Sheelin trout to 7lb on buzzer, mayfly warming up

Temperatures swung from highs of 18 degrees last Thursday May 3^rd to lows of 2-3 degrees leaving angling on Lough Sheelin erratic and sporadic but still exciting, challenging and worthwhile.

The mayfly hatches are still sparse but it is early days for this lake and the weather particularly at the weekend with the biting cold and heavy showers of rain was not conducive to this delicate winged ‘magical’ insect – Derry pt., Crover and outside Plunkett’s pt. were the main areas were mayfly were visible during the week and particularly at the weekend.

There were big hatches of olives and buzzer, with a good rise of fish feeding on olives predominantly around the Bog Bay/Goreport areas of the lake.  Anglers are reporting that trout seem to be ‘coming up once’ to the olives, possibly twice and then disappearing.

A small number of trout were caught on the green mayfly.

There were some beautiful catches recorded for the week, with the trout of the week being a magnificent 7lb wild fish landed by Peter Boyle from Monaghan on Wednesday May 2^nd using a buzzer.

The popular Sheelin Classic trout competition now in its 8^th year will be run on Lough Sheelin on Sunday June 10^th 2012 – 11am to 6pm.  There will be a 15” size limit and only 2 fish per competitor.  This competition will involve an open draw for partners and entries must be in by June 1^st.  Entry fee is €65 for a boating angler and €85 for non boating, the number of boating anglers will determine the number of non boating anglers

There will be numerous prizes which include:

1^st 19ft Sheelin boat & trailer & crystal

2^nd 5 hp 4 stroke outboard engine & crystal

3^rd €54 & electric engine & crystal

A catch and release policy is actively encouraged on this lake.

Anglers are reminded that they must have an IFI permit to fish this lake.

69 fish were recorded for the week

Best catches were:

• Peter Boyle, Monaghan – 1 at 7 lbs on May 2^nd using a buzzer.
• Patrick Kelly, Mayo – on Monday May 7^th using a dabbler, one trout at over 6lbs.
• Joseph Turnbull, Omagh – on Saturday May 5^th, 1 trout at 5lbs using a sooty olive.
• Gary McKiernan, Cavan – 2 trout at 3½ lbs and 2lbs using a buzzer around Corru and Goreport.
• Thomas Lynch, Kilnaleck, Cavan – 2 trout at 1½ and 2lbs using a buzzer and olive nymph, fishing on May 6^th and 7^th.
• Morris McDevitt, Donegal – on May 2^nd and 3^rd, 3 trout, heaviest weighing in at 3½ lbs, fishing between the Bog Bay and Corru.
• Billy Sweeney, Donegal – using a dry buzzer 3 trout at 1, 1¼ and 1½lbs, all wild fish and all carefully returned.
• Peter McArdle, Dundalk – fishing the bog bay section of the lake, four fish, heaviest was 1¾ lbs on the buzzer.
• Vinny O’Connell, Dundalk – using a claret bumble 1 trout at 2lbs.
• Brendan Corr, Belfast – fishing around Orangefield on May 5^th and 6^th, 4 trout weighing in at 1½, 2, 2¼ and 2½ lbs, all on the dry green mayfly.
• Michael McClusky, Dundalk – 1 trout at 2½ lbs using a green mayfly around Orangefield.
• Ned Clinton, Crover – 3 trout fishing a golden Olive around Wilson’s pt. heaviest was 2½ lbs.
• Martin Connor, Kells – 3 trout using green and claret dabblers around Orangefield, heaviest was 1½ lbs.
• John Mulvanney, Kells – 2 trout, heaviest at 1¾ lbs on May 4^th and 5^th using an olive bumble.
• Niall Carpentar, Balbriggan – using wet flies 3 trout on Saturday May 5^th, 1 at 1½lbs and 2 at over 4lbs, all fish were in excellent condition.

Brenda Montgomery

8^th May, 2012

Michael Flanagan was on on Lough Sheeling this week too…

“I fished Sheelin for 2 days with Marty Smith from England and we encountered some huge fish on the move, but could not get a grip on this super looking trout. Over the 2-days we only managed to boat one small fish each day. Mind you the biggest rise I captured on camera was the light aircraft landing and taking off from Sheelin.”

Michael Flanagan
Pike and Trout angling guide.