Is this the largest salmon ever caught in the North West?
A Lifford angler really 'rocked the fishing boat' when he landed one of the largest salmon ever caught in northwestern waters.
On Tuesday 18th May at 4.30pm, keen angler, Patsy McHugh of Coneyburrow, Lifford, was lazily casting over the waters of the River Foyle in an area which runs at the rear of Lifford Hospital, when he noticed a nibble on his 'Green Highlander size 10' Fly and bubble.
The nibble soon turned to a wild flailing session, rod bending to almost snapping point and reams of 'gut' thrashing between the waters of Northern and Southern Ireland. After what seem an eternity of 40 minutes, with emotions ranging from anticipation and excitement to complete exhaustion, Patsy eventually was able to land on shore on the Donegal side a huge salmon whose size totally 'rippled the scales of his back'.
Patsy was barely able to lift the fish, whose weight was verified by the River Foyle administrators, the Loughs Agency Derry, as being 33lbs and 4oz with a length of 42 inches and a girth of 24 inches.This stretch of water just above Lifford Bridge, where the rivers Finn and Mourne merge with the Foyle is a well-known pool regularly used by the Strabane and Lifford Anglers Association. The 'Border divide' actually runs down the middle of the river at this point. When Patsy displayed the fish on the front garden of his home, anglers and sightseers arrived in droves to marvel at the 'Donegal Catch'.
The Loughs Agency took two separate fibreglass casts. One now hangs in their Derry offfices and Patsy donated the other to a Strabane fishing tackle shop for display. The Agency was able to ascertain that the fish left the river as a two year-old smolt and spent three winters at sea.
Meanwhile the residents of Coneyburrow estate joined in a mammoth barbeque to taste the flavour of the salmon who 'didnt have the knowledge' to stay on the Northern Ireland side of the river!
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Weather for Derry
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 14 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
