DELPHI FISHERY NEWS 2019

A MIXED BAG

It’s hard to believe that another angling season has slip-ped by. It seems they get shorter as the years pass. As is often the case with the pursuit of salmon and sea trout this season certainly had its ups and downs and much of these were dictated by our weather patterns. Total salmon catch for the year was 248, made up of 70 MSW and 178 1SW. Surprisingly, the season got off to a tremendous start with 13 fish for February, the high-est since 2001 and this was followed by 21 in March. Water conditions were excellent for fishing in both these months with levels only dropping below 20 for the first time on the 30th of March. Most of the time the river was running between 40 and 60, which is basically perfect. April and May were much drier and therefore catches significantly down with 10 in April and only 4 in May. Having said that conditions at times were good enough to catch fish but it seems that, this year more Spring fish seemed to run in the earlier months rather than April and May, which in the recent past have been the most productive. I suppose that’s the mystery of the Atlantic Salmon. June was like a blast from the past, with excel-lent fishing throughout. There were 89 fish landed, 75 1SW and 14 2SW, which was our best June since 2003. Originally, June was the most productive and this year it reverted to that. There were 54 in July but conditions in the early part of the month were difficult. When we did get the water, I thought we would have caught more, but

again you never know. August and September were hard going despite there being plenty of fish in the system. This was proven to be true when we just recently caught 150 fish in the first two hauls of our broodstock netting. The 20lbs barrier wasn’t broken this year but Franz Jo-sef Rothkotter came very close with a cracking fish from the Rock Pool of 18lbs12ozs in early April, 26 anglers, from 6 different countries landed their 1st ever salmon this year, and hopefully it will be the 1st of many. Many of our original syndicate members finished up this year and again thanks for your support over the years and hopefully we will still see most of you in the future. Thank you also to our many new syndicate members and I hope we can fulfill your expectations. There are still some of our new syndicate slots available. For more information on this and general fishing availability ple-ase contact the office. This year as every other we lost some great customers and friends, Peter O’Reilly, Hugh Brennan, Chris Glover, David Rainford and Teddy Joe Coyne. They were all great ambassadors for Delphi and I personally have many fond memories of them. Finally, a big thank you to all customers, shareholders, staff and friends for all your help and loyal support throughout the year. There follows a brief monthly synopsis of the fishing year and all the relevant tables. Apologies in advance for any omissions or errors that may occur.

F R A N Z J O S E F

The 2019 season got off to an excellent start and the month delivered in style with 13 fish landed. Not since 2001 when we landed 28, have we had a better start and it was certainly well above our 10-year average of 3.5. The beauty of Delphi early in the season is that it is nearly always fishable, and it is one of only a few places in the world where one has a reasonable chance of landing an Atlantic Salmon on the fly. On opening day, we awoke to snow covered hills and beautiful winter sunshine, which I personally like early in the year as it brings a little bit of nature into the day. Water levels were perfect at 50 and Mattias who has a rather relaxed attitude to fishing was the last to set out at about 11.30. All rods were up for lunch but no sign of Mattias, so when I went to check up on him I discovered a rather ecstatic Mattias who had just landed a magnificent fish of 14lbs3ozs in the Meadow Pool on a Delphi Collie. This was one of the 1st salmon landed in the country and more than likely the 1st on fly. Fishing pressure was relatively light, but conditions were excellent throughout with water levels only drop-ping below 30 by the 26th, as a result of heavy rainfall throughout the month 297.1mms (11.7”). Mary Donovan was next to strike silver when she landed an 8lbs10.5ozs fish in the Waterfall on the 7th on a Delphi Collie. On the

11th Ciaran Conroy managed to bag his 1st ever salmon, a fish of 7lbs2ozs from the Goat Pool on a Willie Gunn. The local Erriff Club had a day on the 11th and Peter Coyne had one, again of 7lbs2ozs in the Rock Pool on a Delphi Collie. The 12th was a day for fishery staff and ghillies and Noel Wallace and Pat Flaherty had one each of 7lbs.5ozs and 8lbs5ozs on Delphi Collies. It was just re-ward for both, especially Noel who has done tremendous work here for the last 25 years. They were like kids at Christmas time showing off their fish. Peter Moran from Derry had a fish from Deadman’s on the 15th of 8lbs12ozs on a Delphi Collie. Angus Sutherland made excellent use of his new syndicate in landing 2 fish, both from the Turn Pool on Delphi Collies, weighing in at 11lbs7ozs and 6lbs. On the 23rd Pat Grant on his first day fly fishing for salmon landed a cracker of 9lbs2ozs on a Sunrae from the Grilse Pool. There were 3 landed on the 26th and a couple lost. Paul Smyth had 2, one of 8lbs9ozs and the second of approx. 7lbs, both on a Shrimp Fly Variant, from the Whin and Quarry Pool’s respectively. Shane Bisgood also had one from Heneghan’s of 6lbs7ozs on a Watsons Vari-ant. That brought our total for the month to 13 which was indeed an excellent start to the season.

F E B R U A R Y

Conditions throughout the month were excellent with water levels not falling below 20 until the 30th. Again, this was a result of heavy rainfall 350mms (13.78”). Week 10 saw the return of a long-standing experienced group from Bavaria. Water levels were excellent throughout, not falling below 50. 7 fish were landed for the week of which Werner and Yvonne accounted for 5, 4 from the River and 1 off Fin. Rudi Groener also had a nice fish of 9lbs2ozs from the Waterfall on a Willie Gunn and Mattias had a cracking fish of approx. 10lbs from the Rock Pool on a Nightstar. There were some new syndicate members in the early part of week 11 and although they all met fish Ciaran Boland showed his experience when he landed a fish of 10lbs15ozs from the Meadow Pool on a Delphi Collie. There were 5 more for the week, 4 by experienced anglers, Paul Wymes and Stephen Jones had 1 each and Alan Molloy had 2, including 1 off Fin. Highlight of the week was Claire Moore landing her 2nd ever salmon. The fish was taken in the Whin Pool on a Delphi Collie and weighed 5lbs14ozs. In week 12 our Swedish group returned on the Tuesday. Fishing was a little quieter that week although Wayne Byrne and Mick Kelly had a fish each on Paddy’s Day and Michael O’Kane had one on the 18th. Thomas Dehlin was the only member of our Swedish group to land a fish which was 7lbs from Finlough on the 23rd. Another one of this group had a fish banked but it

slipped back into the river!! Week 13, again saw the re-turn of an experienced group from Bavaria, who landed 4 for the week, with Yvonne having 2, one each off the Ri-ver and Fin and Fredo Dietrich having one of 8lbs off Fin on a Collie Dog and Holger Peres had one of 8lbs also off Fin on a Delphi Collie. That brought the total for March to 21, which is slightly down on last year but still above our 10-year average of 16. It seemed as if there were more fish running in the early part of March this year which is unusual as normally from the 17th on one always used to see a big increase in the numbers running.

This was a disappointing month with only 10 fish landed, but as is often the case the weather played a huge part. We had plenty water in February and March, but April was much drier with only 165.6mms (6.52”). The normal Atlantic depressions basically ended on the 21st of March and since that we were under the influence of Easter-ly airflows which brings much less rain to the West. In February and March, the river rarely fell below 50 but in April it struggled to get above 25 and when it did it drop-ped off again. Our biggest fish of the season was however taken early in the month. On the 3rd it was 10 ten years and ten days since Franz Josef Rothkotter first fished in Delphi. On that occasion it was his son Nicklas who stole the limelight, landing 3 Springers in the day. They have been here numerous times since with Nicklas always landing fish. On this occasion Franz Josef certainly made up for it when he landed a magnificent fish of 18lbs12ozs in the Rock Pool on a fly that could only be described as a cross between a Monkey Dog and a Red Francis. All I can say is congratulations to Franz Josef, on landing his 1st Delphi salmon in horrendous conditions, with a Northerly gale and temperatures of approx. 5 degrees and the river running at 25. The previous day another new syndica-te member David Swain had a nice fish of 10lbs7ozs in the Quarry on a Dee Sheep in difficult conditions. Water levels fell off to 7, but Jim Stafford landed a fish off Doolough of approx. 10lbs. Conditions got very difficult

with the low water and then on the night of the 13th we had 30mms of rain which brought the river briefly to 50. With the increase in water levels there were 2 landed on the 14th, Bob Hadden having 1 from the Whin Pool of 8lbs6ozs on a Snaelda and Wolfgang Bohn landing his 1st ever of 8lbs8ozs in the Turn Pool on a Cascade. The remaining 5 fish of the month were all off Finlough. An-gus Sutherland, Brian O’ Donohoe, Urs, Heinz with the 1st Grilse of the season and Robert Scdiedt with his 1st ever salmon, a fish of 7lbs8ozs on a Delphi Collie.

M A R C H

A P R I L

C L A R I E M O O R E

M A T T I A S M A R Y D O N O V A N

Delphi Salmon Rod Catches 2010 to 20192019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Total 10 yr avg

Feb 13 4 1 3 12 2 2 0 5 3 45 4.5

Mar 21 26 10 11 13 13 16 24 18 7 159 15.9

Apr 10 44 9 31 21 9 37 29 36 23 249 24.9

May 4 39 3 28 60 58 93 27 122 25 459 45.9

Jun 89 31 53 14 57 39 74 72 68 10 507 50.7

Jul 54 15 73 29 127 40 44 67 98 107 654 65.4

Aug 19 33 36 13 45 43 75 24 82 83 453 45.3

Sept 38 41 80 50 57 53 107 80 102 60 668 66.8

Total 248 233 265 179 392 257 448 323 531 318 3194 319.4

Rod days 1404.5 1380 1421 1586.5 1690 1631.5 1568 1577 1767 1485 15510.5 1551.05

1sw 178 82 228 79 198 123 216 177 258 227 1766 176.6

2sw 70 151 37 100 194 134 232 146 273 91 1428 142.8

Total 248 233 265 179 392 257 448 323 531 318 3194 319.4

1sw wt 3.91 3.78 3.9 3.59 4.32 4.66 4.01 4.1 4.4 3.2 39.87 3.99

2sw wt 8.55 8.43 8.66 8.74 8.21 8.97 8.77 8.7 8.8 8.2 86.03 8.60

Av wt 4.29 6.8 4.57 6.47 6.25 6.91 6.48 6.2 6.56 4.6 59.13 5.91

1 > 2lb 2 2 5 2 2 1 1 3 4 36 58 5.8

2 > 3lb 35 14 30 18 9 4 29 22 22 53 236 23.6

3 > 4lb 69 31 76 29 61 28 68 45 74 73 554 55.4

4 > 5lb 57 25 78 23 83 35 70 57 78 45 551 55.1

5 > 6lb 17 18 31 16 38 40 52 36 67 25 340 34

6 > 7lb 15 16 12 15 47 33 42 44 73 21 318 31.8

7 > 8lb 17 33 13 16 47 27 40 34 50 23 300 30

8 > 9lb 13 33 9 21 50 25 52 30 54 15 302 30.2

9 > 10lb 10 36 3 15 25 26 34 22 42 10 223 22.3

10 > 11lb 6 16 4 8 12 12 23 11 29 7 128 12.8

11 > 12lb 3 5 1 5 9 13 15 7 12 5 75 7.5

12lb + 4 4 3 11 9 13 22 12 26 5 109 10.9

Total 248 233 265 179 392 257 448 323 531 318 3194 319.4

netmarks 0 2 7 0 5 2 7 4 10 11 48 4.8

mark % 0 0.86% 2.60% 0% 1.28% 0.81% 1.67% 1.20% 1.90% 3%

River 156 143 173 123 262 153 229 154 202 123 1718 171.8

Finlough 83 78 74 41 112 85 189 135 257 163 1217 121.7

Doolough 9 11 18 14 17 18 30 34 72 32 255 25.5

Glencullin 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 4 0.4

Total 248 233 265 179 392 257 448 323 531 318 3194 319.4

Fly % 90.3 96.2 96.9% 96.10% 98.40% 95.50% 95.80% 93% 92% 93%

Escapees

Best fish 0 0 21 0 0 0 0 1 1 0

Wild Salmon Rod Catches (included in total) 2013 2012 2011 2010

River 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Total 10yr Avg

Fin 42 48 59 46 59 37 101 73 89 37 591 59.1

Doo 13 4 11 12 13 12 15 22 33 18 153 15.3

Glen 6 9 14 9 12 10 22 33 43 26 184 18.4

Total 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 4 0.4

Released 61 62 84 68 85 60 138 128 165 81 932 93.2

1sw - no. 84% 76% 77% 85% 81% 88% 83% 80% 83% 91% 8.28

2sw - no. 51 20 74 26 46 35 78 65 96 54 545 54.5

Total 10 42 10 42 39 25 60 63 69 27 387 38.7

61 62 84 68 85 60 138 128 165 81 932 93.2

F I N L O U G H

B P E T E R E A T O N S H A U N A W A T E R E R P E T E R E A T O N

This was an excellent month for angling at Delphi, with a total of 89 fish landed which is the best since 2003. In the 90’s and early 00’s June was normally the best month for grilse and then it changed to being better in July. This year for whatever reason there were definitely more fish running in June. There were only 5 days in the month when we didn’t land fish. Rainfall was relatively low with only 143.8mms (5.66”), but the last week in May and the first in June were wet, which meant the system was well topped up and we got small amounts here and there which kept us going. Water levels started at 80 and didn’t drop below 15 until the 28th. There were 2 fish landed on the 1st, with John Foley landing his first ever salmon, from the Whin Pool of 4lbs5ozs on a Willie Gunn. Martin Ceillier also had a fish from the Waterfall. The 2nd was the start of week 23, which saw 21 fish landed, mainly Grilse but there were a few Springers thrown in for good measure. The Osako party who have been unlucky in the past with conditions had seven between them, with Nancy Richerson landing her first ever salmon, of 2lbs10ozs in the Quarry on a Cascade and Warren having a cracking fish from the Rock pool of 8lbs13.5ozs. Kurt Roth who has also been unlucky in the past with conditions had 6 for his week. Martin Ceillier, Seamus O’Neill, Aine Lyons, a first ever salmon of 6lbs10.5ozs off Doolough, Michael Osgerby, also a first ever salmon of 3lbs14ozs from the Meadow Pool and fish of the week was 9lbs14ozs, taken by Shauna Waterer in the Quarry Pool. In Week 24 there were 29 fish landed, again a good mixture of Grilse and Springers. There were some old and new syndicate mem-bers this week and some on fishing packages and some, day tickets. Fish were landed on all parts of the system, with 11 anglers landing fish. There were also a number of people who landed their 1st ever salmon, including Alfred Amenda, Mark Benson and Bas Maiburg who incredibly had never really fly fished before and landed 6. Needless to say, Bas wondered what all the fuss was about salmon fishing being so difficult. Others to land fish included, Peter Eaton, the Moran Brothers from Derry, Robin

Clifford, Wayne Byrne, Luke Drea, Teddy Coulter and Jonathan Durkan who was home for a couple of weeks from Australia, had 6. Fish of the week was 12lbs taken by Peter Moran on a Stoats Tail in the Turn Pool. There were 18 fish landed (16 Grilse and 2 Springers) in week 25. Again, anglers were a mixture of syndicate members, fishing packages and day tickets. There were a number of anglers who landed their 1st ever salmon, including Sebestian Amenda, Tom Moore and Michael Hunter. Other successful anglers included Alexander Mills, Siobhan Buchanan-Johnston, Robin Clifford, Pat O’Dwyer, Philip McGarrity, Luke Drea, Jonathan Durkan, Ashley Mathews, Ed Pettigrew and fish of the week of 12lbs15ozs was taken by Michael Wymes, a very experienced Irish salmon angler who has been fishing here for years and years. Week 26 saw the return of a long-standing German group and there were 19 fish landed, all of which were Gril-se. 2 anglers landed their 1st ever salmon, Tomas Kopp and Luca Mittmann, both off Finlough of 4lbs15ozs and 5lbs6ozs respectively. Other successful anglers included Yvonne, Werner, Fredo, Geoff Lucas, Nico, Martin and Manuel Nolde, Holger Peres and Mattias. A number of the party also had great success on the neighbouring Erriff. That brought our total for the month to 89, with 48 off the River, 36 off Finlough and 5 off Doolough.

Unusually this was an extremely slow month, with only 4 fish landed which is well below our 10-year average of 55. The weather didn’t help with only 175.7mms (6.92”). Water levels were at 40 at the beginning of the month, dropped to -6 by 24th and then rose again to fishable le-vels as we had 159.4mms (6.26”) for the remaining 7 days of the month. The first 2 fish of the month were landed by Urs; the first from the Whin Pool on the 2nd of 11lbs14ozs on an Improved Helmore’s Hackles. Unusually in Urs’ case it was a rather unlucky fish as the top section of the rod shattered during the battle and Urs still managed to land the fish. His second was a Grilse off Finlough of 4lbs14ozs on a Willie Gunn on the 3rd. Hans Schmidt Sibeth also had a fish on the 3rd off Fin of 9lbs6ozs on a Delphi Col-lie. We then endured a salmon famine, when one had the opportunity to take in the breath-taking scenery and the amazing transformation that happens in Delphi in May.

Once the Cuckoo lands it’s a sure sign that Summer is on the way. Enrico Fantasia finally landed our 4th fish of the month on the 29th, of 7lbs off Finlough on a Willie Gunn.

M AY

J U N E

U R S

There were 54 fish landed in July. As regards conditions it was basically a month of two halves, with the first 15 days of the month being relatively dry, with water levels drop-ping off to -5. Rainfall was 180mms (7.09”), 150.1mms (5.91”) of which was from the 16th on and during this pe-riod water levels never fell below 20. Of the July total 36 were landed after the 16th when conditions changed but if I’m being honest, I would have expected more after a couple of weeks of fine weather. Week 27 saw the return of some old syndicate members and we welcomed some new members. There were 6 landed for the week and although there were plenty of fish to be seen, they were less than co-operative. Having said that Giovanni Mazzoleni was once again top rod with 4 fish. There were also 2 anglers who landed their 1st ever salmon. Kemal Scarpello had a fish of 2lbs3ozs off Finlough on a Sunrae Shadow and Mark Kamine had one of 4lbs10ozs from the Quarry on a Foxford Shrimp. There were 13 fish landed in week 28. 6 of these were landed by a new syndicate member Denis Bonnet from France who has fished a lot of small spate rivers, especially in Ireland and was an expert at nym-phing. Donna Morrison, Klaus Buening, Maria Fasching, David Patton, Mike Copues also had fish and the McLiney

brothers Andrew and Cap, both landed their 1st ever sal-mon of 2lbs12ozs and 6lbs respectively. Week 29 despite a change in the weather midway through the week, we only landed 6 and all these were taken by the Boyd/McMillan combination with Alan having 5 and Ken 1. Again, there were plenty fish seen but for some reason they weren’t in the mood. Week 30 saw a vast improvement, with 23 fish landed. Conditions were ideal with water levels not drop-ping below 48 all week. Our anglers were a mixture of old and new and our experienced anglers were to the fore with George Westropp having 5, Alexander Mills 4, The Blower Party 4, Robbie Scott 2, Bob Hadden 2 and Sean Coffey, Finn Taylor and David Middlemiss also had fish. Three anglers also landed their 1st ever salmon. Andy Kish, 2lbs8ozs in the Quarry, Ryan Heffernan 4lbs3ozs off Fin-lough and Bianca Shannon 3lbs13ozs from the New Island. There were 6 fish landed for the remainder of the month, with Denis Daly, Edoardo Moor, Ben Johnson and Michael Weisser all landing fish. Kevin McEvoy also managed to land his 1st ever salmon of 3lbs9ozs from the Deadmans.

J U LY

P A T & N O E L

F I N L O U G H

BEST SALMON OF 2019Weight Angler From Location Date Fly/Lure

1 18.75 Rothkotter Franz-Josef Germany River Rock 03.04.19 Non Descript

2 15 O'Kane Michael N.Ireland River Quarry 30.09.19 Shrimp

3 14.1875 Eder Mattias Germany River Meadow 01.02.19 Delphi Collie

4 12.9375 Wymes Michael Ireland Fin Wrens 21.06.19 Delphi Collie

5 12 Moran Peter N.Ireland River Turn 13.06.19 Silver Stoat

6 11.875 Leibundgut Urs Switzerland River Whin 02.05.19 Helmore's Hackles

7 11.4375 Sutherland Angus Ireland River Turn 18.02.19 Delphi Collie

8 10.9375 Boland Ciaran Ireland River Meadow 11.03.19 Delphi Collie

9 10.4375 Swain David N.Ireland River Quarry 02.04.19 Dee Sheep

10 10.375 Leibundgut Urs Switzerland Fin Stream 29.04.19 Willie Gunn

10 10.375 Moran John N.Ireland River Turn 12.06.19 Red Frances

12 10.1875 Westropp Edward England River Road 18.09.19 Zonker

13 10.125 Corps Mark N.Ireland River Turn 13.09.19 Nymph

14 10 Stafford Jim Ireland Doo Mouth Glenum 09.04.19 Toby

14 10 Eder Mattias Germany River Rock 04.03.19 Nightstar

I A N H U E T

Best Pools 2019Joinings 0

Road 7

Bridge 8

Turn 27

Quarry 23

Quarry Flats 0

Duffer's Run 0

Rock 20

Kings 3

Holly 3

Dipper Run 0

Morrisons' 2

Poker Pot 0

Deadman's 8

Total Upper 101

Grilse 7

Cooleens 1

Schoolhouse 4

New Island 2

Heneghans 1

Duck Run 0

Horseshoe 3

Gorge 0

Dynamite 0

Goat 1

Whin 14

Waterfall 8

Meadow 14

Sea Pool 0

Total Lower 55

Overall Total 156

FIRST EVER SALMON 2019Name Country Location Weight

Butler Abbie Ireland Finlough 3.75

Osgerby Michael England Meadow Pool 3.84

Benson Mark England Rock Pool 3.69

Kopp Thomas Germany Finlough 2.44

Schiedt Robert Germany Finlough 7.50

Bohn Wolfgang Germany Turn Pool 8.50

Amenda Sebastian Germany Whin Pool 4.31

Amenda Alfred Germany Whin Pool 6.13

Lyons Aine Ireland Doo 6.65

Scarpello Kemal Ireland Finlough 2.19

Creane Rhys Ireland Finlough 4.00

Wymes Arrabelle Ireland Bridge Pool 5.00

McEvoy Kevin Ireland Deadmans Pool 3.56

Callanan Diarmuid Ireland Turn Pool 5.69

Foley John Ireland Whin Pool 4.31

Kononenko Juri Latvia Road Pool 2.00

Maiburg Bas Netherlands Finlough 4.59

Hunter Michael USA Doo 4.50

Heffernan Ryan USA Finlough 4.19

Shannon Bianca USA New Island Pool 3.81

Richerson Nancy USA Quarry Pool 2.63

Kamine Mark USA Quarry Pool 4.63

Kish Andy USA Quarry Pool 2.50

Moore Tom USA Rock Pool 4.50

McLiney Cap USA Turn Pool 6.00

McLiney Andrew USA Whin Pool 2.75

P A T G R A N T

L U C A

A I N E L Y O N S & F A M I L Y M A R K K A M I N E

Top Flies 2019Willie Gunn 45

Collie Dog 34

Delphi Collie 30

Cascade 18

Shrimp Patterns 17

URS NO. 1 AGAIN

B U N D O R R A G H A R I V E R

The 100 Club 2019(Anglers with 100+ Salmon Since 1986)

Urs Leibundgut Switzerland 451

Werner Zirngibl Germany 331

Walter Langenberger Germany 261

John Mills N.Ireland 202

Laurence Lock England 193

Alan Dunlop N.Ireland 181

Paul Wymes Ireland 158

Mark Corps N.Ireland 150

George Westropp England 142

Mike Shortt N.Ireland 136

Sandy Walker Ireland 134

David McEvoy Ireland 134

Christopher Jarman England 131

Andy Smith Scotland 127

Fred Possinger Germany 113

Franz Schaefer Germany 103

Delphi Rainfall 2018-2019Month Total

mmTotal

InchesNo. of

Dry DaysNo. of

Wet DaysWettestDay-mm

Oct.-18 287.4 11.31 8 18 90.8

Nov.-18 425.1 16.74 10 16 65

Dec.-18 332.4 13.09 6 21 70.5

Jan.-19 275.6 10.85 6 17 41.2

Feb.-19 297.1 11.7 6 18 37.1

Mar.-19 350 13.78 8 18 42.5

Apr.-19 165.6 6.52 16 12 30

May-19 175.7 6.92 21 8 59

June-19 143.8 5.66 11 10 23.3

July-19 180 7.09 11 9 48.8

Aug.-19 371.2 14.61 5 18 74.3

Sept.-19 304.7 12 11 15 47.4

Total 3308.6 130.2 119 180

Dry day = <1mm Wet day = >5mm

Top Rods 2019Jonathan Durkan Ireland 9

Jack Browne Ireland 8

Urs Leibundgut Switzerland 7

Alexander Mills N.Ireland 6

Denis Bonnet France 6

Kurt Roth Switzerland 6

Mark Corps N.Ireland 6

Bas Maiburg Netherlands 6

G E M M A & H U G O

B A C K T O T H E W I L D

R Y A N + B I A N C A

B A S M A I B U R G

As usual this proved to be a difficult month for salmon fishing, despite good conditions. Rainfall was 371.2mms (14.61”) the highest for the fishing season. Fishing seemed to be relatively slow throughout the country, with the exception of a few rivers. As is often the case the first half of the month proved to be more productive. Once again, it was Urs who got us off the mark. He had 2 Grilse from Finlough on the 1st. Richard Hasson had a fish of approx. 4lbs on the 5th from the Deadman’s and William Hamilton had one the following day of approx. 4lbs from the Quarry Pool.

Ciaran Boland and Urs both had one each on the 7th from the Grilse Pool. Urs followed this up on the 8th with one from the Meadow. Week 32 finished off with Mick Kane and Christopher Jarman having one each from the Quarry and Road Pools respectively. Already having fished a week the Beattie party only found their stride in the middle of week 33. They landed 7 in three days, with William having 5, Gareth 1 and Oliver Ross 1. Dione Roberts also had 1 off Finlough. 2 more fish were landed in August with Harry Brooke having both of the-se on the 21st, which brought our monthly total to 19. It was relatively quiet for the remainder of the month with most anglers concentrating on Sea Trout, which were slow enough but a big improvement on July.

A U G U S T

G E O R G E W E S T R O P P

The month was relatively busy with a lot of the old usual suspects returning and some new syndicate members also. The weather was September like with quite a lot of rain 304.7mms (12”) and a bit of sunshine thrown in for good measure. It was the last day of week 36 when Brendan Wilson landed the 1st of the month from the Horseshoe. Mark Corps also had 2 from the Quarry and Bridge Pool’s. We had a full fishery for week 37 but it was as much a social event as anything else. There were 7 salmon landed which were all accounted for by the Corps/Shortt party. Most other anglers that week concentrated on sea trout, which was again given the knowledge and experience of the anglers in question a little disappointing. Week 38 saw the return of some old syndicate members and some anglers on fishing packages. There were 6 salmon for the week all accounted for by the Browne and Westropp parties. It was rather appropriate that the Westropp boys Kit and Edward managed to land fish on their last syndi-

cate trip. The final week Jack Browne was again on the mark, with 3 fish landed. On the 29th, Delphi played host to a group of young teenagers from inner city Dublin. They had fundraised to come to the West and experience a day’s salmon angling in Delphi. They certainly enjo-yed the experience and Rhys Creane and Abbie Butler managed to land their 1st ever salmon. The 30th we had our usual day for locals, children and staff. There were 16 fish landed in total in weather conditions that deteriorated dramatically as the day progressed. 1st ever salmon were landed by Juri Kononenko, Diarmuid Callanan and Ara-belle Wymes. Fish were also landed by Celia Page, Robert Gillespie, Michael O’Kane, Valerie Wilson, Jack McEvoy, Sarah Carroll, Paul Wymes and John McDonagh. There was also the usual BBQ at lunchtime which seemed to be much more of an attraction to some of our guests. Total salmon landed for the month was 38, which brought our total for the season to 248.

S E P T E M B E R

M I C H A E L W E I S S E R H O L G E R & F R E D O

E D P E T T I G R E W M A R I A F A S C H I N G

R O B E R T S C H I E D T

W H I N P O O L G L E N N U M E R A

F I S H E R Y D E V E L O P M E N T S I N T H E PA S T Y E A R

The second project was the rehabilitation of an eroded bend on the Glenummera River, one of the main spawning and nursery areas of the system. This was partly funded under the Salmon Conservation Fund and the soft engi-neering works were carried out by a company called Rivus who specialize in this work. A detailed description of this project can be found on our website. Special thanks must go to all involved in the realization of these projects, especially IFI and Rivus.

Two major projects have come to fruition since our last Newsletter. The first was the New bridge at the Whin Pool which was partly funded under the National Strategy for Angling Development. This replaced the old struc-ture which was there since 1988. The new bridge is a all galvanized steel structure with a handrail and I think it should see most of us out.

Sea Trout 2019Sea Trout 2019After a somewhat more encouraging year in 2018, sadly, Sea Tout numbers once again decreased this year to a total 127. This was extremely disappointing, especially given the fact that I didn’t see huge numbers of lice infested post smolts returning in late May and early June. It seems at this stage that all we can do is live in hope that one day this species may return to its former glory!

The New Delphi Salmon Club and SyndicateThe Delphi Fishery Salmon Club is a newly launched 5 year syndicate which is replacing the existing syndicate, which ex-pires in 2019/2020. There are still some prime Spring Fishing Weeks available in the new syndication. The second phase “July Onwards” is also now available for sale. For more information on the New Delphi Salmon Club Syndication, please contact the office.

Delphi Sea Trout Rod Catches 2010-2019 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Total 10 yr avg.

8oz>1lb 65 214 75 275 50 457 116 194 227 379 2052 205.2

1lb>2lb 55 87 38 123 42 123 56 215 98 174 1011 101.1

2lb+ 7 19 8 27 28 22 10 38 29 51 239 23.9

Total 127 320 121 425 120 602 182 447 354 604 3302 330.2

Rod days 500 504 595 643.5 692.5 634 623 686.5 770 793 6443 644.3

CPUE 0.25 0.64 0.0 0.66 0.17 0.95 0.29 0.65 0.46 0.76

Note 1Most weights are estimated (probably optimistically) since catch & release requirement introduced in 1990

Note 2Catch & release almost certainly leads to multiple catch of same fish - no attempt made to quantify

Note 3Killary Salmon closed late 2008 and reopened late spring 2010

P U B L I S H E D B Y D E L P H I F I S H E R Y L T D L E E N A N E , C O . G A LWAY, I R E L A N D

T +353-954-2222 F +353-954-2296 E info@delphilodge.ie W www.delphilodge.ie