Mourne/Derg Report October 2011
Posted by admin on November 1st, 2011 - Comments Off on Mourne/Derg Report October 2011
Mourne The Mourne closed on 20 October but it hardly mattered as the whole month was a wash-out. Flood water poured down the entire system with fresh bands of rain arriving daily from the south-west. A few hardy souls tried their luck and some were successful, mostly spinning, but a few on the fly when the river cleaned and approached a fishable height. For many it was hoped the last week would provide an opportunity to pay a final visit to a favourite spot or a chance to argue the pros and cons of the season with fellow anglers, but no, it was not to be as more heavy rain finished the season prematurely.
Derg A similar story to the rest of the system but it cleaned and dropped to fishable heights more quickly. There was little angling effort to talk of on the lower end and very few fish landed but as usual a fair amount of effort on the upper river above Killeter with a fair few landed and thankfully many returned.
October catches:
3rd Desy Patton 13lb spinning Gravenue
5th Darwin Patton 7lb spinning The Dam
6th T Lynch 4lb and 6lb upper Derg
7th Travis Gough 10lb returned Fly Bigh
20th K Kelly10.5lb spinning The Dam; G Ruddy 14.5lb and 4lb Fly Gravenue returned; Glen Woods 20lb+ fly returned Derg
Summary 2011 The 2011 season will surely be remembered more for the amount of rain and floods than the numbers of fish in the Mourne. Regarding the fish run, everyone has a different take on the season, for some it was a disaster and others it wasn’t so bad. I can only speak for myself as I saw it.
Spring The spring run (April – May) this year saw an improvement on previous seasons with good quality fish averaging 8–12lb and enough fish around in the early season to offer a realistic chance of a fish.
Summer (June–August) brought a welcome return of summer salmon averaging 9–12lb and in reasonable numbers. The grilse run was certainly below what we were expecting considering previous years, but not the disaster some would like us to believe. The story on the Derg is of a slightly improving picture if the catch reports on the upper river are true.
Autumn (Sept–Oct) is more difficult to gauge. There was no evidence of a big back-end run hitting the weir at Sion Mills but as is often the case they could arrive after closing day. With the amount of water pouring down the system it is nigh on impossible to even guess. The most accurate picture might be the catch returns from the Owenkillew around Gortin and here the jury’s out with nothing spectacular to report.
Mark Gough, NM Tackle, Sion Mills
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