Mourne/Derg Report week ending 28 July 2012
Posted by admin on July 31st, 2012 - Comments Off on Mourne/Derg Report week ending 28 July 2012
Conditions on the rivers: high on the Mourne, low on the Derg! The week started well with the Mourne in lovely order on Sunday and Monday. Heavy rain on Monday brought the river up overnight rendering it out on Tuesday. The Derg also rose but unfortunately dropped overnight leaving the river a bit low during Tuesday. By Wednesday the Mourne, although very peat-stained, began to fish again. For the remainder of the week, the Mourne was in good order again, suffering a bit from heavy showers pushing it up a couple of inches only to immediately start dropping again.
Fish have been running hard all week! Several times I counted between 20–40 per hour taking the weir at Sion with ease, a good mixture of grilse and salmon in double figures. There have been a lot of fish landed and thankfully many returned. Poachers on the Mourne and Derg re-appeared as soon as the water levels dropped. The Dam at Sion, the Water Works above Ardstraw, and above Castlederg town have all received some unwanted attention. It’s also sad to report that the annual pilgrimage of shrimpers have descended on the upper Derg doing their best to undo the good work done by anglers returning fish. How can these individuals call themselves anglers! Difficult for local bailiffs to patrol and some times faced with hostility we owe a debt of gratitude to those who are willing to patrol the river banks both day and night.
Below is only a fraction of fish that were landed this week.
Mourne
Sunday, 22 July: Nigel Gough 4 & 5lb (both returned), Blackstone; Travis Gough 9lb, Higgins Stream (returned); P Donaghy 1 fish, Lords Hole; P Monaghan 15lb, Sion
Monday, 23 July: Shane McAleer 7lb, Victoria Bridge; S Corrigan 5lb, Stralag; A Dunn 6lb, Liskey; Jamie Magee 5lb, Gravenue
Wednesday, 25 July: J Harron 4½ & 13lb (returned),Victoria Bridge
Sunday, 28 July: G Wolf 2 fish, Sion
The outlook is still unsettled for the coming week with rain forecast. With the amount of fish in the system the Strule and Owenkillew should come into play from now until the seasons close.
Mark Gough, NM Tackle, Sion Mills Tel: +44 (0)28 8165 9501
Web: www.nmtackle.com Email:
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