Apologies for not updating you since the 10^th but it was hard to get the chance the way last week panned out. It does mean however that I have more to write about.

We actually have 9 fish landed since my last update even though conditions were difficult at times with water running off very quickly. The fish included the following:

On the 10^th Michael Wymes had a fish in the Whin Pool of approx. 7lbs on a Willie Gunn.

Maxi Schiedt had one of approx. 7lbs off theshoreofDoolough.

In the afternoon Richard McDowell had a sea liced fish from the Whin Pool of 9lbs10ozs on a Yellow Dick. (yes, it’s not a joke)

On the 11^th Andrew Lyall had a fish of approx 8lbs from the Rock Pool on a Gary Dog.

Maxi Schiedt had another from the shore of Dooloughof  approx. 7lbs.

We drew a blank on the 12^th with no fish landed and on the 13^th it was David Allcutt who saved the day with a sea liced 6lbs15oz fish off the Meadow Pool on a Delphi Collie.

On the 14^th we had 2 double figure fish, one off the Whin taken by Barry Daniel on a Cascade and one of approx.12.5lbs taken by Ronan Walsh on a Silver Shrimp on the Rock Pool.

On the 15^th Angus Sutherland managed to take a sea liced fish from the Whin Pool of 8lbs1oz on a Collie Dog.

I will be expecting good fishing for the rest of this week as we had 34mm of rain last night. The river is now up at 48 and we are getting heavy  showers also, and there is heavy rain forecast for tonight so conditions should be ideal for the rest of the week. Hopefully I won’t have to eat my words.

I know Michael Wymes was rather pleased to land his fish on the 10^th but it was his son Paul and daughter in law Sarah who claimed the limelight that day when they had their second child a baby boy Archie. All I can say is that if Salmo Salar has a blog it will be hot news and they will try and avoid being caught by another Wymes. Although if Archie is half as effective as his father it may be necessary to consider new conservation measures. We wish all of them well in the future.
D.McEvoy

The much needed rain finally arrived on Easter Sunday. We also had a good number of heavy showers yesterday. Total for the two days was 48mms or almost 2 inches.

We did have a fish just as the rain arrived on Sunday. Arnold Crook had a fine fish off Finlough of 11lbs3ozs on a Sunrae Shadow. It was indeed well earned as Arnold had fished hard in very difficult conditions.

I have often noticed in the past that when rain finally comes it takes a day or two for the fishing to pick up. However this was not the case as we had two yesterday even with the river a little coloured.

Lennart Konvalin was the first to strike having spent over a week trying hard he finally got his reward yesterday after lunch in the stream on Finlough when he landed a sea liced fish of  7lbs4ozs on a Black and Yellow tube.

Martin Cellier had a sea liced fish of  9lbs 6ozs off the Turn Pool later on. This was taken on a Willie Gunn and netted beautifully by his wife Barbara.

This morning Jonathan Murray from Antrim had a sea liced fish off the Rock Pool of approx. 8lbs. This was taken on a Willie Gunn.

The river is now running at 35 and even though it is cold we should get enough showers to keep it at a good level.

Hopefully we will see a few more silver bars in the next few days.
D.McEvoy

Fishing has been extremely difficult this week with very low water and cold NE winds. As the week went on the river got lower and lower and very difficult to fish. The gauge now stands at -5cms which is low but I have often seen it lower.

There are a few fish in the river but they are being extremely cagey and are not playing at all.

It must be said that people have tried hard but to no avail. Our last fish was Friday 30^th March but it looks like we are going to get a change in the weather from Sunday which hopefully will bring shoals of springers streaming up the river.

By the time my next blog is written it should be the fish that are doing all the talking.
D.McEvoy

Just after I post a blog about the beautiful weather we are having and the dreadful fishing conditions we are having, we catch 2 fresh fish. These wonderful creatures never cease to amaze me.

Yesterday morning Yvonne Zirngibl had a sea liced fish of  5lbs7ozs on a Willie Gunn off Finlough. For those of you who can’t remember I did say the river was at 3 cms, which is an amazing level for fish to run the river at.

Marcel Dittrich then had 1 in the afternoon of  approx. 7lbs off the Whin pool again on a Willie Gunn. This fish was fresh but without sea lice.

This brings our total for the year to 24.

Besides this we have a great story this weekend. It concerns a man who is visiting us at the moment. Bob Windsor was fishing the Whin pool in 1994 when he heard a funny noise in the hut. On further examination he discovered a kitten. He approached the nearest house which happened to be where I was living at the time and asked my wife Sarah who was expecting Orla was the kitten ours, which it wasn’t. He proceeded to take the kitten home with him and he named itDelphi. The cat only died last year aged 17 years and one of Bob’s tasks this weekend is to scatter Delphi’s ashes at the hut in the Whin pool.

It was only in discussion with Bob yesterday that we realised the young woman he talked to was my wife Sarah. This is definitely a story for the books.
D.McEvoy

Fishing this week has been difficult to say the least. One would be forgiven for thinking you were on the Cote d’Azuras temperatures reached 21degrees.

The gauge on the Rock Pool is now reading 3cms; so you could say water levels are low.

It’s on weeks like this one has to sit back and enjoy Delphi for what it is, one of the most beautiful places on earth, even though blue skies and no wind are the salmon fisherman’s nightmare.

Believe it or not we did actually catch 3 fish this week, all off Doolough trolling. Hasse Dehlin had one at Cross Point on Sunday of 10lbs approx.

Stephan Boninger had a fish of approx. 8lbs on Monday fromBadgerBayand Hasse Dehlin had his second on Tuesday fromWeedyBayof  7.5lbs approx.

All fish were fresh but not sea liced.

At the moment it looks like the dry weather is set to continue and the wind is to go northerly which will make fishing challenging to say the least. It may be a question of taking in the beauty once more and considering oneself lucky to be alive.

I’ll sign off now before I start talking too much bull—–
D.McEvoy

Paddy’s day was as per here; dry at first and then rain, rain and more rain. We actually had 26.5mm recorded on the 17^th.
So this made for great water conditions on Sunday but I’m afraid the fish did not co-operate. Some of our anglers even went to the Owenduff with nice conditions and they also blanked.

Yesterday, however we did manage to land 2 fish.

Thomas Dehlin had a fresh fish off Finlough of 7lbs on a Norwegian tube fly.

Local angler Peter Joyce landed a sea liced fish of 6lbs10.5 ozs in the Whin Pool on a Willie Gunn.

Conditions today are good with the river running at 30, but so far we have nothing landed.
D.McEvoy

It’s at times like this that the importance of catching fish pales into insignificance. It was with great sadness last night that I heard of the sudden and untimely death of Rosie Shortt last Friday

Rosie was a regular visitor to Delphi with her husband Mark who has a timeshare here in September. Many of you would also know Rosie’s brother in law Mike Shortt who is also a long standing customer.

All I can say is Rosie was a lovely woman and always enjoyed her time here. As a couple they were inseparable, you never saw one without the other.

I would like to extend our sympathies to Mark and all his family.

May she rest in peace.
D.McEvoy

Our last fish on Tuesday was when the river was at 20. Since then the water dropped until we had heavy rain on Thursday and Thursday night, 35.2mm to be exact.

This gave the system a good flush of water and we had fresh fish in. Conditions on Friday were good and Gareth Byrne from Offaly had a cracking fish off Finlough of 15lbs on a Cascade. Surprisingly that was all we had yesterday,

Today we have a new Swedish group in for the week headed by Hasse Dehlin.  Conditions today are excellent and the tops of the hills are even white so it’s typical Spring fishing. Joakim Jonsson started the week in fine style landing a fish that weighed in about 9lbs on a Sunrae Shadow from the Holly Pool. He then proceeded to lose one in the Rock.

The water is now running at 50 so there should be nice water for a few days.

And to all reading Happy St.Paddy’s day.

D.McEvoy