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Delphi Fishery Report - 2005

OK spring, dismal summer

2005 was not an exciting year at Delphi. The salmon fishing was mixed, with a reasonable spring catch but an awful run of grilse. Just 230 salmon were caught, making it the worst season since 1999 and the third worst since the Delphi hatchery programme kicked in properly in 1993.

Having said that, 230 salmon would have been a fantastic catch in the days before the Delphi hatchery was built. And there are few other fisheries in the west of Ireland, apart from Corrib and the Moy, that bettered the Delphi total, let alone the number taken on fly.

In terms of wild fish, the catch of 76 included in the 230 total was the fourth worst of the past twenty years, narrowly beating 1999 (73 fish). That year apart, only in the gloomy post-seatrout-collapse years of 1990 & 1991, when runs were dreadful and fishing effort was much reduced, were sub-80 season totals recorded.

Overall, we view the 2005 grilse run as probably the worst we have seen apart from the horrors of 1990/91. The run was also very late - even later than in the three previous years - and peaked fully four weeks later than was normal in the 1980s & 1990s.

The catch of springers, although numerically respectable, contained a number of fish that were extraordinarily small considering they had been at sea for two full years; many were under 6 pounds in weight, which is completely unprecedented.

Something is going on out at sea, and it is over and above the impact of the Irish nets (although they continue to take an absurd proportion of the runs). Whether it is due to food chain problems or industrial fishing or global warming, or some combination of these, the indisputable facts are that our runs are getting later, numbers are falling and salmon are getting smaller.

We also have a very strong suspicion that there is another factor at play - sea lice killing wild salmon smolts on their outward migration after passing through Killary Harbour. We hope to be able to assess this more clearly in 2006 when the grilse return; all hatchery smolts released in 2005, except for a control group, were treated with an anti-louse agent. We are unsure how effective this will be.

But if it is shown that lice from salmon farms are destroying wild salmon to a significant degree, there is likely to be nuclear war.

Whatever the cause(s), there cannot be a shadow of doubt that Ireland is facing a full-blown conservation crisis and further serious erosion of its plummeting reputation as a salmon angling destination. Without our hatchery, Delphi, too, would be in serious trouble. And even with the hatchery, we really do need more fish than were taken in 2005.

Coming on top of (a) yet another completely disastrous year for seatrout (the worst in twenty years), due entirely to the government’s abject failure to deal with the issue of sea lice on salmon farms, and (b) an awful spring on the great western brown trout lakes, then the salmon slump this year makes it readily apparent that our “green” island is fast haemorrhaging credibility.

Of course, some anglers were successful in 2005 and we congratulate them. There were some good days and even some good weeks. As ever, the weather was a crucial factor and it must be said that the summer did not benefit from much rain and there were serious algal blooms along the coast.

The best salmon of 2005, a shade over 12 pounds, fell to Rocky Moran from Castlebar while fishing Finlough in May. Altogether, just 16 fish of 10 pounds or more were taken in 2005 – compared with 55 in 2004, 43 in 2003, and 40 in 2002.

The best individual bag of the season was taken by Urs Leibundgut, with eleven fish in two visits (comprised of 4 springers and 7 grilse). John Mills had eight fish over several visits. But only eleven anglers caught 4 or more salmon in the season.

It was good to see some of the better bags coming later in the season. Jean Francois Dessaille had a good week in August, with six salmon, including four on his 50 th birthday. And David Rainford had a good week at the end of September, also with six fish.

Twelve new anglers from seven different countries caught their first ever salmon at Delphi in 2005 (see table).

On the sea trout front, the only bright note was the magnificent 7lb 6oz specimen taken by 13-year-old Caleb Morrison from County Antrim, while dapping a natural Daddy Long Legs on Doolough in August. He played it for 30 minutes and then spent almost as much time, under the watchful eye of his father and mother, trying unsuccessfully to revive it.

That apart, the seatrout season was simply dreadful, with just 98 predominantly tiny fish for the whole three months (see table). That is the worst ever season (worse even than 1989/90) and sea trout now look like a write-off.

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