Ciaran Boland definitely ended up top rod this week in landing two double figure salmon.

It is on it’s own a great achievement but it’s even greater when your boat partner for the first fish is Chris Jarman and the second, the salmon magnet, Paul Wymes. It goes without saying that Ciaran was a happy man when leaving today.

Ciaran had his first of the week yesterday afternoon on Finlough. The fish was taken on a Gowla Temple Dog, measured 85.5cms i.e. approx. 14lbs12ozs and was sea liced. Unfortunately there was no camera in the boat so we’ve no photo.

His second was this morning on Finlough, weighing in at 11lbs and half an ounce and was again taken on a Gowla Temple Dog.

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come this week.

D.McEvoy

Well, fishing has picked up since my last update and we even got some water, 29.4mm to be exact. The river went up nicely to 30cms which although not extreme, compared to what we had is lovely water.

There are 8 more fish to report including a couple of crackers.

Leigh Hookes one of John Tappin’s party got us back on track with a nice fish from the Turn pool on Monday. The fish weighed in at 6lbs and was taken on a Monkey Dog.

We had nothing on Tuesday but we managed to land 4 on Wednesday.

Steve Harrod had one of the better fish of the year so far in landing his first ever salmon, a sea liced 12lbs3oz fish off Finlough on a Silver Stoat variant. Steve walked around for the rest of the day with that smile of a man who had just lost his salmon virginity. He was indeed very happy.

Lee Hookes struck once again with a fish of 10lbs1oz on an Executioner from Finlough. He was aided in this task by his boat partners, John Tappin and Robbie Burton.

Christopher Jarman proved once again why he is one of Delphi’s top anglers in landing 2 fish. The first of approx. 9lbs came off the Turn pool on a Snake tube and the second a sea liced fish of approx. 9lbs from the New Islandpool on a Silver Stoat.

Yesterday we had 3 before lunch. Christopher Jarman had another fish, this time off Finlough of 8lbs13ozs on a Silver Stoat.

Chris Wathen had a fish off Finlough also on a Silver Stoat of 6lbs2.5ozs.

And finally Tony Whitehouse accompanied by Peter Milne had a fish off Doolough of 8lbs3ozs.

There is nothing reported yet today but on the positive side we have light rain at the moment so we’ll take all we can get.

That now brings total for the year to 70.

D.McEvoy

While the rest of the country seems to have been awash with rain we seem to have escaped again! We did get some rain on and off during the week but the high point for the river this week has been 30 and believe me it looks like a massive flood compared to 0 or less.

Temperatures have been incredibly low for the time of year with day time values struggling to get into double figures. Added to this we have had NE winds most of the week.

However for all the doom and gloom on the weather we are still catching fish. We have had 3 since my last update, 2 on Tuesday and 1 Wednesday.

On Tuesday Paul Smyth finally got his Delphi fishing career back on track when he landed a 6lbs12ozs fish off the Turn Pool on a Shrimp fly. The fish was however seal damaged, the theory being that these fish are easier to catch; so before he’s really back on form he’ll have to catch a healthy fish!!

This was not the case for 16 year old Eoin Dunne who managed land his first ever on the fly. The fish was caught in the Turn Pool on a Cascade, weighed in at approx. 5lbs8ozs and was sea liced. The attached photo was taken by Paul Smyth before the fish was released.

On Wednesday Bernd Bieber managed to land a fish in the Whin Pool of 9lbs4ozs on a Collie Dog. The river at this stage was 5.

Yesterday we drew a blank even though there were fish risen and seen, so hopefully today we’ll get back to catching fish.

Total for the year now stands at 62, which given the conditions is not bad.

D.McEvoy

It was a great day for John Gode who managed to land his first ever salmon on Doolough yesterday. The fish weighed in at 8lbs15ozs and was taken on the troll.

The fish was relatively fresh, less than a month and needless to say John was a very happy man. He is pictured here with Andrea who was also trying to catch her first salmon.

On the score sheet again was Alan Molloy who had another sea liced fish from the Whin Pool, yesterday. It was taken on a Cascade and weighed in at approx. 6lbs. The river at this stage was at -3.

We got some rain last night and this morning 24.2mm and the river peaked at 15 and is now at 12.

Having said that it didn’t make any difference to Jens Kober on his first visit to Delphi, who within 15 minutes of starting landed a sea liced fish of 6lbs and half an ounce on a Collie Dog from the Whin Pool. The fish was netted by Heribert Konvalin who having fished all last week and still hasn’t  got off the mark, did well not to knock the fish off and throw Jens in the river.

Hopefully we will get a bit more rain this week as there seems to be a good number of fish on the way.

D.McEvoy

I’m afraid our top rods failed miserably to catch fish at Delphi this week. In fairness to them conditions were pretty hopeless, with only1.3mm of rain since my last update and the continuing pattern of NE winds, so we will forgive them somewhat for this rare blank on their catch sheets.

Bearing in mind the skill and expertise of the anglers who had fished this week and the river  being at 0 it was two anglers from Dublinwho stole the limelight this week. Yesterday morning David Dunne and Alan Mulloy much to everybody’s surprise including my own came up from having spent an hour and a half on the river after landing three fish.

Incredibly two of these fish were sea liced and the other very fresh. David Dunne had two, one of 5lbs1oz in the Turn Pool and the second of approx.7lbs in the Whin. Both fish were taken on a Cascade. Alan Molloy also had his in the Turn Pool. It weighed in at 7lbs13ozs and was also taken on a Cascade.

One would almost think that the fish would have to be dropped in from the sky at this level. But as one of our great regulars always says “You’ll never know the minute” and it also helps when the flies are in the water.

These fish certainly brought renewed enthusiasm to the place but I’m afraid as yet the feat has not been repeated.

It looks like there is definitely some rain coming this week so it will be interesting to see what happens.

D.McEvoy

I don’t know was it beginners luck or pure skill but it certainly was a great day for Robert Byrne from Dublin who landed his first ever under the careful guidance of Robert Gillispie.

Robert landed a lovely 6lbs fish at Paddy’s Point on Doolough on a Galway Stinger, got some pictures and  then released the fish back from whence it came. He was a happy man at the close of play.

The river is now at 17 so hopefully we will get some of this rain that is forecast tonight and tomorrow. Having said that there are still fish to be seen so as one of our great stalwarts always says; “you’d never know the minute.”

Besides that this morning is breathtakingly beautiful and picture perfect.
D.McEvoy

Since my last update we have landed 3 fish. We have had good water conditions but the wind has been predominantly northerly.

Jimmy Keogh landed a 7lbs12ozs fish on Friday afternoon off Finlough on a Cascade.

Niall Tonge was in the limelight on Saturday landing 2 fish. He had a lovely fish of approx. 8lbs off the Rock pool on a Willie Gunn in the morning and he managed to land another off Finlough in the afternoon of 9lbs6ozs on a Collie Dog.

For the week we ended up with 13 fish which given the conditions was quite good.

On a more humorous note a number of anglers pointed out to me that Laurence Lock who normally appears on this blog for catching fish actually spent 4 days with us, rose and hooked numerous fish but managed to land none. Needless to say they said that I should highlight this fact.

I must also thank all of you who wrote to Minister Fergus O’Dowd concerning the proposed extension to the draft net season because there was a press release from his office on the 27^th March 2012 and part if it read as follows:

“Minister for Natural Resources, Fergus O’Dowd, has confirmed that there is no proposal for the extension of the salmon draft netting season.”

“Recent reports that the commercial season will be extended in certain rivers are untrue and I can confirm that for the 2012 season, the commercial fishing season remains as it was in all areas.”

So that is some good news on the angling front. Thank you again to those of you who took the time to write.
D.McEvoy