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You are > Home > Ballina’s flying salmon caught the imagination of the country
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Wednesday, September 10, 2003
Ballina’s flying salmon caught the imagination of the country
The story of the Moy salmon that crashed through the roof of a house in Ballina hit the headlines all over the country, and probably further afield, as news people everywhere latched on to a story that seemed unbelievable.
The picture of Gertie Clarke with the remains of the salmon, beside the hole in the roof of her house, convinced all the doubting Thomases that the fish did crash on to the roof and actually splatter across some of it.
Obviously the “fair sized” salmon must have fallen from some considerable height to have hit the roof with sufficient force to break a slate.
Since the bizarre incident happened on Monday morning, and it appeared in this paper on Tuesday morning, the newsmedia of the country have been highlighting the incident while experts in wildlife have come up with an explanation for the “flying salmon”.
These experts believe that the only possible explanation for the salmon going through the roof is that it was snatched from the nearby Ridge Pool in the Moy by an Osprey.
Osprey are birds that have been visiting this country in increasing numbers in recent years. They usually came to the North and the North East but they have been seen in the Mayo Sligo area.
They are bigger than seagulls and they are noted for diving with talons (feet) first into water to catch fish. And what better feeding ground than the Ridge Pool which has been full with salmon for the past number of weeks!
There have been so many fish in the famous pool that they were a great attraction for visitors who lined the Ham Bridge all day, spotting salmon in the shallow water below.
It was also speculated locally that the salmon may have been taken from the river by an otter and left dead on the river bank where a bird picked it up.
The salmon was medium sized and it is doubtful if any bird other than an Osprey would have been able to carry it.
For “Paws” the expression, lucky as a black cat, came very true when the juicy salmon came crashing on to the roof. Paws, who is a kind of communal cat in Hill Street, had a good feed on the fish from the sky.
It certainly was an ill wind (or, perhaps, an ill Osprey) that caused the tasty morsel to land within yards of its back yard.
The story of the salmon that landed on the roof has now gone into the lore of fishing/angling stories in the area. This one, however, is true and is verified by the pictures.
Pity there is no picture of George, the pet salmon that was talked about on television and radio by the late Pierse Leonard or, indeed, by so many anglers down through the years.
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