Weather: Anglers' relief as rain returns

Given the amount of wet weather we are experiencing, even a pleuvophile may be questioning their love of rain.

While football, GAA and rugby matches will be cancelled if the pitch is waterlogged or frozen that's not the case for every sport.

There are some activities for which a deluge of rain may be a welcome arrival - and fishing is one of those exceptions.

In fact, the rain will have brought a smile to many an angler's face.

Trevor Harper, one of BBC News NI's weather watchers, told me that for river anglers "ideal conditions are periods of wet weather throughout spring/summer to provide spates, sudden floods in rivers".

"This allows the salmon and trout that are out at sea to migrate the estuaries and lower rivers, providing sport as they run upstream," he told BBC News NI.

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Last month the extreme temperatures led to really low water levels.

Trevor says responsible anglers won't fish when rivers are running low and practise catch and release to protect the stock for future generations.

That means fish in the rivers suffer with lack of oxygen and the effect of pollution would have a more devastating impact on the river stock.

The heatwave last month was responsible for a new all-time record temperature in Northern Ireland.

Castlederg in County Tyrone recorded 31.3 degrees Celsius.

Guardians of our local rivers

The heat, combined with sunshine, led to evaporation and a lack of rain meant our river levels were running very low.

So like it or not, the rain was needed.

The river Trevor fishes showing the increase in water level after rain on Wednesday night

Trevor said responsible anglers - who consider themselves as guardians of our local rivers - will not fish in these conditions and practise catch and release to protect the stock for future generations.

Now the rain has returned, Trevor has been back out and landed a 3lb grilse, which is a salmon that has returned to fresh water after one year at sea.

Low water levels during the heatwave at Killylane reservoir near Glenwherry on the Larne Road outside Ballymena

This means the fish are coming back and over the weekend, with more rain to come, the rivers should swell, clear the summer debris, and the fish (salmon) should move further upstream.

So it's nice to know that some folk will enjoy the wet weather this weekend, including of course the salmon.