The Mayfly has made its annual appearance on Lough Derg – a few weeks earlier than most anglers would like. For the past week there have been hatches in some of the shallow parts of the lake, especially Dromineer Bay where two of us had five small fish on Sunday last on dries.The action was fairly good. We met at least eight more fish, but they were all small. But at least it’s good to see evidence of trout in Derg, as the lake has seen a falloff in catches over the past five mayfly seasons.
There were also sparse hatches in Luska Bay and some in Youghal Bay, hopefully heralding the start of good fishing activity over the next few weeks. There are no signs of the spent gnat yet – milder weather than we are experiencing at present will be a prerequisite.
Some trout are also being caught in areas of the lake where there are not yet mayfly hatches. Concentrating on the shallow margins with standard wetfly patters such as dabblers and bumbles could get you a few fish. Some anglers have been successful with this method in recent days.
Peter Gleeson,
Angling Correspondent Nenagh Guardian
