Well we have given Paddy Heneghan a fitting send off for one of the great ghillies of our time. I did say a few words at the funeral so in due course I will write a piece on this site that is a fitting tribute to the great man.

So far this year he has not bestowed us with fish as so far it is slow to get going, despite reasonable to good conditions and some serious effort by the usual few early spring fishers.

Among these we had Angus Sutherland and his party of David Felton, Denis Daly and Tony O’Regan who fished extremely hard as usual but to no avail. While some members of this group took some time to get accustomed to bone fishing I could not accuse them of any such transgression regarding salmon fishing.

We also had two of theDelphigreats in Peter Joyce and Sheamus Heneghan but they also failed.

We had some good fishing pressure this weekend in the form of Tom Sterling, Roger Thompson, Niall Kelly, Bill Green and Mary Martha Waltz ably assisted by myself and Peter Joyce.

From my own viewpoint, conditions were excellent and one was expecting to see the draw on the line at any moment. Alas it didn’t happen yet but I would feel that any day now it will. That’s my honest opinion not bull—-.

So for all reading this there is still the opportunity to land the first Delphi salmon of 2012.

D.McEvoy.

Paddy was the ultimate Irish ghillie as many of his family had been before him. His boat handling abilities were supreme. He was born in the valley and lived here all his life. He would have ghillied from the 1930’s right through to 2010.

There was no doubt that in latter years Paddy had his favourites and his favourites had him, but if we’re still sitting in a boat in our 80’s we can have our favourites too. There is no doubt that he has landed more fish than any ghillie at present in Delphi.

Paddy is survived by his brother Micheal and his sister Nonie who lived with him at the family home at Doolough.

David McEvoy

As of yet we have no fish caught so for all of you reading this there is still the chance of landing the first of the year.

Fishing pressure so far has been relatively light. We had nice water the first day with some very serious anglers in Peter Mantle, Mark Helmore, Ash Mathews and Fergus Granville for a couple of hours but they failed to stir anything. In fairness it was bitterly cold and water temp. was low.

The river then got quite low until Saturday when we had a fresh and two experienced anglers in Conor O’Leary and John Brennan but they failed to score.
Yesterday water was 30 and it was a beautiful day for fishing. Added to this local veteran Sheamus Heneghan fished most of the day to no avail. He did however manage to rise a fish that he reckoned was fresh in the Horseshoe on his Bedger tube.

Water is at 25 today so hopefully we will get some rain to freshen things up. Remember you won’t catch him reading this blog, so get fishing.

D.McEvoy

Sorry for not updating you all in a while but once I get stuck in hatchery mode by late November it’s very hard to get time to sit down at a computer. Today is actually the first day since early December that I have not been chasing my tail. It would be fair to say that we have had quite a wet few months since the closing of the fishing. I know some of you have been suffering drought conditions but it has been the opposite here.

For the months of October, November and December rainfall was 418.4, 416 and 451.4mm respectively. That translates to 16.5, 16.4 and 17.8 inches which even by our standards is a lot of rain. Total for the 2011 was 3242.8mm or 127.67”. By comparison 2010 was 2167.2mm or 85.32”. To put these in perspective 2011 was above average and 2010 was well below average. We had some extreme winds also with the Beech tree on the Doolough corner of the house reduced to a 20 foot stump. The phone system was also taken out by lightening on December 31st.

For this reason netting was at times impossible due to extreme condtions. Our final catch was just short of 800. We had a lot good Springers of approximately 15lbs but I was surprised not to see some bigger fish and I even thought we might have picked up a 20lbs fish. They either were not there or they eluded us.

There were not a huge number of 1sw females so this should auger well for the Spring fishing. That would be my prediction for this Spring but don’t forget I’m human after all.

Sadly Sea trout spawning was in my opinion poor but I would have been expecting that with the poor returns.

I did say I was human so therefore I must apologize to three more people for errors in the newsletter; John Scanlan, Martin Cellier and Lars Berg from Sweden. The only thing I can say is that you will have to come back, catch fish and I will give you glowing reports.

Finally I should mention that Delphi’s longest serving ghillie Paddy Heneghan is in hospital at present. His spirits are good so hopefully he will make it out for the new fishing season to keep an eye on everyone.

If there is any more news before the start of the season I will keep you posted, if not I will be blogging regularly again from February 1st.

D.McEvoy

Phase one in February involved changing the use of Room 10, which had been a bedroom, into what is now a very traditional style Angler’s Rest. With oak floors, old cabinets, a rustic lunch table, fishing memorabilia, an open fire and of course – our Fishery Manager David McEvoy’s desk.

In addition to this room we extended the Rod Room and Drying Room and completely overhauled the office back to the old style room it had once been. A very open and informal office, where all are welcome to come and chat.

Phase two took place in October and November,  and involved ripping our eight of our bathrooms which , having become quite shabby and dated but not in an antique way, simply had to go. These bathrooms are now completely rebuilt and style to the highest standard. We have also pressurised the showers to these new bathrooms.

Early in 2012 we will be re-carpeting our stairs, halls and landing. We are also delighted to announce that we also have a new luxury Family Suite available for next season in place of what used to be a little used Conference Room on the first floor.

So far on our broodstock netting we have 200 fish caught the biggest so far a 2sw Male of 14 or 15 lbs, a beautiful specimen. I will put some pictures up in my next blog. There were also a few sea trout spawning this morning in the streams along Doolough. Hopefully we won’t get too much rain over the next few days or we’ll be washed away. I am human after all. Apparently I am so far responsible for two errors so far in the newsletter and I will remind people that I did apologise in advance. Therefore to correct my errors; Firstly Bertrand Fenart caught 5 salmon and Secondly Mike Shortt caught 7 salmon.

If there is anybody else out there that feels aggrieved please come forward.

On a more serious and sad note Delphi lost one of its great friends a few weeks ago. Ben Blower who had been fishing here for an eternity passed away. He was always with his wife, Anne some of his children and grandchildren. One of the great memories I have of my time here was one day a couple of years ago when I was looking after Ben on the river he turned to me and said; “I’m a very lucky man, my wife fishes, my children fish and my grandchildren fish and that way we can all be together.”  Sincere sympathies to his wife and family.

D. McEvoy

On the 30th we ended up with 49 fish all of which were caught on other methods. The most important element of this day is that it’s a fun day out for staff and locals. This it turned out to be and we had a great day with a lovely bbq for lunch.
Its always great to see people catching fish that normally don’t get a chance. As usual there were quite a few first evers including;
Blain McNally, Killeen, 3lbs13.5ozs
Maura Prendergast, Louisburgh, 4lbs12ozs
Kevin Gibbons, Louisburgh, 6lbs7ozs
Grace Wade also had the last fish of the season and her second ever of 6lbs6ozs.
I must mention Paul Wymes who aided and abetted 10 people to catch salmon who normally wouldn’t get the chance. This gesture made for a lot of happy people.

September total ended up at 53 salmon landed plus 49 on the last day which makes total of 102.
Sea trout have not all been totalled yet but again it will be well down on last year and the previous.

This brings total salmon landed for year to 528.
More details will follow on the breakdown of these numbers in the next couple of weeks.

I would also like to say Thank you to everybody who made this season such a good one. Hopefully we will have many more in the future.

D.MCEvoy

At the moment we are trying to stock up on timber, to hopefully gather enough to last a full seaon. The re vamping of the bathrooms is going ahead at full tilt as I write.

Just in case any of you fishermen are shooting men or have friends that are we have a slot for a shoot in the second half of January, 8 to 10 guns. Any one with any interest contact me on 087 6388510 (after hours) or at Delphi 095 42222.

We will start netting in the next couple of weeks so I will keep you posted on this and hopefully put in a few pics of this and sea trout spawning also.
Will update you all by the 12th of November.

D.McEvoy