Catches here at Delphi have continued to be steady for the past week with 20 fish landed since my last update. Peter Eaton and Bob Hadden had excellent starts to the week with five between them and then of course John Mills landed his 200^th Delphi salmon of the modern era.

With perfect conditions on Sunday morning, the river running at 60, Peter Eaton was first off the mark with two, one of which was a beauty. His first was off the Grilse pool of 4lbs10ozs on a Willie Gunn and his second of 10lbs14ozs with sea lice was taken in the Whin pool, again on a Willie Gunn. It was a truly magnificent fish for this time of year and turned out to be the biggest of the week. Shauna Waterer (daughter of a former regular visitor, Bill Horne), managed to land a fish of 5lbs7ozs in the Whin pool on a Collie Dog and lost another. Her sister Julia lost three but made up for it later in the week.

On Monday morning Bob Hadden had a session to remember, landing three and losing another five. His first two were in the Rock pool, both on a Collie Dog, weighing in at 2lbs9ozs and 4lbs6ozs. His third fish was from Morrisons, again on a Collie Dog and weighed in at 4lbs10ozs. Alexander Mills also had two, one a stale fish at Boat Point on Finlough of 7lbs12ozs on a Willie Gunn and a nice grilse of approx. 5lbs from the Turn pool also on a Willie Gunn.

On Tuesday morning Julia Horne managed to land a fish of 4lbs5ozs from the Horseshoe on a Delphi Collie. Alexander Mills landed two, one from the Grilse pool of approx. 4lbs on a Red Shrimp and the second of 3lbs4ozs from Cooleens on a Willie Gunn. John Somerville also had one, from the Goat pool of 3lbs6ozs on a Willie Gunn. In the afternoon John Mills had a fish of 5lbs3ozs off Finlough on a Willie Gunn to make it number 198.

On Wednesday Bob Hadden had his fourth of the week, a nice fish of 4lbs5ozs from Boat Point on Finlough on a Cascade. John Somerville had his second, a fish of 3lbs8ozs from the Rock pool on a Delphi Collie.

Thursday belonged to the Old Maestro himself, John Mills who managed to land two fish off Finlough, both on a Willie Gunn. The first was a fairly fresh fish and weighed in at 9lbs and the second his 200^th fish of the modern era weighed in at 7lbs11ozs. John started fishing here in the early 60’s and probably has another few along with the 200 and God only knows how many sea trout. Needless to say John was over the moon and it is just reward for a long standing customer and friend of Delphi. In my own opinion he is probably one of the most efficient anglers to fish here.

Yesterday was a bit slower but I managed to keep the record going with a lovely grilse of 5lbs1.5ozs from the Deadmans on a Collie Dog.

Today was not an ideal fishing day but we managed to land two. Michael Van Merek (or Michael the Dutchman from Ballynahinch as he is more commonly known in these parts) had a lovely fish of 5lbs off the Deadmans on a Red Frances. Ian Jackson who is visiting from the USA managed to land his first ever salmon also. The fish was taken at Powder House Beach on Doolough on a Willie Gunn and weighed in at 3lbs7ozs.

There are still good numbers of grilse entering the system and this year it seems to be even more so than ever if you are in the right place at the right time you’ll get fish. In other words they seem to turn on and off, big time. The river is now below 30 but with more rain forecast tonight it should be in great order again for the coming days.

D.McEvoy