Costa Del Delphi seems like a distant memory at this stage, here on the West Coast. You could actually say we went from the 14th of May till the 15th of June without rain of any consequence. By this stage the river was gone off the gauge. It was actually -16 and even the rock in the Grilse Pool out of the water. In my time, I have seen that once before, at the end of June 2010. We had highs of 25 degrees and water temperature reached 21 degrees, which I have never seen in June before. Since the 15th of June we have had rain almost every day, with 179.4mms(7.06”) in the last 15 days of June or 11.96mms(.47”) per day. To date July is much the same with 232.7mms(9.16”). It seems weather patterns are changing, with either one extreme or the other. Having said that give me Delphi weather as opposed to what certain parts of Europe are experiencing at the minute.
Therefore, it goes without saying that we have had plenty water and the fishing has improved. People think that the river is low when it’s at 0, but it’s actually quite a nice flow compared to -16. June obviously started slowly, with only 8 fish up to the 16th. Three of these were not included in my last update. They were all landed in the Whin Pool on Nymphs, with both Louis and Stephen Ryan landing their first ever salmon of 8lbs and 5lbs9ozs respectively. Rory Heaslip also had one of 6lbs11ozs. Then the rain came, and the river rose from -16 to 0, with Rory Heaslip having another from the Whin on a Nymph of 6lbs12ozs. Then Jimmy Maher and Joe Burke got on the score sheet with Jimmy landing one of 8lbs8ozs from the Deadman’s on a Cascade and Joe landing our biggest of the year to date with a fish of 17lbs8ozs from the Turn on a Cascade. The river stayed above 0 but peaked at 7, with Ken O’Farrell, John Tucker having a Grilse each and Rory Donnelly having two, all off the River. For the second year running the Week 26 regulars couldn’t have timed it better as the river was at 70 on their first morning’s fishing and it never fell below 46 for the week. They didn’t disappoint on the fishing front either, with 16 fish to the end of the month, split 50:50 between River and Finlough, with Werner having 7, Urs 3, Martin 3, Julie 1, Benni 1 and Mattias 1. That brought our total for the month to 31 and 93 for the year to date. There were three more fish for the week with Urs having 2 off the Turn Pool and Benni 1, at Boat Point on Finlough.
Water levels were perfect for all of week 27 and the fishing was excellent too, with 29 fish landed for the week, 14 off the River, 14 off Finlough and 1 off Doolough. Kevin Finnegan and David Flynn had 3 each, while Tomas Ryan, Luke Drea, Owen Kirk, James Parkes, Terry Bradley and Neil Spellacy all had two each and Jeannie Gamondi, Margaret Downes, Gary Connolly, Peter Kavanagh and Freddie Duncalf all had one each. Ed Townsend had his first ever, while John Costello had 3 and witnessed his grandson Finn land his first ever salmon. Week 28 continued 27 left off, with excellent water throughout and 30 fish being landed. As is often the case the Drea party of Luke, Ken, Jack, Alex, Konrad and Charlie had 11 between them, including Alex Jay’s first ever: Denis Bonnet had 5, Terry Bradley 4, the Byrne brothers 3, Barry Cox 2, including his first ever, and Owen Kirk, Bill Bullick, Robbie Scott, Teddy Coulter and myself all had one each. As we continued into July fishing became more difficult with fish becoming more uncooperative than usual, which seems to be a common complaint this year in most places. It’s certainly the case this week (29) with only 12 fish landed so far. Rich Mooney did well landing 3, while Kevin Finnegan and Paddy Mc had 2 each, with Urs, Joe Hosey, Ivan Crowe, Giacomo Moor landing 1 each and Aine O’Neill landed her first ever, a fish of 3lbs10ozs from Doolough on a Willie Gunn. Total for YTD is 167.
There are plenty fish in the system and conditions are ideal, but they are playing hard to get at the minute. Web have limited availability for the next two weeks but there’s plenty from the second week in August on. The jury’s out on sea trout yet but I’ll keep you all updated.
D.McEvoy