Fishery Report » Delphi Lodge and Fishery
[ April 2009 ]
At the Delphi Fishery seventy five fish were taken, an April total that has only ever been bettered once - in 2004, when 83 fish were caught for the month.
By the end April, the total catch for the season stood at 106 salmon and May started off well, too. Normally Delphi aims or hopes to reach 100 fish by the end of May. With 112 in the book by lunchtime on May 2, this target will be very comfortably exceeded.
With reasonable water levels for much of the time and generally cool-to-mild weather, the good conditions, combined with an above-average run of salmon produced great catches.
There are those who would have us believe that the only way to improve the spring salmon run is to close the fishery and wait for nature right itself. Well, I wish that those who are of this persuasion would visit Delphi, observe a fishery where every rod is booked week after week, talk to satisfied anglers and note at what has been achieved at Delphi by Peter Mantle and his dedicated hatchery team. There are times when it is nessissary to give nature a hand.
The fish of the month was Hugh Brennan’s 15 lb salmon from Doolough, followed by Billy Marshall’s 13 lb fish from Finlough. David Cochrane and Liam Dunne each had a 12 lbcatches.
Top rod went to Alan Dunlop with eight salmon from 63/4 to 101/2 lb, closely followed by Paul Wymes with five fish from 41/2 to 93/4 lb. Donagh McCarthy, Jonathan Smalley, Rocky Moran, Urs Leibundgut, Mick Kelly and young Jan-Niklas Rothkoetter all had three fish each.
Despite the presence of an occasional big fish, the average weight is below what would have been expected in the 1980s and 1990s, when spring salmon would typically weigh around 9 lb. Fish under eight pounds were rare and none weighed less than 6lb.
Once again this year, Peter O'Reilly's fly casting and fly fishing courses are proving extremely popular. For details, see our website.
For bookings and further information, please visit:
» Delphi Lodge and Fishery member page.
