A day in the life Stuart Price

The Fisheries Manager at  Mount Falcon Estate details his day

In high fishing season I am up around 6.30am, the early bird catches the salmon and all that! My children (two boys) are grown up and both working in the UK, so no school run for me thankfully. I will take our dog out in the morning for a quick walk around our field next to the house, although if I am under pressure my wife often does that. l leave shortly after seven, as our guests at Mount Falcon are always anxious to cast early and get as much out of the day as they can. We have a high and low season on the fishery. If the salmon are running as they are at the moment, in July I’ll be work in before 8am. If we have some uninvited guests, as happens occasionally, it will be an early one, 5am or 6am.

When I get to work, I check my emails first thing for any overnight fishing enquiries and then I liaise with our reception team in relation to guest bookings for a day’s fishing, or a casting lesson on our catch and release Trout Lake which is a great place to learn to fly fish. I then check in with our Mount Falcon Estate gillies that all is in order for the day. I double check my diary and match this up with any correspondence from guests, so when we meet I have a copy of all previous correspondence with all their fishing booking details.

After I have updated all correspondence and my diary in the office, it’s time to do what I really love, meeting our Mount Falcon fishing guests and ensuring they have all that they need tackle-wise and then introducing them to our gillies. I check that everyone knows where they are fishing that morning. Often this will all depend on which pool on our stretch of the river Moy is fishing well and then it’s time to chaperone our guests up river in our boats.

As Fisheries Manager at Mount Falcon Estate, my job varies immensely from office work to being a gillie, clay shooting instructor, cutting grass on our river bank, to hosting our guests. My greatest pleasure is to see one of our guests catch their first salmon or to see our regular guests having a good day on the river. It’s seeing our guests enjoying their day’s fishing. The smiles that ensue after catching a salmon are very rewarding.

A lunch break depends on whether it’s high or low season. If we’re busy it’s not always a priority. As they say it’s not a fish until it’s on the bank so that is what we concentrate on; however, I often have a sandwich and a flask of tea on standby for those busy days.

I try to spend as much time as possible on the river with our guests and this ensures that I get plenty of fresh air and exercise. Spending the day on the River Moy is a great pleasure. At Mount Falcon we’re very fortunate to own our own private stretch of the River Moy. It’s tranquil, it’s one of the best salmon rivers in Ireland and attracts fishing men and women from all over the world and the wildlife is fantastic, particularly the otters.

My afternoons will depend on how many activities our guests have booked. If our clay shooting range on the Mount Falcon Estate is booked out, you’ll find me there in the afternoons giving instruction.

No two days at Mount Falcon are the same. I could be on the river, or at the lake or the clay shooting range. I’m also in charge of maintenance on the river so you might find me cutting grass on our two-mile stretch of the fishery. We have a weekly head of department meeting with all managers at 11am on Thursdays. These are crucial so we all stay on point and it facilitates forward planning.

At the end of the day, around 5.30pm, I’ll go and meet the fishermen and women as they are coming off the river, that is if I’m not already with them. Then I have a debriefing from our gillies and a chat about who is out the next day. Then it’s time for a bit of housekeeping with boats and fishing equipment to be returned to our rod room and we wind it all up around 6-6.30pm. 

Some days I might have a pint with our guests in the bar at Mount Falcon Hotel as I have known many of them for 10 years or more and they have become good friends of mine.

In the height of the season I don’t switch off very much, but after the season ends in October we head away to the sun for a couple of weeks and relax.  In winter, I will do some shooting which I find very enjoyable.

My evening routine is get home, have dinner and watch a bit of TV and usually fall asleep by 10pm. The fresh air straight off the west coast of Ireland in North Mayo tends to have that effect I find.

The most challenging thing about my line of work is dealing with some of the variables that are outside of our control – water and weather conditions mainly. If they affect the salmon fishing in a negative way it can be hard for guests and gillies. Catching a salmon is the Holy Grail, that is our goal everyday we’re on the river.

I do think about work when I’m at home and I will receive a fair few phone calls from guests when I’m at home checking on how the fishing is, if they’re planning on coming in the next week or so. 

But that’s just part and parcel of running a popular fishery.

We have re-opened the hotel and the fishery after the Covid crisis lockdown and everything has to be done in accordance with the new normal and the new government guidelines. 

It is a challenge but we all have to adapt for the wellbeing of the country.

For more information on  Mount Falcon Estate, log onto www.mountfalcon.com