The run of Grilse continued throughout July and is only starting to slow down now and as a result catches for the month were excellent, with 131 fish landed. This is the second best July in the last 10 years and it was an excellent return, considering the relatively low water levels. Rainfall only amounted to 84.6mms(3.33”), with water levels dropping off to 5 by the 17th and then remaining between 20 and 30 for the rest of the month.
My last update was up to and including the 7th of July, the start of Week 28, an excellent week indeed with 45 fish landed. The Drea party of Luke, Jack, Charlie, Robin, John and Alex accounted for 23, including John Totenham’s first ever salmon. The Kirk party landed 13 for the week and Denis Bonnet had 5, Thomas McNearney had 2 and Nat Browne and Paddy McDonald had their first ever salmon. 38 of the 45 fish were off the river.
Week 29 was more difficult with water levels falling off to 5 and a good fresh on the 19th put the river to 50 on the 20th. There were only 11 fish landed for the week and 5 of these were on the 20th. The Finegan party had 3, Urs 2, while Tim Aldiss, Ferdinand Rodrigues, Paul Hollinger, Charlie Stone, Martin Ceillier and Giacomo Moor all had 1 each. Two highlights of the week and year were without doubt the fabulous Sea Trout of between 10 and 11lbs that Hughie Clarke landed in the Whin Pool, and then of course there was the small matter of Urs’ 500th Delphi Salmon. It is indeed a truly remarkable feat, a journey that started on the 1st of August 1993 on Finlough, with myself as the Ghillie in the boat and the 500th was landed on the 18th of July 2024, also on Finlough. It takes a lot of time, effort, patience, persistence and skill to achieve this and he is always a gentleman to fish with and most generous with his piscatorial knowledge. We’ll hopefully have a special feature in the Newsletter about the milestone.
Week 30 was more broken weatherwise and as a result water levels varied between 25 and 45, so the fishing picked up from the previous week with 33 fish landed. Urs was back in the groove with 8 landed, while the Tattersall party had 6, including a 1st ever for David Lockie from New Zealand, a fresh fish of 5lbs8ozs on a Cascade from the Turn Pool. Daniel Rosenbauer also has 6, while Rick Taylor, Toby Gibbons and myself all had 2 each. Finally Paul Hollinger, Brian Healy, Cormac Hartnett, Hamish McAuley, Barbara Ceillier, Jack Rogers and Paul Smyth all had 1 each. There were 15 landed till the end of July, with the Beattie party having 6, the Finegan party 2, Luke Drea 2 and Conor O’Leary, Rocky Moran, Billy Marshall, Alan Dunlop and Urs all had 1 each. That brought or July total to 131 and 206 for the year to date. Sea Trout were a little quieter in July with only 50 landed. I would expect that this will change in August when people target them specifically.
The good catches continued into August and there were a further 17 fish landed for the remainder of Week 31, the highlight of which being 10 year old Lea Fehlmann’s first ever salmon, a fish of approx. 3lbs, taken on a Red Shrimp which she insisted be returned. Her family had taken the Lodge for the week so needless to say, there was great excitement. Week 32 turned out to be quite exceptional for the time of year with 37 fish landed. This was mainly due to the biggest flood of the year on the Sunday/Monday. From 10am on Sunday the 4th to 10am on Monday the 5th our rain gauge on the lawn recorded 70.6mms(2.78”), while the automatic station at Doolough recorded 80.01mms(3.15”). There were 2 fish landed on Finlough on Sunday morning before the rise and then the river hit 100 later that evening and was quite dirty but by Monday morning it was 95, but running clear, thanks to the filtering effect of the lakes. Colin Lynam had a great morning, landing 4 and losing a couple. Steve Jones landed 2 and lost too many to mention and Rocky Moran had 1, all off the Turn pool, while there were another 3 off Finlough. There were another 25 landed for the remainder of the week, with the Beattie party having 7, Luke Drea 3, Oliver Ross 3, Hamish McAuley and William Maire had 2, while Dorrie Gibbons, Fergal Costello, George Westropp, Peter Moran, Liam Glynn and Michael VanMourik all had 1 each. Special mention must go to Sophia Gaisford and Benoit Hebert, who both landed their first ever salmon on Finlough on the 8th of 4lbs10ozs and 4lbs8ozs respectively. Well done to both.
Water levels are still at 47 and there are still some fresh fish running but they’re getting harder to tempt. There is quite a bit of availability from now on for both salmon and sea trout fishing, so if interested, give me a shout. Thanks. D.McEvoy
