"Because water levels in rivers are staying very high, fish are being carried further and further along them, " said Kevin Hannon of the Federation of Irish Salmon and Sea-Trout Anglers, Shannon region. "This means they are getting nicely spread all around the rivers and also have space to breed successfully. So this autumn should be great; we believe there will be fish everywhere."

The summer season itself has not been good for salmon fishermen, with little or no grilse available until the start of this month. According to Hannon, if driftnet fishing had not been banned, there would have been next to no business for trawlers.

"June was a dreadful month, " he said. "Ideal conditions for anglers are when there's a good bit of wind and rain to carry the fish along, followed by nice weather to go fishing in afterwards. In June, we just never had any of the good weather we needed."

Now that the weather has improved even slightly, the fishing season has kicked off properly and anglers are hopeful it will last throughout August.

"The main thing for us is that in the long run, all this rainy weather will really work out for us, " said Hannon. "So while we mightn't be getting a huge amount of fishing done now, it's going to be a fabulous autumn."