Firstly, apologies for the delay in updating you all on our catches in the last six weeks, but once again the weather has had a huge bearing on proceedings. I know everyone has their own views on climate change, but here at Delphi we did experience a mini heat wave. Our maximum air temperature peaked on the 22nd of July at 29.6 degrees. Our maximum did reach 30.6 on the 28thJune 2018, but our highest water temperature previously was 21.6.
This year however, the week from Sunday the 25th of July to Sunday 1st of August it was over 23 degrees every afternoon and it reached a high of 25.5 on Sunday the 1st of August. This, I’m sure you all know is not good for fish, because as the temperature rises the oxygen levels in the water decreases. We didn’t loose any fish but it was bad enough for us humans, I dread to think how the poor fish felt. Rainfall for July was only 67.8mms(2.67”) and as a result the river dropped off to -12.
By the 4th of August we were back into our Atlantic weather patterns and by the 14thwe already had 174.1mms(6.85”) of rainfall. This had of course a huge influence on our catches with a total of 46 fish landed for July and 76 to date for August.
A summary of these catches is as follows. Early July or week 27 was actually quite good with 29 fish landed. This was due in part to a small fresh in the middle of the week, with the river going to 50 on the 6th. Once again the usual suspects were on the score sheet, Luke Drea, the Finnegan party, Giovanni Mazzoleni, Johnny Betts, the Ceillier party, Kamal Scarpello and Danny Irvine and Co.
In week 28 our water dropped off dramatically, starting the week at 16 and finishing at 2. Added to this most days were a joy to behold if you were a sun seeker. There were two fish landed, with Ollie Gaugeby landing his first ever, a fish of 3lbs2ozs in the Whin Pool on a Nymph. Seamus McEvoy also had a fish.
In week 29, water levels started at 0 and finished the week at -8. Temperatures were also starting to increase at an alarming rate. There were two fish for the week, with Tara Whitley having one of approx. 4.5lbs and Peter Hood having a fish of 3lbs3ozs.
In week 30 the river went to -12 but rose to 10 by the end of the week. This week proved to be an exhibition in low water salmon fishing by Urs who managed to land five, with the Mills/Norris party having three.
Week 31 and we were into August and our weather patterns were about to revert to normal. Water levels started at 0 and were at 80 by the end of the week. There were 3 more fish before the weather changed with the Finnegan party having 2 and Urs a final one. The rains on the Wednesday night and we had 36 fish for the rest of the week. Many of these were taken by the usual suspects, but there were a number of highlights, with twelve year old Eabha Jones managing to land her first ever salmon, a fish of 2lbs6ozs in the Rock pool on a Bann Special. Eabha had many encounters with fish on the fly before but thankfully this time the fish stayed on. She has managed to land another since on the Erriff. On the 6th father and son team of Rick and Finn Taylor (Finn who was celebrating his 18th birthday), ably guided by Teddy Coulter had 7 fish for their morning session on the river. The remaining fish were all landed by seasoned Delphi veterans.
Finally in week 32, water levels stayed up nicely, starting at 63, rising to 95 on Monday and dropping to 42 by the end of the week. There were 37 landed for the week, once again with seasoned Delphi vets having the lions share, but there were a few notable catches, with Jonathan Weltz landing his first ever salmon, a fish of 1lbs7ozs from the Bridge Pool on a Snelda. He then managed to land another four here at Delphi and a few more on the Erriff. His father Benni also had 2 here. Finally, father and son team of Rodney and Ross Felty managed to both land their first ever salmon, both on Collie Dogs and both fish weighing in at 4lbs.
We had approx. 50 sea trout for July but the last few days has seen a significant improvement with 50 landed since the rains came, with Willie Hamilton accounting for the lions share and the Damsel Flyfishers also got in on the act. Till my next update, take care. D.McEvoy
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