DELPHI FISHERY NEWS 2021

2021 LOCKED AND UNLOCKED

It’s difficult to know where to start when summing up the 2021 angling season here at Delphi. When I was writing the 2020 Newsletter, no one could have forecast what was to come. It was once again a very strange year, with tight restrictions until May and practically no visitors from outside Ireland prior to August. There are many of you reading this, that we have not now seen since 2019 and you have all been missed, obviously for the custom you bring to us but especially for the friendships we have developed over many years. Covid is not going away but hopefully we have found a way to live with it. For those of you who have lost family or friends as a result, I can only extend our deepest condo-

lences and look forward to seeing many of you in 2022.The weather, as I have often said before has a huge bea-ring on salmon angling. In that regard, this year was no different and long periods of dry settled weather are what nightmares are made of for the serious salmon angler, especially if it coincides with high temperatures. This year was a record for us as regards water temperature, reaching a high of 25.5 degrees Celsius on the 1st of Au-gust. Thankfully within a few days temperatures dropped and the rain finally arrived. What followed was a period of piscatorial bliss, with 61 fish being landed in a week. This helped greatly in bringing our season total to 301.

Restriction wise, March was the same as February, so ang-ling pressure was light but again experienced. Water levels were again good, with rainfall amounting to 266.4mms (10.49”) and there were 8 fish landed, though I personally thought, this should have been more. Fish of the month was that of Eric Heneghan, 13lbs from the Rock Pool. It was rather appropriate as Eric’s father Sheamus had just passed away and as some of you may remember, he was brilliant as a salmon angler and, I would maintain, way ahead of his time in his style of fishing. Having said that maybe it was a style specific to Delphi that Sheamus had inherited from his father Jimmy who had worked and fished in Delphi for many years. The other highlight of the month was the Gavin Clan’s outing on Paddy’s Day, when Iarla managed to land his first ever salmon, a fish of 6lbs12ozs on Finlough.

Restrictions eased a little from mid-April, with movements being on a County wide basis. Fishing pressure was howe-ver very light, particularly in the second half of the month as water levels fell away to nothing, with rainfall only amounting to 57mms (2.24”). There were however 11 fish landed, the highlights being the Clesham Brothers landing 3 in a day and Finn Gavin on another clan outing landing his first ever salmon also on Finlough of 8lbs7ozs.

M A R C H

A P R I L

The season opened in total Lockdown, so only people within 5kms could fish. As you all know there are only a handful of anglers in close proximity to Delphi so fishing pressure was light but anyone that fished knew the system well. We got off to a flying start with 2 fish landed on the 1st of February, by myself and Michael Wade. We all thought we were in for a bonanza but despite good conditions, with rainfall amounting to 342.9mms (13.5”) and water levels ideal throughout, there was only 1 other fish landed on the 27th of the month in the Stream on Finlough, which brought the February total to 3.

F E B R U A R Y

Delphi Salmon Rod Catches 2012 to 20212021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 Total 10 yr avg

Feb 3 5 13 4 1 3 12 2 2 0 45 4.5

Mar 8 21 21 26 10 11 13 13 16 24 163 16.3

Apr 11 1 10 44 9 31 21 9 37 29 202 20.2

Jun 84 64 89 31 53 14 57 39 74 72 577 57.7

Jul 46 158 54 15 73 29 127 40 44 67 653 65.3

Aug 99 50 19 33 36 13 45 43 75 24 437 43.7

Sept 30 65 38 41 80 50 57 53 107 80 601 60.1

Total 301 373 248 233 265 179 392 257 448 323 3019 301.9

Rod days 851 848 1404.5 1380 1421 1586.5 1690 1631.5 1568 1577 13957.5 1395.75

1sw 221 305 178 82 228 79 198 123 216 177 1807 180.7

2sw 80 68 70 151 37 100 194 134 232 146 1212 121.2

Total 301 373 248 233 265 179 392 257 448 323 3019 301.9

1sw wt 3.72 4.27 3.91 3.78 3.9 3.59 4.32 4.66 4.01 4.1 40.26 4.03

2sw wt 8.68 8.7 8.55 8.43 8.66 8.74 8.21 8.97 8.77 8.7 86.41 8.64

Av wt 5.04 5.09 4.29 6.8 4.57 6.47 6.25 6.91 6.48 6.2 58.1 5.81

1 > 2lb 3 6 2 2 5 2 2 1 1 3 27 2.7

2 > 3lb 29 36 35 14 30 18 9 4 29 22 226 22.6

3 > 4lb 95 93 69 31 76 29 61 28 68 45 595 59.5

4 > 5lb 78 110 57 25 78 23 83 35 70 57 616 61.6

5 > 6lb 17 45 17 18 31 16 38 40 52 36 310 31

6 > 7lb 19 24 15 16 12 15 47 33 42 44 267 26.7

7 > 8lb 16 21 17 33 13 16 47 27 40 34 264 26.4

8 > 9lb 14 15 13 33 9 21 50 25 52 30 262 26.2

9 > 10lb 9 11 10 36 3 15 25 26 34 22 191 19.1

10 > 11lb 10 4 6 16 4 8 12 12 23 11 106 10.6

11 > 12lb 2 2 3 5 1 5 9 13 15 7 62 6.2

12lb + 9 6 4 4 3 11 9 13 22 12 93 9.3

Total 301 373 248 233 265 179 392 257 448 323 3019 301.9

netmarks 1 4 0 0 2 7 0 5 2 7 32 3.2

mark % 0.33 1.01% 0 0.86% 2.60% 0% 1.28% 0.81% 1.67% 1.20%

River 233 147 156 143 173 123 262 153 229 154 1773 177.3

Finlough 66 216 83 78 74 41 112 85 189 135 1079 107.9

Doolough 2 9 9 11 18 14 17 18 30 34 162 16.2

Glencullin 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 5 0.5

Total 301 373 248 233 265 179 392 257 448 323 3019 301.9

Fly % 94% 95.20% 90.3 96.2 96.9% 96.10% 98.40% 95.50% 95.80% 93%

Escapees 0 0 0 0 21 0 0 0 0 1

Best fish 0 17 18.75 12.9 16.375 20.375 20.69 19.65 17.75 17.06

Wild Salmon Rod Catches (included in total) 17.5 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 Total 10yr Avg

River 72 51 42 48 59 46 59 37 101 73 588 58.8

Fin 8 16 13 4 11 12 13 12 15 22 126 12.6

Doo 2 7 6 9 14 9 12 10 22 33 124 12.4

Glen 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 5 0.5

Total 82 75 61 62 84 68 85 60 138 128 843 84.3

Released 90% 89% 84% 76% 77% 85% 81% 88% 83% 80% 8.33 83.3%

1sw - no. 66 58 51 20 74 26 46 35 78 65 519 51.9

2sw - no. 16 17 10 42 10 42 39 25 60 63 324 32.4

Total 82 75 61 62 84 68 85 60 138 128 843 84.3

May 9 4 39 3 28 60 58 93 27 122 443 44.3

Delphi Salmon Rod Catches 2012 to 20212021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 Total 10 yr avg

Feb 3 5 13 4 1 3 12 2 2 0 45 4.5

Mar 8 21 21 26 10 11 13 13 16 24 163 16.3

Delphi Sea Trout Rod Catches 2012-2021 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 Total 10 yr avg.

8oz>1lb 126 120 65 214 75 275 50 457 116 194 1692 169.2

1lb>2lb 41 70 55 87 38 123 42 123 56 215 850 85

2lb+ 13 10 7 19 8 27 28 22 10 38 182 18.2

Total 180 200 127 320 121 425 120 602 182 447 2724 272.4

Rod days 369 561.5 500 504 595 644 693 634 623 687 5810.5 581

CPUE 0.49 0.35 0.25 0.64 0.20 0.66 0.17 0.95 0.29 0.65

Note 1: Most weights are estimated (probably optimistically) since catch & release requirement introduced in 1990Note 2: Catch & release almost certainly leads to multiple catch of same fish - no attempt made to quantifyNote 3: Killary Salmon closed late 2008 and reopened late spring 2010

FIRST EVER SALMON 2021Name Country Location Weight

Gavin Iarla Ireland Finlough 6.75

Gavin Finn Ireland Finlough 8.44

Oberneder Ralph Germany Finlough 3.50

Wade Grace Ireland Finlough 6.31

Larkin Rick Ireland Whin 4.50

Stanley George Ireland Horseshoe 4.56

Larkin Bernie Ireland Whin 4.25

Larkin Michael Ireland Whin 4.25

Holmes Tim Ireland Rock 13.50

Matchett John N.Ireland Grilse 2.75

Tottenham Charlie Ireland Rock 3.25

Dietel Peter Germany Finlough 7.63

Kaiser-Rohrich Sabine Germany Turn 4.44

Gageby Ollie Ireland Whin 3.13

Jones Eabha Ireland Rock 2.38

Weltz Jonathan Germany Bridge 1.44

Felty Ross USA Grilse 4.00

Felty Rodney USA Quarry 4.00

Tierney Niall Ireland Bridge 4.00

O'Malley Cian Ireland Quarry 3.00

Ritchie Heather USA Finlough 9.44

BEST SALMON OF 2021Weight Angler From Location Date Fly/Lure

1 17.5 Armstrong Wendel Ireland River Rock 02.06.21 Badger

2 15 Beattie Gareth N.Ireland River Turn 11.05.21 Willie Gunn

2 15 Carroll Ian Ireland River Road 30.09.21 Shrimp

3 13.5625 Ceillier Barbara Ireland River Rock 26.05.21 Tosh

4 13.5 Holmes Tim Ireland River Rock 12.06.21 Gary Dog

5 13 Heneghan Eric Ireland River Rock 16.03.21 Sunray Shadow

5 13 Herrmann Jeremy England Finlough Boat Point 10.06.21 Minkie

6 12.3125 Turley Greg Ireland River Holly 21.05.21 Ice Maiden

7 12 Taylor Rick England River Turn 06.08.21 Green Highlander

8 11.5 Wade Michael Ireland Finlough Stream 09.05.21 Collie Dog

9 11.4375 Leibundgut Urs Switzerland River Turn 25.07.21 Collie Dog

10 10.8125 Leibundgut Urs Switzerland River Grilse 04.05.21 Willie Gunn

10 10.8125 Gainsford St.Lawrence J. Ireland Finlough Goughs 09.06.21 Silver Stoat

11 10.75 Ryan Tomas Ireland River Turn 08.06.21 Green Highlander

12 10.25 Ceillier Barbara Ireland Finlough Boat Point 25.05.21 Collie Dog

13 10.125 O'Grady Walsh Peter Ireland Finlough Boat Point 26.05.21 Stoats Tail

14 10.0625 McGarrity Philip Ireland River Rock 08.06.21 Willie Gunn

15 10 Dunne Liam Ireland River Turn 07.08.21 Cascade

15 10 Beattie William N.Ireland Finlough Bottom Reeds 20.08.21 Willie Gunn

15 10 Demanet Marc Belgium River Road 03.09.21 Nymph

15 10 Ritchie Heather USA Finlough Stream 30.09.21 Shrimp

Restrictions eased further in May, with movements being allowed throughout the Island of Ireland. As a result, fishing pressure was was up significantly, and condi-tions were better than April, with rainfall amounting to 214.9mms (8.46”) and water levels varying between 20 and 65. There were 20 fish landed for the month, (19 Springers and 1 Grilse) the best of which was without doubt Gareth Beattie’s stunning fish of 15lbs from the Turn Pool on a Willie Gunn on the 11th. As is often the case, the average size of the fish in May was up on previous months. Sixteen anglers had fish, with Greg Turley and Seamus O’Neill having 2 each and Barbara Ceillier stealing the show on Glenda Powell’s Fly Fishing Course, landing 3 cracking fish of 9lbs7ozs, 10lbs4ozs and 13lbs9ozs. Grace Wade also managed to land her first ever salmon, a fish of 6lbs5ozs on a Collie Dog on Finlough, ably assisted by her father Michael.

M AY

Fishing pressure was up again in June as people ma-naged to eventually break free and venture into the Great Outdoors. Many of our anglers were seasoned veterans, so this combined with relatively good condi-tions and a nice run of fish brought our June total to 84, 18 Springers and 66 Grilse. Rainfall only amounted to 98.4 (3.87”), but it was spread fairly evenly through out the month, so the river never fell below 15 which for Grilse is more than enough. The early part of the month up until the 12th saw some cracking Spring fish being caught. The best of these was Wendel Armstrong’s fish of approx. 17.5lbs that he hooked in the Rock Pool and landed in the Kings on a Badger tube on the 2nd. Angus Sutherland, William McBarnett, Andrew Cunningham, Philip McGarrity, Jeremy Herman, Julian Gainsford Saint Laurence, Andrew Mournd, Jimmy Keogh, Eugene Larkin all managed to land Spring fish, with Tim Holmes also having his first ever, a fine fish of 13lbs8ozs on a Gary Dog in the Rock Pool. The Larkin Party also had a great outing, which comprised of nine anglers, five

novices and four experts. It’s not often it happens but all novices managed to land salmon, including four, their first ever, Rick, Mick and Bernie Larkin and George Stanley, with only one of the experts landing a fish. Ha-ving said that they did devote much of their time ensu-ring that the novices succeeded. Week 24 was relatively quiet early in the week, before we had 55 fish from the 18th till the end of the month. The Martin brothers star-ted the run with 6 between them on the 18th, all off the river and all on Ally Shrimps. Stephen Meade managed 3 on the 19th and week 25 saw the arrival of the Drea party who accounted for 19 between them, the highlight of which being Charlie Tottenham’s first ever salmon, a fish of 3lbs6ozs from the Rock Pool. Rory Donnelly also had a morning to remember with 4 fish landed, all off the river on a Cascade. The remaining four days of the month saw another 10 fish landed, with Benny Weltz being particularly successful and Peter Dietel managing to land his first ever salmon.

J U N E

In July we landed 46 fish, which was disappointing, but as is often the case with salmon fishing, the weather had a huge bearing on this. Rainfall was low, with only 67.8mms (2.67”) and 33mms of this was in the first seven days. Added to this, both air and water temperatures rose steadily, with air temperatures of 25 degrees plus every day between the 16th and the 26th, peaking at 29.6 on the 22nd. Water temperatures peaked during the week from the 25th of July to the 1st of August, being over 23 every afternoon and the highest being Sunday the 1st with 25.5 degrees. The highest recorded water temperature before this year was June 2018 at 21.6. Water levels also dropped off to -12 by the end of the month so it made for difficult angling to say the least. We didn’t lose any fish but it was evident that they were struggling. Of the 46 fish landed 40 were Grilse and 6 Springers. Seventeen ang-lers had 34 of the total catch in the first 10 days of the month. Once again many of our regulars had fish and

Sabine Kaiser-Rohrich had her first ever salmon. The remaining 12 were taken throughout the rest of the month with Urs accounting for 5. Young Ollie Gageby also managed to land his first ever salmon, a fish of 3lbs2ozs from the Whin Pool on a Nymph.

J U LY

Best Pools 2021Joinings 0

Road 5

Bridge 7

Turn 54

Quarry 9

Quarry Flats 0

Duffer's Run 1

Rock 19

Kings 7

Holly 5

Dipper Run 0

Morrisons' 5

Poker Pot 1

Deadman's 10

Total Upper 123

Grilse 17

Cooleens 1

Schoolhouse 8

New Island 2

Heneghans 0

Duck Run 1

Horseshoe 5

Gorge 1

Dynamite 1

Goat 4

Whin 51

Waterfall 9

Meadow 10

Sea Pool 0

Total Lower 110

Overall Total 233

From an angling perspective September was quiet, both from the effort and the catch perspective. There were 30 landed for the month, with 18 of these being on the 30th to Other Methods! Another father and son team, this time from Belgium, Florian and Marc Demanet both had fish early in the month in very difficult conditions. We had heavy rain on the 8th and the river rose from -6 to over 50. Conditions for the rest of the month were good but the fish by and large didn’t want to co-operate, with only 9 more fish till the 30th. Although it normally picks up in September, Finlough was disappointing. For some rea-son, fish were hard to tempt. It’s possible the high water temperatures had a huge impact on them. The 30th of September was a relatively quiet day, but enjoyable for all

involved. Young Cian O’Malley from Louisburgh and Hea-ther Ritchie, both managed to land their first ever salmon.At this stage I would like to sincerely thank shareholders, customers, staff and friends for all their help and support throughout the year. I also apologise in advance if I have omitted anyone in the stats, it was not intentional, I’m only human after all! Here’s looking forward to a more normal 2022, when we will get to see many of our long term friends and customers again. I would be hopeful that 2022 should be more productive from an angling perspec-tive. Then again one never knows with salmon fishing what a year will be like! In the meantime regards to you all and stay safe.

S E P T E M B E R

Thankfully the weather broke in early August, and it pro-ved to be a prolific month with 99 fish landed. Once again climatic conditions played a huge factor, with 208.9mms (8.22”) of rain and there was also a large build up of fish in the Killary waiting to run. There was 101.7mms in the first seven days of the month. This freshened things up dramatically. There were 8 fish landed in the first five days, the highlight of which of which was without doubt, 12 year old Eabha Jones’ first ever salmon. Having had many near misses in recent years Eabha persisted with the fly, when many would have reverted to other methods to land that elusive first ever. Well done Eabha! We then had a bonanza for the following three days, with 12 landed on the 6th, 19 on the 7th and 11 on the 8th. Notably catches among these were father and son team of Rick

and Finn Taylor who had 7 between them, Bob Hadden 4, Steve Jones 4, Stephen Hegarty 4, Kevin Finnegan 3, Liam Dunne 3 and Tomas Ryan 6. After that, as is often the case in August some days were excellent and some quiet. There were 4 on 9th, 0 on the 10th and 11 on the 11th. Father and son team of Benny and Jonathan Weltz managed 7 between them for their stay including Jonathan’s first ever salmon. Another father and son team of Rodney and Ross Felty, both managed to land their first ever salmon. As usual the Beattie party had their share. We managed to land fish on a fairly regular basis up until the 18th and then after that the water started to drop off and the August blues set in. Nymphs proved very successful in the last few days of the month with 12 fish landed.

A U G U S T

Top Flies 2021Cascade 38

Collie Dog 36

Nymph 34

Delphi Collie 28

Shrimp patterns 17

URS NO. 1 AGAIN

The 100 Club 2021(Anglers with 100+ Salmon Since 1986)

Urs Leibundgut Switzerland 458

Werner Zirngibl Germany 336

Walter Langenberger Germany 261

John Mills N.Ireland 202

Laurence Lock England 192

Alan Dunlop N.Ireland 183

Paul Wymes Ireland 167

David McEvoy Ireland 166

Mark Corps N.Ireland 152

George Westropp England 142

Mike Shortt N.Ireland 139

Sandy Walker Ireland 134

Christopher Jarman England 131

Andy Smith Scotland 127

Fred Possinger Germany 113

William Beattie N.Ireland 106

Franz Schaefer Germany 103

Delphi Rainfall 2020-2021Month Total

mmTotal

InchesNo. of

Dry DaysNo. of

Wet DaysWettestDay-mm

Oct.-20 417.2 16.43 7 19 52.3

Nov.-20 409.6 16.1 5 18 61.8

Dec.-20 330.5 13.01 2 20 33.5

Jan.-21 343.5 13.52 6 16 52.9

Feb.-21 342.9 13.5 6 12 60.1

Mar.-21 266.4 10.48 10 14 59.4

Apr.-21 57 2.24 18 5 11.9

May-21 214.9 8.46 9 13 39.3

June-21 98.4 3.87 15 9 14.1

July-21 67.8 2.67 19 6 9.8

Aug.-21 208.9 8.22 14 12 34.3

Sept.-21 247.2 9.73 10 15 53

Total 3004.3 118.23 121 159

Dry day = <1mm Wet day = >5mm

Top Rods 2021Benny Weltz Germany 15

Luke Drea Ireland 10

William Beattie N.Ireland 9

Kevin Finnegan Ireland 8

David McEvoy Ireland 8

Urs Leibundgut Switzerland 7

Daniel Irvine Wales 8

Seamus O’Neill Ireland 8

P U B L I S H E D B Y D E L P H I F I S H E R Y L T D L E E N A N E , C O . G A LWAY, I R E L A N D

T +353-954-2222 F +353-954-2296 E info@delphilodge.ie W www.delphilodge.ie