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Delphi Fishery Report - 1999

More springers than grilse in strange year

A great early run of large salmon, most of them tagged fish released as smolts two years earlier, made for record catches at Delphi in the spring of 1999. Over 100 springers were landed by the end of May, matching the best ever early season of 1995.

The average weight of the fish was over ten pounds and the great majority were fresh, deep and very sporting. The best two weighed over sixteen pounds and were the heaviest fish caught at Delphi since 1989. More salmon over twelve pounds were caught in 1999 than ever before - and more than all the preceding four years put together.

The summer grilse runs, however, were very poor, with just 102 fish caught, exactly half of which were tagged hatchery fish. This modest total contrasts with the 979 grilse caught in the previous record-breaking season.

Salmon catches seems to be becoming more and more volatile. The humble catch total for 1999 of just 229 salmon followed the massive bag of 1043 in 1998, which in turn followed a super 765 in 1997 and a lowly 217 in 1996. While a significant element of this volatility is due to variations in our hatchery releases from year to year, the biggest factor by far is the hugely variable marine survival rate of salmon.

Something odd is happening to the fish at sea and we don't know what it is.

The poor grilse survival in 1999 was fairly universal throughout Ireland and Scotland. Theories abound but facts are scarce. The four main theories centre on (a) exceptional predation (by seals or by some other fish deprived of its normal fodder, perhaps through industrial fishing), (b) a new disease (infectious salmon anaemia?), (c) interception by man (not by obvious coastal nets, which fared only quite well, but perhaps by industrial fishing boats), or (d) feeding environment problems (changes in sea temperatures, currents or food chain components). Take your pick. We favour theory (d), but who knows?

There are those who cling to the hope that the missing grilse will return as springers in 2000. A delightful notion, but not one to which we attach any credence.

The number of smolts setting out to sea in 1998 (to make grilse in 1999) appears to have been normal or better than normal. At nearby Burrishoole (the only accurate counting station in Europe) the wild smolt exodus was the best since 1982. So the problem does not appear to be in freshwater.

If you strip the hatchery fish out of the Delphi statistics and focus solely on wild fish, the total catch of just 73 fish was the third worst since 1986 and the grilse component was down to half that of the previous two good years. But at least the drop was only half.

The hatchery fish fared somewhat worse. Even after adjusting for a big drop in the number of fish released and a change in the mix of stock used, the results were still dire. In terms of their "survival to the rod", some groups of tagged fish were down by 90% on their equivalent groups of the previous year.

Some of the drop in salmon catches can be explained by proportionately higher netting attrition in 1999 - 1998 had been exceptionally wet and fish ran into rivers very easily. Also, the tagged fish were bigger in 1999 than for some time and it is likely that a higher proportion would have meshed in coastal nets than in 1998, when the runs included large numbers of very small, un-nettable fish.

There is also no doubt that the angling conditions were better in 1998 than in 1999; in the very wet 1998 season Burrishoole had its best ever run and its highest ever exploitation rate by rods - 33%, (compared with a normal 10-15%). Based on our broodstock netting this winter, there were a lot more grilse around in 1999 than the rod catches would imply.

Nonetheless, a close study of catch statistics for hatchery-origin fish shows a major drop in marine survival that is clearly unconnected with Irish netting or with angling conditions.. At the two other fisheries where large smolt release programmes are in place - Burrishoole in Mayo and the Ranga in Iceland - catches of tagged fish also plummeted in 1999.

Delphi's salmon catches are summarised and analysed in the various tables. Despite the poor grilse run, there were many highlights to the season, not least the two whoppers caught by Michael Hayes (Dublin) and Nick Semple (Belfast) and the even bigger fish lost by Mike Shortt (Enniskillen) after a long battle on Finlough (witnessed by Peter Mantle, who estimated the fish at 18-20 pounds).

Terry Deeny (USA) deserves special mention for his remarkable bag on his first ever morning's Atlantic salmon fishing - three fish weighing 35 pounds from Finlough. And Leen Mulckhyse (South Africa) boated a monster trout from Doolough in June, probably a ferox and probably around 9 pounds.

Urs Liebundgut (Switzerland), who spent much of the summer at Delphi, took a specimen sea trout on the dap and ended the season as joint top salmon rod with 14 fish, catching his 100th Delphi salmon in the process. Walter Langenberger (Germany) also had 14 salmon for the season and passed an even bigger milestone in taking his 200th Delphi salmon since he first visited us in 1988.

Andy Smith (Edinburgh) floated his way into Delphi history by catching two salmon while bobbing around (somewhat absurdly, it must be said) in a glorified truck tyre on Finlough. This float-tubing first was all the more remarkable given that it was very rough at the time and Finlough was filthy in the wake of a huge September flood. Ten out of ten for dedication, self-belief and entertainment. But don't all rush out and buy one - we may yet ban these Tellytubby gismos for all but mad Scotsmen.

The idea of releasing one's first ever salmon would shock most anglers. Yet this year three people - Toby Lemensiek from Germany, Sophie Lemouche from France and Graham Morris from England - did just that because the fish were wild. Very noble. In all, 74% of wild salmon were released alive by Delphi anglers - the highest proportion ever.

Weather during the season was unexceptional, with no great extremes of drought or rainfall except for a huge flood in mid-September which caused a major landslide into Finlough and effectively knocked out both the lake and the river for more than a week.

Taking the twelve months to October 1999, rainfall was a little above average at 109 inches, largely due to a very wet mid-winter. Late May and early June were pretty dry again (this seems to be becoming the norm) but rain in late June could not have been better timed and the poor catch results were therefore hugely disappointing. Even the few fresh grilse that were around seemed to have little interest in taking a fly.

First Ever Salmon in 1999

Congratulations to the following who caught their first ever salmon during the season:
Ross Conover USA
Terry Deeny USA
Kyle Deckler England
Anne Forbes England
Anne Gardiner USA
Hai Hoc-Uu Vietnam
Gareth Keenan Ireland
Edgar Jaras Norway
Martin Joyce Luxemburg
Toby Lemensiek Germany
Sophie Lemouche France
Benedict Leonard N Ireland
Graham Morris England
Philip Newby England
Falk Schweitzer Germany
Flo Schweitzer Germany
Konstantin Stahlnecht Germany
Denny van den Akker USA

All in all, a forgettable summer. But, oh, what a spring.

Forecast: Our fish forecasting abilities at Delphi have always been a bit iffy and are complicated by meteorological extremes. But we predict that the spring of 2000 will be "middling", the poor grilse survival in 1999 being a negative that should be mitigated in part by the high proportion of Delphi spring fish in the relevant smolt release of 1998.

We predict that the summer of 2000 will be very good for grilse, because we released more smolts in 1999 (76,000) than ever before. The runs will not reach the giddy heights of 1998 or 1997, however, since there were far fewer Burrishoole grilse stock in the smolt release than in those preceding the great years. But, all other things being equal, it should be very good. And the spring of 2001 should be absolutely fantastic…………….

Mediocre sea trout catches as lice recur

Large numbers of lice-infested sea trout were seen in the lower river pools of the Bundorragha in May and June. These damaged, prematurely-returning fish were more numerous than in any year since 1995 (although they were nothing like as plentiful as in that year or in 1989/90). The increase did not bode well for the summer's sea trout fishing.

In the event, the sea trout catches were indeed down on 1998 (667 versus 769) and the average size failed to improve. The drop was especially disappointing in view of the increased sea trout fishing effort prompted by the relative lack of grilse.

Nonetheless, some good sport was had on Finlough on calm July evenings and dapping on Doolough during August and September was often productive.

The worst news of the year came when Killary Salmon Co Ltd was licensed to almost treble its farm production over coming years. This incredible decision by the new Aquaculture Licence Appeals Board came despite major, well-argued objections from the Central Fisheries Board, the Western Fisheries Board, the Western Gamefishing Association, Save Our Seatrout and many other groups, as well as Delphi.

The Board's failure to impose a limit on the total number of lice permitted on the farm was breathtakingly irresponsible and deeply depressing, not least because such a limit had been in place, by agreement with the farm, since 1997. The future of Delphi's sea trout stocks is now anybody's guess and increasingly depends on the outcome of litigation against the State (see below).
Department of Marine now main target of sea trout litigation as farms commit to lower lice

The major lawsuit initiated by several Connemara and Mayo fisheries in the wake of the sea trout collapse is nearing a climax, with the Department of Marine expected to face a full High Court hearing during the coming year.

The salmon farming co-defendants have now all signed up to a deal whereby they have to adhere to specified maximum lice levels for at least three years and open their farms for inspection. So long as the farms comply, the case against them is set aside, leaving the sea trout fisheries free to go after what they see as the primary culprit, the Department.

The main case will now focus on the alleged failure of the
Department to police the salmon farming industry properly and to protect the wild sea trout. The sea trout fisheries have raised over half a million pounds with which to fight their case. The case will be closely followed in Scotland, Norway and Canada, where wild salmon and sea trout interests are battling similar problems.

During 1999 the scientific case linking salmon farms with the collapse of sea trout and wild salmon has strengthened immeasurably. Even top government scientists in the UK, previously deeply sceptical, now accept that the evidence of a link is overwhelming. Also now emerging is clear evidence of lice damage to wild salmon as well as trout.

Sea Trout Catches: 1986 & 1997-99

Note: Weights for 1997-99 are estimates only. The totals for those years are also likely to be overstated through duplicate catches (c.10%) and overoptimistic weight estimates (c.15%). * = Includes some fish under 8oz

Peter O'Reilly flyfishing courses in 2000

Peter O'Reilly, Ireland's top flyfishing teacher, will once again be holding a number of courses at Delphi next year. There will be four weekend courses for beginners and one full-week course for those with some experience who want to progress to a more advanced level of fishing skill. The full week course is a new addition to the Delphi repetoire.

The weekend courses focus on the basics of flyfishing and flycasting and participants will acquire sufficient know-how and technique to go out flyfishing with confidence. The cost is £395 which includes full board accommodation and all tuition; single room supplement £60. The courses are limited to eight people and start on a Thursday night, finishing after lunch on Sunday. The dates for 2000 are:

February 10th to 13th
March 9th to 12th
May 11th to 14th
September 21st to 24th

Peter's full-week Advanced Course, which will include extensive guided fishing and which is limited to just six participants, will run from

Saturday April 8th to Saturday April 15th .

The Advanced Week Course costs £895 and includes all accommodation, meals, fishing and tuition. Single room supplement £140.

New fishy books available at Delphi

Three new books are available at Delphi. Sean Nixon, the retired fishery inspector for Connemara and Ballinakill, has written a wonderfully gritty little autobiography called "Guarding the Silver - A Life with Salmon and Seatrout". Those who know Sean will appreciate his blunt style, his unrivalled knowledge and his huge collection of fishing and poaching anecdotes. Delphi features quite a lot. The book costs £10 plus postage & packing and proceeds from Delphi's small stock of the book will be donated to the Save Our Seatrout campaign.

A new edition of The Delphi Salmon Fishing Guide has now been produced. This Guide is the brainchild of Freddie Ibbotson and incorporates the combined knowledge of Delphi's most successful anglers. Printed in full-colour on plastic paper and spiral bound, the updated book of river and lake maps is fully waterproof and small enough to fit into most pockets. High production costs and the small print run (300) make for an extortionately high price (£25 plus P&P), but we think this slim little tome is worth every penny.

The long overdue booklet "A Review of Delphi's Salmon Stocking Programme" will, Sarah McEvoy assures us, definitely be available for the start of the new season in February. Delayed by Sarah's (successful) pregnancy in 1999, this book pulls together all the results of Delphi's smolt releases since 1991 and analyses tag recoveries from rods, from broodstock trapping, and from coastal and high seas nets. Of particular interest are the amazingly different results of using different types of broodstock, especially in relation to spring salmon catch enhancement. The booklet will cost £15 plus P&P.

Searching for a manager - can you help?

Every few years rumours of the sale of Delphi fizz along the angling grapevine. The price quoted is always a million pounds and we have had many a chuckle in the past at these ludicrous stories. This year, however, there is a particularly tenacious story going the rounds that "Mantle has sold out" which seems to have emanated from Peter Mantle's efforts to find a new manager for Delphi Lodge.

For the record, Peter is looking for someone really good to help relieve him of some responsibility for day-to-day operations, thereby allowing him to write a book and explore additional fishing ventures, while maintaining active oversight of Delphi.

We have recently advertised for such a manager (the ad is reproduced below) and anyone who knows somebody who they think might be suitable should contact Peter at Delphi. In essence, we are looking for a younger, better and more energetic version of Peter, who, as everyone knows, is well past his "sell by" date. A large and all-liquid finder's fee will be paid to the successful fixer.

3-night minimum stay now de rigeur at Delphi

In order to counter the atmospheric disruption caused by the growing number of one-night visitors to Delphi Lodge, we have brought in a new general requirement that all guests must stay for at least three nights.

Delphi is first and foremost a fishing lodge and it was particularly noted for its great atmosphere. In recent years, however, it has become more and more like a hotel with a vast turnover of guests, many of them unfamiliar with the country house concept and many on a madcap dash around Ireland.

Non-fishing guests are - and always have been - very, very welcome at Delphi. Over the years we have made many great non-fishing friends. But there really isn't any point in coming to Delphi for just one night, even less so if guests don't join the dinner table. The whole point of Delphi is to enjoy the houseparty atmosphere and to take the time to fully relax.

Doubtless our new policy will lose us some guests. So be it; we regard the basic atmosphere of Delphi as more important than squeezing the maximum possible revenue.

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