Daivd McEvoy sums up the very varied month of September at Delphi:
After 23 years in the game, the feeling on the 1st of October never changes. It’s very difficult to describe. One certainly feels totally lost and at a loose end. It’s very unusual not to have to talk to anglers and fill them with intelligent and very useful information about fish!! Ha, ha!! It always takes a week or two to get used to the solitude and the more sociable hours but I still say thank God for the closed season.
Well enough waffling and more facts! September was actually quite a good month for salmon angling despite the unusual weather conditions. As Septembers go the month was relatively dry with only 134.9mms or 5.31 inches of rain. Week 38 was the only week when we got what one would call normal September weather with gales all week and some heavy rain also.
There were 107 salmon caught for the month with 60 of these up to and including the 29th and the remaining 47 on the party, free for all day on the 30th.
It started slowly with only 8 fish landed in week 36. The young German pairing of Maxi Schiedt and Michael Appel accounted for 5 of these, 3 off Fin and 2 off the river. Patrick Lachmann also from Germany managed to land his first ever, a fish of 3lbs5ozs off the Turn pool on an Allie shrimp. Oliver Widmer from Switzerland also managed to land his first ever, a fish of 8lbs1oz from the Turn pool on a beaded nymph. Mike Shortt had the 8th fish for the week from the river.
Week 37 was better with 15 landed in difficult conditions. The expertise of the Shortt party showed its hand again as 14 of these fish were taken by them, including Mike, Chris Cromey Hawke and Mark Corps. All 14 fish were taken from the river and ranged from 2lbs to 10lbs. The 15th fish was also off the river and was a first ever for Robert Young from the USA of approx. 3lbs.
Week 38 saw our first taste of Autumn with occasional heavy rain and gales nearly all week. Doolough was unfishable for four out of the seven days. Again we had some experienced hands on board and we managed to land 25 fish in extreme weather due to the excellence of Sims, Westropps, Ian Carroll, Keith Hemming and Mike Heckler.
The dynamic husband and wife duo of Paul and Maggie Sims had 8 between them while Ian Carroll landed 6. Bob Obrick from the USA also managed his first ever, a fish of 3lbs from the Bridge pool taken on a Delphi Collie.
Week 39 saw the fine weather returning which continued till the end of the month. We managed to land a further 12 fish in this time. Mark Short’s party of himself, Mike and Mark Corps accounted for 8 of these. Mark Shortt actually had a relatively fresh fish of 3lbs1.5ozs off the Grilse pool on a Cascade. George Westropp also had a fish off Fin.
Later in the week we were delighted to welcome to Delphi for the first time a group of young enthusiastic Bavarian fly fishermen, captained by Andreas Dürr. All members of the group managed to land their first ever Atlantic salmon here which is a truly memorable feat. These included Jakob Tax, Patrick Dietrich, Leonard Schoenberger, Kaspar Triller, Matthias Abele, Jakob Mühling all from the Turn pool.
Yesterday we finished the season with a fun day out for all, with a good bbq at lunch time and a good few salmon thrown in many caught by people who don’t normally get a chance to fish throughout the year.
That brought our season total to 448 salmon which in a season with mixed reports is not bad at all. Sea trout on the other hand for the month were disappointing with only 70 landed which brings our total for the year to 182.
On a sad note, it was with deep regret that I heard last week of the death of Ian McMaster who had been coming to Delphi since the late 80’s with a group of friends from Liverpool. In week 20 Delphi turned into a Little Liverpool as the most frequent language heard around was Scouse. Many fun times were had and Ian will be missed by all who were lucky enough to have met him. May he rest in peace.
Finally after what always seems like a long season I would like to thank all our customers, friends, staff and avid readers of this page for your support and co-operation throughout the year.
David McEvoy
Delphi Fishery
Go fishing…
At Delphi Lodge, with many years of experience with the timing of the best runs of fish, we have in place a price system that offers both great value fishing and lets our anglers know when they have the best chance to catch a fresh run spring salmon or a summer grilse or Delphi sea trout.
Delphi Fishery
Delphi Lodge, Leenane, Co. Galway.
Tel: +353 (0)95-42222 Fax +353-95-42296
Web: www.delphi-salmon.com