At this time of year, it’s been a few months since most salmon anglers wet a line. For many it will be another few months, but in the meantime, a reminder of summer and better fishing days is here. The Delphi Fishery annual newsletter is now available on their website here, a must-read for many salmon anglers who have fished this little gem of a fishery, or those who are considering it.
Highlight
Fishery manager David McEvoy opens with a highlight familiar to everyone – the return to some semblance of normality after a mad couple of years.
As David writes “This was without doubt the highlight, because without people we have nothing, and you the customers are all part of what makes Delphi such a special place“.
Spring
Simon Cassidy makes a cast in early Spring.
Spring was actually quite productive, with numbers of multi-sea-winter (MSW) salmon up on recent years, despite a very dry April. Plenty of rain in February made for good early fishing, which continued into March and April. The best spring fish was a 14lbs salmon taken in early April by Paul O’Malley.
Summer
A slow start to June was swept away by a fine finish, with 29 fish in the last 5 days of the month, greatly aided by 171mms of rain arriving in the final week! That rain was a blessing, as it kept the fishery going until late July, when many river systems without lakes were already struggling severely with low water.
July fished reasonably well, but the warm, dry weather that we will remember the summer of 2022 for kicked in then. August is often a difficult month, and as the dry days ticked on, catches dwindled away.
Dry weather continued into September, with any rainfall quickly soaked up and flushed through the dry ground, and the only significant rain falling in the last 2 days. Salmon catches reflected this, although sea trout fishing was rather good.
For the full run-down, with some great writing and even better photos, read the newsletter here.
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.
Over the closed season I will be posting a pattern per week for fishing on Irish Loughs. This will include flies for Brown Trout, Seatrout and Salmon. This week’s tying is the Octopus, first tyed by Scottish angler Stan Headley for Lough Melvin…
This week’s tying is the Octopus, first tyed by Scottish angler Stan Headley for Lough Melvin and a fly that us Irish have adopted over the years, with a range of colours to suit our style of Lough fishing from Clarets to Fiery Brown. There is even a black Octopus with pink and purple tails for Salmon.
When fishing Lough Melvin or the deeps of Lough Mask it always pulls fish. Some of my best fishing on Lough Melvin has been on a variant of the original tying a Picric Octopus. A few seasons back this particular fly caught me 2 Salmon and 7 Sonaghan Trout.
Another variant that has worked well for me is the Fiery Brown Octopus. I originally tyed this pattern for early season on Lough Arrow and the deeps of Lough Mask. This pattern not only works on Brown Trout but also has caught numerous Salmon on Carrowmore, Inagh and Kylemore Lough.
Picric Octopus
Picric Octopus
Dressing for the Picric Octopus:
– Hook: Fulling Mills all purpose #10
– Thread: Chartreuse Uni 8/0
– Tail: Chartreuse Wool
– Rib: Gold Wire and Pearl Tinsel
– Body: Yellow olive Seals fur
– Body Hackle: Picric Yellow
– Head Hackle: Rump feather dyed Picric
Fiery Brown Octopus
Fiery brown octopus
Dressing for the Fiery Brown Octopus:
– Hook: Fulling Mills all purpose #10
– Thread: Red Uni 8/0
– Tail: Scarlet red wool
– Rib: Copper wire and pearl tinsel
– Body: Fiery brown seals fur
– Body Hackle: Fiery Brown
– Legs: Natural
– Head Hackle: Fiery Brown rump feather
Fiery Brown Saddle
Fiery Brown Saddle
Fiery Brown dubbing
Go fishing…
You can purchase some of my patterns in the new Fulling Mills brochure for 2023 which will be out soon.
Notes: Provides guiding on Lough Arrow, Melvin, Glencar Lake & Lough Gill .
Clients from all over the world from England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Usa and South Africa. Total C&R on Jackie’s boat while guiding.
Flies for sale
2023 started off for me with an email from Fulling Mill to say that my fly patterns have just arrived in the UK and are up on the Fulling Mill website. The range consists of wet Mayfly, Spent, Stimulators and Daddies. The patterns have been working the last number of seasons throughout Ireland, the United States and the UK with great success. I will also be working closely with Fulling Mill on some new products which will be launched soon, so keep an eye on my page for updates.
Fifteen anglers took part in Rossnowlagh last Friday (9th Dec) on a calm moonlit night in cool temperatures for outing number 8 of 12 and early fish for Daragh, Brian, Gavin and John C. with a 36cm trout and the lower pegs struggling with no fish from peg 1 to 5.
Longest flattie prize was won by Brian Smith with a 34cm flounder. Second overall with 3 counting flounder and a 5 bearded rockling for 148pts was won by Gavin Dorrian and in first place, on his first competition back after an operation, was Daragh McGuinness with 5 counting flounder for 177pts winning. Well done Daragh! The lucky peg money was won by John Cunningham at the score count.
What a beautiful December day to be out fishing! The weather was cold but lovely. There were lots of fine pollack going together with a few cod and ling. In the morning, we had plenty of mackerel and some herring as well before we went after the bigger fish. The crew ended up with 11 different species…not bad for a day out in December!
Go Fishing
Fiona Tee
33′ Interceptor. 300HP Caterpillar Skipper: Michael McGettigan Licence: 961 Base: Mullaghmore Operational area: Donegal Bay. Within 30 miles of land.
Notes: With over 40 years experience in Sea Angling in Donegal Bay, we bring you to the best locations and guarantee the best that angling in Donegal Bay has to offer. The MV Fiona Tee is equipped with all the latest technology ensuring all our fishing charters are monitored and offer real time tracking. We are also fully equipped with the latest in onboard safety equipment.
Chris O’Sullivan is a fanatic sea angler based in Tralee, Co. Kerry, with access to some of the best sea angling in the country. Chis is well-known on the angling competition scene with many successes to his name. Unlike a lot of serious competition anglers, though, Chris is keen to share his tips and tricks, and has set up a Youtube channel called The Inshore Angler.
In his latest video, Chris shares a very recent fishing session on a Kerry beach for winter flounder. Flounder are a prolific inshore fish found on sandy beaches, right in the surf. At this time of year, they are feeding hard and putting on weight prior to their offshore migration to spawn in springtime.
Success! An early fish always gives confidence during a fishing session
Chris talks us through his rigs, how he baits up, explains some of the weights he uses and why, and even shows us a handy way of unhooking deeply hooked flatfish without causing any damage.
Baiting up
Check out the video below, or watch it on Youtube here.
If you like the video, feel free to click Subscribe so you can stay up to date with more of Chris’s videos. If you’re on Facebook you can also follow Chris here
We had a huge surge in demand for our measuring mats at the end of the summer and completely ran out of stock. We now have them back in stock again and they are available to purchase here. We have discontinued the 170cm mat as the 230cm mat is essentially the same thing, just a little longer, and you can always cut it down to a smaller size if required.
In order to promote conservation and sustainable angling, we have always sold these mats at cost price to us, and in recent years we have been selling them at a loss as the cost price to us has increased. Unfortunately, materials prices have risen steeply over the past year or two, and they now cost over €30 for us to manufacture. As a result of that, we have to increase the price we charge to €25 + postage. We are still selling them at a loss, but in order for us to keep producing them, we need to charge more for them.
We also have a smaller measuring mat available now, which is designed to be more portable for those that like to travel light. It is 15cm wide and weighs just 250g, so it will fit in a small tackle bag or even a pocket and is also less expensive for us to post out to you. It will be available for €20 including post and packaging (again, cost price). It is 100cm in length, so perfect for species like bass, wrasse, pollack, ray, flatties, perch, tench & trout.
Managed to sneak out for a quick trip to close out what has been an unusual season of 2022 weather wise, but with also some great fishing to be had at times.
On this occasion the fish seemed to have been waiting to feed for as long as I’d been waiting to get out and fish for them, judging by the action which was fast and furious with some monster West Cork Pollock.
December pollack on fly
One was well into double figures, following my lures and flies up from the deep and attacking close under my kayak in crystal clear water despite a chilly wind and quite lumpy conditions.
…dropping water temperatures and shorter daylight hours so experience is needed and everything has to be well planned with all equipment in perfect condition, the right clothing is also vital…
It’s worth noting that the consequences of a mishap are much higher at this time of year when kayak fishing with colder air, dropping water temperatures and shorter daylight hours so experience is needed and everything has to be well planned with all equipment in perfect condition, the right clothing is also vital and a plan b, c & d must be thought out in advance in case of difficulties.
No doubt, winter has finally arrived! After the more settled conditions and milder temperatures earlier in the week, the current cold snap has turned parts of the country, mainly in the north and east, into a winter wonderland overnight.
So it is no wonder that angling reports were scarce enough this week, reflecting the time of year it is. Coarse anglers, however, have been among the more active ones, with a number of matches fished recently.
Munster Coarse Anglers returned once more to O’Briensbridge last weekend, this time to fish Round 4 of their winter series. With water levels well down compared to two weeks ago, it was a completely different scene with lower weights but the feeder still produced some fair results.
Over to pike angling, where east winds made for tough piking on the Erne. However, Guided Predator Angling have been busy putting their clients on the fish with a total of 4 good fish landed including one fine Esox over the 1m mark, which makes our Catch of the Week.
Over the meter…great Erne pike
Pike anglers as well as fly anglers might wish to tune into Daire Whelan and Tom Doc Sullivan’s latest Podcast of “Ireland on the Fly”. This time, they wanted to find out more about flyfishing for pike and spoke to well-known pike angling guide Bodo Funke and IFI’s Markus Muller.
While pike keep some fly anglers busy during the winter, Ireland’s rainbow trout fisheries can also offer great sport at this time of the year to those who want to cast a fly. This was the case for avid bass angling guide Richie Ryan, who tried his hands at some “bow” fishing last week. Check out his great report here.
A happy Richie Ryan with his fine rainbow trout
However, most fly anglers will probably use the winter months to stock up their fly boxes with new patterns. We are sure that Peter Driver’s live fly tying shows will be a source of inspiration for novice and experienced fly tyers alike. Peter has a great show lined up with some cracking lake and river emergers to be tied. It will be happening LIVE on the Piscari Fly Facebook page. Tune in at 8.30pm on Saturday and don’t miss a great night of fly tying & chat.
Over the closed season Jackie Mahon will also be posting a pattern per week for fishing on Irish loughs. This will include flies for brown trout, sea trout and salmon. To check out his current pattern click here.
Cock Robin Dabbler
Andrew McGall has sent us in some great videos of his salmon fishing in recent times, but this time he sent us in something a little different – some late season Dollaghan fishing from the Six Mile Water in Antrim which will make any trout angler look forward to next year’s season.
Finally, we received a message from Andrius Bikelus who has been in touch to let us know of a new ‘Trout Area Fishing’ league that he is running at Annaginny Fishery & Park Farm, near Dungannon in Northern Ireland.
In Other News….
The new salmon season is less than a month away and with a number of prolific fisheries opening on the 1st of January, Salmon Licences are already on sale. Licences can be bought online at https://store.fishinginireland.info/, with prices remaining the same as 2022. Various permits for next season can also be purchased online at https://permits.fishinginireland.info/ .
Inland Fisheries Ireland has launched a funding call of up to €1 million, to support vital conservation projects around the country through the Salmon and Sea Trout Rehabilitation, Conservation and Protection Fund. From now until December 16th, eligible angling clubs, fishery owners and other stakeholders are invited to express their interest in applying for funding to support fisheries conservation through Inland Fisheries Ireland’s ‘Habitats and Conservation’ scheme. For more details check out the Funding Call Guide here.
Widespread sharp frost will set in tonight along with icy stretches. While many areas will remain dry, some wintry showers will continue, mainly along Atlantic coastal counties. The weekend will see temperatures struggling to rise above freezing. However, it will stay mainly dry apart from isolated showers in some coastal areas. The outlook is for the bitterly cold weather to continue with severe frosts, icy stretches and dense freezing fog in parts. Status Yellow snow/ice and freezing fog warnings will stay in place for the rest of today and tomorrow!
Andrew McGall has sent us in some great videos of his salmon fishing in recent times, but this time he sent us in something a little different – some late season Dollaghan fishing from the Six Mile Water in Antrim.
Dollaghan are Lough Neagh trout that run the rivers in the upper Neagh system to spawn. They behave very much like sea trout, and fishing for them is mostly done at night – unless the rivers are in the right condition for daytime fishing – as they are for Andrew in this late season fishing expedition. The season on the Six Mile Water goes right up until the end of October, so anglers get to target these mighty lough trout as the run to the headwaters to spawn.
Andrew uses either a single handed or double handed rod, depending on the size of the river sections he fishes, and coneheads or small doubles at the business end. Needless to say, Andrew takes great care of the fish he catches and they all swim away strongly.
Andrew has some great clips on his YouTube channel – along with lots of great advice on how to fish and how to tie the flies that he uses – so don’t forget to like and subscribe or ask Andrew any questions you may have yourself!
The Ireland on the Fly podcast talks to well-known angling guide Bodo Funke and IFI’s Markus Muller about flyfishing for pike
Another fish to target over winter is pike, with pike on the fly becoming increasingly popular in Ireland.
For this week’s Ireland on the Fly podcast, Tom and Daire wanted to find out more about the set-up, the flies, the tactics and why fly fishing for pike isn’t just for Christmas either and they spoke to Markus Muller, angling advisor with IFI and pike fly fishing aficionado, as well as Bodo Funke, the well-known pike guide based in Roscommon.
Rate, review and follow the show to keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly episodes on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
