Lough Sheelin reinforces its reputation as one of the best trout fishing lakes in Europe

May 6th to May 13th 2012

“The finest gift you can give to any fisherman is to put a good fish back, and who knows if the fish that you caught isn’t someone else’s gift to you”

Lee Wulff

 

Sheelin battled the elements last week with north easterly winds sweeping across the lake on most days accompanied by squally showers of rain, sleet and hail.  Gail force south westerly winds on Sunday last May 13^th made conditions dangerous and more than difficult for the most determined angler.

Yet despite the tough fishing conditions Sheelin did not disappoint its anglers and reinforced its reputation as being one of the best trout fishing lakes in Europe with the catch of the first specimen trout of the season – a magnificent almost 11lb wild trout caught by Gary Connor of Armagh on Saturday May 11^th using a gosling close to the Sally Islands. This fish was released back into the water to fight another day.

The fly life has been sparse on the lake and again this can be attributed to the unseasonably cold weather where temperatures dipped to 1 -2 degrees at night and barely crossed 10 degrees during the day.  There were hatches of Mayfly along the western shore on Saturday and in the more sheltered points along Wilson’s pt. Walkers Bay, Merry pt. and Crover during the week.

The fishing on this lake is very much governed by wind direction, the wind dictates where the fly will be. In cold weather the fish feed deep and are difficult to locate.  The ideal conditions are calm waters or a gentle ripple and of course some bit of warmth which isn’t happening at the moment but it will and when it does, Sheelin will explode into a fisherman’s haven.  We just have to wait…

This week sees the arrival of the teams to fish the now famous International Fly Fishing competition.  This most important and prestigious event in the trout fishing calendar was last held on this lake in 1976 (this competition first started in 1928) so it is a major honour to see its return to us and for that we have to thank the Lough Sheelin Protection Association who achieved this major coup.

The teams (14 anglers to each team) are from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales and will fish 3 prematch days starting tomorrow May 15^th with the official competition date being Friday May 18^th.

All is fair in fishing and war and we wish all teams the best of luck and tight lines but we’ll keep our fingers crossed for the Irish !

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.

108 trout were recorded for the week, fish averaged 1¾ – 2½ lbs.

Flies featuring predominantly are the Welshman’s Button, Gosling, Octopus, Green Mayfly, Black Pennell, Fiery Brown, Thunder & Lighting, Buzzer, French Partridge, Green Wulff and Black Mayfly Nymph – to a non fishing person these names look like a line up for the Grand National……..

 

Some catches were:

Alan Hughes, Mountnugent, Cavan –on May 11^th at the end of Bog Bay, one trout at 5lbs using a gosling.

Father and son – Michael and Gary Leddy from Stradone, Cavan caught 3 trout using wet green mayflies, heaviest was 3lbs.

Shane McQuillan – one trout at 2½ lbs on a dark green dabbler.

Robert Whyte, Dublin – wet fly fishing using a mayfly two trout at 2 and 2½ lbs.

Robert Reilly, Galway – one trout at 3lbs using a wet mayfly.

Joe McKay, Ballymoney – one trout at 1½ lbs using a claret dabbler at Merry pt. on May12th.

Dessie McEntee, Cavan – Dessie’s favourite fly is an octopus as he maintains that it is the only fly is catching for him and its working with 3 lovely trout for the week weighing in at 2½, 2½ and 2¾ lbs, all caught around Wilsons/Holywell area of the lake

A 3½ lb trout caught on May 9^th by Gary McKiernan, Cavan

Martin Connor, Armagh – on May 11^th one fish at 2lbs using a green dabbler around Summerville.  4 trout on May 12^th averaged 2½ – 3½ lbs caught on a buzzer and mayfly.

Gary Connor, Armagh – as well as catching the trout of the month (so far) Gary caught a 2lb fish on friday using a dabbler along the Western shore and two trout on Saturday averaging 2½ -3½ lbs on a balling buzzer.

Alan Hughes, Clones – fishing in Goreport on Friday May 11^th, two trout, heaviest at 3½ lbs using a black buzzer.

David Taylor, Northern Ireland – one trout at 2½ lbs on an octopus.

Vinny Hughes, Clones – 3 trout on Wednesday heaviest was 2½ lbs, two fish on Saturday May 11^th on the dry, heaviest was over 4lbs in Goreport.  Vinny comments that although there are a lot of fish ‘they are hard got’.

On May 8^th ghillied by Lough Sheelin guiding services (web site www.loughsheelinguiding) a visiting UK angler Merlin Unwin of Merlin books returned to Sheelin after an absence of 18 years and landed himself a lovely 2lb trout and lost another using mayfly patterns but Mr Unwin will not leave it this long again to return.

 

Billy Quail, Drumcree – fishing on Monday and Tuesday using a buzzer in the Bog Bay – 6 trout, heaviest was 3lbs.

Donegal men Michael McCluskey and Morris McDevitt battled through the winds last Sunday to catch 4 trout on the dry green mayfly averaged 2¾ – 3½ lbs, fishing in Holywell.

Brenda Montgomery