STEADY CATCHES, SOME SMALL SALMON · 28 July 2010
The past eleven days have seen a further 44 salmon taken at Delphi, with moderate or reasonable water levels for most of that time, but a frequently sultry atmosphere that is rarely good for salmon fishing at Delphi.
Many of the fish have been small, with a number not even reaching the two pound mark – a phenomenon that we had not seen since 2007 and which suggests ongoing feeding issues at sea.
There was one fine, sea-liced 11-pounder taken by Joe Hosey from the Turn Pool. But a lot of runts (one as small as 1lb 7oz) also appeared in the river.
Top rod was Christopher Jarman from London, who had eleven fish in six days, the weights of which illustrate the size range of this year’s grilse – 7.5, 6.75, 5.0, 5.0, 4.5, 4.5, 4.0, 3.75, 3.5, 3.0 & 1.75lbs, the biggest fish being a stale springer.
Angus Hay, Tom Catchpole and Julian Scott-Bolton, all from England, had their first ever salmon in the past week.
Sea trout catches were a little disappointing. While there were some nice fish caught in the 3 to 4lb range, mostly from Doolough, the numbers so far have been lower than expected.
— Peter Mantle
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE.... · 17 July 2010
Since the drought ended on June 30, more than ten inches of rain have fallen at Delphi, dramatically improving the salmon fishing. A total of 57 salmon were taken in the first half of July – 26 from the river, 29 from Finlough and 2 from Doolough.
Top rod, yet again, was Urs Leinbundgut from Switzerland, who landed 13 salmon in as many days. His fish ranged from 2lbs to 10.5lbs. Ollie Watkins took eight salmon from 2lbs to 6lbs (and some really good sea trout to 3.5 pounds) over seven days.
The past week also saw fish caught by Roger Kenny (2), Stan Praeter (2), Ciaran Boland, Donna Morrison, Jean-Pierre Maire, Werner Fasching, Dave Lennon, Tom McManus, Bob Rusby, David McEvoy and Paul Smith (2).
Giovanni Ghersina from Italy, Michael Burton (2) from Ecuador and Ben Watson (2) from England all caught their first ever salmon.
With the river still high and fresh fish continuing to arrive on every tide, the prospects for good salmon catches in the coming week appear favourable. For good sea trout fishing, however, the weather may need to become a little more settled. But there is undoubtedly a good run of trout.
— Peter Mantle
GRILSE & SEATROUT RUNS WELL UNDERWAY · 10 July 2010
The run of grilse (smaller salmon that have spent just a year at sea) is now well underway and some 30 fish have been caught since the rains finally came on June 30.
It is a little early to gauge the size of the run – the catches are only moderate, which might imply a modest run. But anglers are reporting plenty of fish, albeit “with a poor take on them”.
Top rod for the week was Urs Leibundgut from Switzerland with four fish (7, 5, 4.5 & 4 pounds). Hans Majeron from Germany had three salmon (4.5, 3 & 2.5), as did Raoul de Waha from Luxembourg (5.5, 5 & 3).
Martin Devlin from Northern Ireland (6.5 & 3), Paul Smith from County Offaly (5.5 & 3.5), Trevor Tyler from Scotland (6 & 5) and Ben Watson (4 & 2) all had two fish each, in the latter case his first ever salmon. Giovanni Ghersina also lost his salmon fishing virginity with a 3.5-pounder from Finlough.
Finlough was the hot spot, accounting for 18 of the 30 salmon caught. The size if the fish ranged from a paltry 1lb 14oz up to a lovely sea-liced specimen of 7lb 3oz.
Lots of healthy sea trout up to 3lbs were taken in the week and the trout season looks likely to be the best for 20 years.
— Peter Mantle
FISH & CANCELLED RODS · 2 July 2010
Three fish yesterday, more rain to come – and two cancelled rods for the coming week (from tomorrow). Any takers?
— Peter Mantle
RAIN AT LAST... · 1 July 2010
The drought has finally broken. Nearly two inches of rain fell overnight, ending a run of almost three months without significant rainfall. We now hope for some serious salmon fishing over coming days. And there are lots of sea trout around, too.
The last flood was on Easter Monday (April 5th). We have never seen the river anywhere near as low as it was yesterday, with just a trickle of water that would hardly fill a bath. Rocks were emerging that we didn’t even know existed. While the lovely weather pleased the few tourists that were about, the fishermen had a grim time.
Unsurprisingly, June catches of salmon were little short of disastrous. Indeed it seems miraculous that any were caught at all, given the conditions. In fact, ten were bagged in the month, each one a surprise, bringing the season total to a very modest 68 fish.
Somehow a fresh grilse sneaked in on June 29th and was caught in the Meadow Pool by Reinhard Mittman; weighing just over four pounds, the salmon was sea-liced. There had not been a fish for a week prior to that, the last being a 6-pounder taken by Jonathan Smalley on Doolough on June 22nd. These were the only two salmon caught since my last report.
The fishing is very heavily booked for July, although there will be an extra boat on Doolough for sea trout fishing that will be available on most days at a special price of €150 (€75 per rod). The only rods available on the river or on Finlough are on Saturday 10th (4 rods) and there is a single rod available for July 20/21/22 and one on July 27/28/29, both fishing the normal River/Fin/Doo rotation.
August, too, is very, very busy although there are still some gaps, particularly in the latter part of the month. And September offers reasonable availability, especially in the early part of the month which is traditionally a great time for sea trout.
We are expecting a very good seatrout season – maybe the last one for some time because the local salmon farm has reopened in the estuary.
— Peter Mantle
