And the trees are sweetly blooming, as the song goes. It’s hard to believe that we are already nearly halfway through the fly fishing season here at Delphi Lodge. Nationally, it’s been quite a difficult year for Springers. We are slightly down on last year but better than 2021, 2020 or 2019. By the end of April, we had landed 48 salmon, with another 9 since which brings our total to date to 57.
Catches, since my last update, given suitable conditions, have been steady but nothing spectacular. At the time of my last update, water levels were about 30, but we experienced a very harsh East wind for a few days, which made for difficult conditions. The wind abated and water levels slowly dropped off, but there were still a few fish running. First, fish landed since my last update was taken by one of our Yellow Dog clients, Janice, ably assisted by her fishing partner Susan. Janice landed her first ever Atlantic Salmon a lovely sea liced fish of 8lbs10ozs in the Whin Pool on a small Delphi Collie. Water levels were at 15 and needless to say, the ladies were delighted. There was a small rise in water levels on the 28th but fishing remained difficult.
Week 18 saw the return of a long-standing group of experienced anglers. Water levels, for the week were not high but more than adequate to bring and catch fish. It was however difficult with just 2 landed, the first by Urs in the Rock Pool of approx. 5.5lbs on a Delphi Collie on the 30th of April, which brought our total to 19 for the month. It should be noted that rainfall in April was lower than March with only 167.5mms(6.59”). The second fish for week 18 was a first ever, taken by Max Stoeckl from Germany, on Finlough on a Dee Sheep, weighing in at 6lbs9ozs. One of the party, Thomas Messmer, did however manage to land the first of the season from Beat 9 on the Erriff. The fish was 9lbs7ozs and was taken on a Delphi Collie.
Week 19 anglers were lucky with water as we got a couple of nice floods during the week, which greatly helped the fishing, with 6 fish landed for the week. Jussi Stromberg had a fish of 8lbs from the Stream on Fin on a Frances on the 8th. Graham Feilden had another, of 8lbs from the Whin on a Willie Gunn on the 9th. He followed this up with one from the Turn of approx. 9lbs on a Collie Dog on the 10th. Dwight Atkinson kept the ball rolling with a nice fish from the Quarry on the 11th, on a Willie Gunn. Brian Pattinson had a fish of 6lbs11ozs from the Stream on Fin on a Frances on the 12th. There was nothing on the 13th and then Gary McFarlane got us back on track with a fresh fish of 6lbs from the Goat on a Willie Gunn on the 14th. There were two so far in week 20, with Kieron Leslie and Richard Staughton sharing the spoils on the 15th. Kieron’s fish was 6lbs10ozs from Boat Point on Finlough on a small Delphi Collie and Richard’s was 7lbs10ozs from the Rock Pool on the exact same fly.
Water was at 19 this morning, but we had a heavy mist for a couple of hours which put the river up to 30. With the weather patterns at the moment, we could get this again at any stage, which would be enough to keep levels up. There still seems to be a few fresh fish running, although as is often the case they’re playing hard to get. We now also have the tourist fish on Finlough that appear every now and again as if on a timer. The Cuckoo is still here singing away, and the Swallows have arrived. We also have a couple of Mute Swans on Finlough who are actually sitting on a nest. They were here last year too, also sitting on a nest but we had a big flood that flooded the nest. That nearly happened this year but they’re still sitting on the nest so hopefully we’ll have Signets on Finlough in the near future, which would be the first in my time anyway. On a different note, there is some fishing with accommodation available over the next few weeks, so just call if interested.
D.McEvoy
