Firstly, sorry for the delay in updating you all, but I’ve been out of commission for a few weeks, recovering from back surgery. At this stage I’m nearly fully reconditioned! Fly fishing in June was very slow to begin at Delphi Lodge, but as is often the case this was primarily a result of weather conditions. Rainfall amounted to 239.9mms(9.44”); however 171.2mms(6.74”) was in the last 7 days.
June started in the second half of Week 22. Water levels at the time were relatively low with the river running at 18 and dropping. The days were clear, bright and sunny, with quite a strong easterly wind. There was a good mixture of new syndicate members and some long standing customers. One of these was Kurt Roth and once again he didn’t disappoint. He had a fish of 5lbs9ozs from the Whin Pool on the 2nd June on a Nymph and William McBarnet also had one from the Whin on the 4th. Week 23 was quiet, mainly as a result of lowering water levels, with the river dropping off to 5 and then we had some rain from the 7th to the 16th, which kept levels between 10 and 20. Brendan Wilson had the only fish of the week off Finlough of 3lb11ozs on a Delphi Collie. There were 6 fish landed in week 24. David Meighan started it off in fine style with a cracking fish of 12lbs5ozs from the Whin Pool on a conehead Delphi Collie. There were two on the 14th, taken by Geoff Houston and Adrian Smith, from the Whin and Deadman’s respectively on a Black Shrimp. The Burham party managed to land three, with James having two and Emma one, all from the Whin Pool of 7lbs8ozs, 7lbs4ozs and 3lbs2ozs, on a Cascade and a Shrimp Fly. Week 25 saw better fishing conditions with the river running between 35 and 17. There were 10 fish landed for the week. David Tucker started the week off nicely with a lovely grilse of 6lbs2ozs on a Copper Shrimp in the Rock Pool. Ken O’Farrell had another from the Rock Pool the following day of approx. 4lbs on a Cascade. Kevin Finnegan had a fish from the Road Pool on of 3lbs11ozs on a Willie Gunn on the 21st. The Drea party of Luke and Jack Rogers accounted for 3 fish on the 23rd, the best of which being Jack’s 8lbs fish off Finlough. The 24th saw 3 more landed, by John Tucker, Gary McFarlane and Lucy Livingston, all grilse and all off the River. Trevor Stafford had the last fish of the week off Finlough on the 25th.
Week 26 saw the return of a long-standing group and the rain and fish Gods shone brightly on them. The river never fell below 67 for the remaining days of June and they landed 29 fish in the last 5 days of the month. There were 6 on the 26th, the pick of which being Benni’s 9lbs7ozs fish from the Whin Pool and Ralph Oberneder’s 1st ever salmon of approx. 10lbs from the Turn Pool. There were 9 landed on the 27th, with Rudi’s fish of 10lbs4ozs off Finlough being the best. There were 3 on the 28th, with Benni having a cracking sea liced fish of 8lbs in the Meadow Pool. There were 8 on the 29th with Julie McMullens 11lbs6oz fish from the Quarry being the pick of the bunch. There were 3 on the 30th with Yvonne this time stealing the limelight with a fish of 8lbs5ozs. The last 5 days of the month saw a great mixture of fresh Grilse and Springers, with a few stale ones thrown in. That brought the total for the month to 48 and 133 for the year to date.
The 2 remaining days of week 26 saw another 12 fish landed, 2 on the 1st and 10 on the 2nd. Rudi was to the fore again with a fish of 9lbs11ozs off Finlough. That brought the total for the week to 41 with Benni having 9, Julie 6, Rudi 6, Martin 4, Ralph 4, Werner 4, Yvonne 4 and Nico 4. It has slowed down a bit since then but we’re still getting a few fish every day so hopefully, it’s just the start of the run!
D.McEvoy
