Well, it looks like the Grilse are finally arriving and not before time as it’s later than usual. Water conditions are perfect so they will have an easy passage into the system. It’s literally in the past couple of days that we have witnessed Grilse running.
The year to date has been difficult, with Spring fishing being disappointing, not just in Delphi but almost everywhere. My last update was the beginning of May and it turned out to be a difficult month with basically no rainfall till the 23rd. Total was 105.8mms(4.16”), with 93.5 of this, between the 23rd and the end of the month. As reported in my last update, Urs had the first fish of the month, with Greg Moore landing the 2nd . a fish of 7lbs10ozs on the 6th from Finlough on a Collie Dog. We had a drought then in every respect with the last fish for the month caught on the 30th by William McBarnet, again on Finlough of 9lbs11ozs on a Cascade in the Stream on Finlough.
Conditions were much more favourable in June, with 263.2mms(10.36”) and as a result catches picked up, with 17 landed. Luke Drea was first off the mark with a fish of 5lbs on the 3rd from the New Island and a second just over 5lbs the following day from the Horseshoe, both on a Posh Tosh. The following day, Patrick Batten, landed his first ever salmon off Finlough, a fish of 7lbs15ozs on a Sunrae. Brendan Wilson had one the following day 1lb lighter, also off Finlough and also on a Sunrae. William Maire continued the good run on Finlough with a fine fish of 9lbs11ozs from Sligo Bay on an Allie Shrimp. Barry Farrell had a Grilse of approx. 4lbs8ozs from the Whin Pool on the 8th on a Collie Dog. There was a lull for a few days till Gavin O’Reilly landed his first ever salmon, of 6lbs6ozs from the Stream on Fin on a Collie Dog. William Maire then had two of approx. 4lbs from the Waterfall on a Silver Stoat and a Donegal Blue on the 14th. Week 26 saw the return of a very experienced group. Nico was first to score, with a fish of approx. 4.5 off Doolough on the 21st. Urs followed this up on the 22nd with a fish of approx. 5lbs from the Stream on Fin on a Willie Gunn. There were 3 landed on the 24th, with Ralph and Nico having one each off the Holly and Rock of approx. 5 and 4.5 on a Delphi Collie and a Francis. Yvonne had a nice fish of 5lbs3ozs from the Fallen Tree on a Night Star. Werner had one the following morning of approx. 5, also on a Night star from the Horseshoe. Finally, Tomas Ryan finished off the month with two, one of approx. 5 from the Meadow on a Nymph and the second of 6lbs12ozs from the Whin on a Hitch, which brought our total for June to 17. Conditions so far in July have been excellent, with the River Gauge hitting 90 plus on two occasions already. The system is therefore well topped up with plenty water to maintain excellent fishing conditions for some time. Eoin Kirk had the first of the month, a fish of 4lbs13ozs off Finlough on a Sunrae. David Fitzgerald managed to land his first ever salmon of approx. 4lbs on a Green Peter at Fisherman’s Rock on Doolough. David Tucker and Brendan Wilson had a fish each on the 2nd of 5lbs1oz and 4lbs13ozs on a Collie Dog and a Foxford Shrimp from the Rock and Finlough respectively. There were quite a few fish lost on the 3rd and 4th and then we had 10 on the 5th. The Drea Party, were once again to the fore accounting for 7, Luke, Jack and Charlie all having fish, 3 off the River, 3 off Fin and 1 from the Middle River. Terry Bradley also had 1 of 4lbs9ozs from the Waterfall and Kevin Finegan had two from the Holly and Meadow of approx. 3.75 and 4lbs, both on a Posh Tosh. There were 6 landed yesterday, with Luke Drea accounting for 4, three from the New Island and one from the Horseshoe, of approx. 6.5 and 4.75 and 6lbs3ozs and 7lbs10ozs, all on a Delphi Collie. Denis Bonnet also got his week off to a good start with a 5lbs fish off the Meadow Pool and Kamal Scarpello gladly finished the week off in style with a 5lbs4ozs fish from the Stream on Finlough. What is interesting to note is the quality of Grilse we’re catching at the minute is excellent, with only 3 being under 4lbs, 13 between 4 and 5, 11 between 5 and 6, 3 between 6 and 7 and one over 7. Hopefully this trend will continue. We’re getting reasonable numbers of good quality clean sea trout too, so I’d be optimistic regarding our sea trout numbers this year. Fishing is quite busy for the next couple of weeks and it slows down after the first week in August.
Take care all. D.McEvoy
