depths · to ~2 m

Water clarity (estimated)

Clear

Exposure (estimated)

Moderate

Species

Brown trout →

Getting there

Bank access: GoodKells Anglers Association (KAA) — established 1893, ~140 full members — controls the fishery via a water-keeper system and issues day permits to visitors; the club's own map marks car parking and access points at several bridges (Nine-Eyed Bridge, Daly's Bridge, Claven's/Mabes Bridge area). Permits are sold online, through the Flying Sportsman tackle shop on Carrick Street, Kells, or directly from water keepers. One documented access caveat: the lowest ~10 miles of the fishery, from Headfort Bridge down towards Navan, has steep, incised banks and heavy willow/tree cover over deep water, making it difficult to fish by fly compared with the more open water upstream — this is also largely within the private Headfort Estate demesne.

No boats

O'Daly's Bridge · BridgeKells AA water, upper edge of the drained Carnaross–Daly's Bridge reach — straighter, coarser water. Permits: Flying Sportsman (Kells), water keepers or online — confirm boundary at purchase.
Carnaross · TownKells AA water through the arterially-drained (1980-81) reach — uniform, coarser channel, fewer but sometimes bigger trout. Permits: Flying Sportsman, Kells, or online — confirm at purchase.
Kells (Flying Sportsman, Carrick Street) · TownKells AA's main permit sales point — Flying Sportsman tackle shop, Tue–Sat; also water keepers and online instant delivery. Confirm current boundary/price before fishing.
Headfort Bridge · BridgeDownstream limit of Kells AA water; weir-impounded Estate ornamental lake here. Below it, ~10 miles of willow-shaded, hard-to-wade water to Navan — confirm boundary at purchase.

Features

RifflesRunsGlidesPoolsWeir pools

Weed: ModerateWater crowfoot (Ranunculus sp.) is directly documented in the gravel-riffle reaches — upstream of Maudlin Bridge and on the shallow, streamy approach to Mabes Bridge — by a 2008 Wild Trout Trust habitat walkover. Wide, wet margins colonised by reed canary grass and reed sweet grass are described through several reaches. Near the top of the fishery, in the near-still mile above Nine-Eyed Bridge (the Lough Ramor outflow), the character shifts to stillwater macrophytes — Canadian pondweed and broad-leaved pondweed — reflecting the lake's influence. This is an 18-year-old source; treat current weed density as indicative, not current-day fact.

Coarse fry present (Roach, Bream, Pike, Gudgeon, Minnow)

Local notes

A genuine wild-brown-trout river in its own right, not just a Boyne footnote — Kells AA's ~12-14 mile stretch from Nine-Eyed Bridge (the Lough Ramor outflow) down towards Maudlin/Headfort Bridge holds trout from half a pound to a pound and a half, with fish to 3-5lb taken most years and a 9lb 11oz river-record brown in 2004. The best-regarded water is the upper-to-middle river closest to the Lough Ramor outflow, with a pool-riffle-glide sequence over gravel and cobble; named holding water includes the Sheep Pool (a deep pool above the Kells water-intake weir) and Lugawooly (a deep pot against a bedrock cliff, known for salmon and big trout, with spawning gravel just above it). Buzzers and small goldhead nymphs (PTN, hare's ear, sizes 14-18) fished on a light leader take fish readily on their day; dry fly (Grey Duster, Grey Flag, Sherry Spinner) and traditional wets (March Brown, Greenwell's Glory, Wickham's Fancy) all take fish through the March-September season, with evenings often the better bite. Two stretches fish quite differently from that picture and are worth flagging to a visiting angler: the middle river around Carnaross-to-Daly's Bridge was arterially drained (1980-81) and is straighter, more uniform and coarse-fish-leaning with fewer but bigger trout in places; and the lowest ~10 miles below Headfort Bridge towards Navan is a deep, willow-shaded, hard-to-wade glide, better suited to a considered nymph or streamer presentation than open dry-fly water.

Fishery rules & regulations

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