Brenda Montgomery, IFI reports from Lough Sheelin – April 15th to April 21st 2013:

Only an extraordinary person would purposely risk being outsmarted by a creature often less than twelve inches long, over and over again.
~ Janna Bialek

Early morning at Crover, Lough Sheelin April 15th

Sheelin was dogged this week by days of wild blustery south to south westerly winds which tore across the lake and on some days reached gale force. The windy conditions continued on right up to the weekend which made fishing the lake near impossible and precarious on Wednesday when winds reached speeds of up to 90km/hour, the lake looked like churned up milky tea and in one local angler’s words ‘sure it would be like fishing on the sea that day’ and maybe it would have been but there are some anglers who have sea legs and it didn’t stop Armagh men Martin and his son David O’Connor tentatively venturing out and Martin landing a beautiful 8 ½ – 9 lb trout using a claret dabbler and David also catching 3 trout averaging 2 – 3lbs, all of which were carefully released to live to fight another day.

Martin O’Connor with his 8 ½ – 9lb trout caught in gale force conditions on April 17th

The day time temperatures steadily remained at over 10 degrees and on some occasions reached the ‘near tropical’ heights of 15. Fly life is still poor to verging on non-existent on the lake although a cone of buzzer was spotted around the sailors garden on Sunday afternoon/evening.
It is still all wet fly and lure fishing, no sign of the dry fly moving in.The Dabbler remains in the dominant position with the claret, peter ross and green dabbler proving to be the most successful but the cock robin, hare’s ear, silver invicta and glister Ollie are still hanging in there. Lures are the minkies and humongous.
All areas of Sheelin are fishing well and the only thing that governs where the angler chooses to go is the wind, for instance on Wednesday the waves were beating off the shore at Wilson’s pt and seemed to an ever hopeful angler a likely spot to hold ‘a big lad’ that same angler momentarily struck gold when a 5 lb plus trout came to the side of the boat but as he stood the fish suddenly woke up and took blistering runs to the depths then disaster struck in that the angler’s line broke and the fish was gone and how did that happen – he had made the fatal error of stepping on the line………….

David O’Connor, Armagh with his 6 ½ trout caught on Sunday April 21st using a dabbler
David O’Connor, Armagh with his 6 ½ trout caught on Sunday April 21st using a dabbler

Sheelin is gathering speed and the weekend with the mild temperatures showed a big increase in catches.

Lough Sheelin is starting to’ bubble’ with fish and if the weather behaves itself this lake is going to stretch to its full potential and become every anglers dream.

Andrew Browne (loughsheelinguidingservices.com) with his trout of 3 ¼ lbs caught in stormy conditions on Sheelin on Wednesday April 17th
Andrew Browne (loughsheelinguidingservices.com) with his trout of 3 ¼ lbs caught in stormy conditions on Sheelin on Wednesday April 17th
Paul Lunny, Cavan with his beautiful 4 ½ lb trout caught on Sunday April 21st using a Peter Ross Dabbler
Paul Lunny, Cavan with his beautiful 4 ½ lb trout caught on Sunday April 21st using a Peter Ross Dabbler

The popular Sheelin Classic trout competition now in its 9th year will be run on Lough Sheelin on Sunday June 9th 2013 – 11am to 6pm. This is a heaviest fish competition with 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 May 31st. Entry fee is €70 for a boating angler and €90 a non boating angler. Entry fee includes a meal in Crover House after the competition

There will be numerous prizes (up to 10 ) which include:

1st 19ft Sheelin boat & trailer & crystal & the coveted Davey O’Connor perpetual cup

2nd 5 hp 4 stroke outboard engine & crystal

This is a competition well worth marking in your diary and because of the popularity of the Sheelin Classic and to avoid disappointment, it is advisable to secure your entry sooner rather than later by contacting Noel McLoughlin at 087 2179460 for further information

A catch & release policy is actively encouraged on the lake at all times

Please remember anglers that the size limit on this lake is 30 cm (11.8 inches) – we need our small fish alive…….

East Coast Angling club members taking a break from their Sheelin competition on the Ross shoreline
East Coast Angling club members taking a break from their Sheelin competition on the Ross shoreline
Gary McKiernan with his 4 ¼ lb trout caught April 17th
Gary McKiernan with his 4 ¼ lb trout caught April 17th

Catch of the week was a 8 ½ – 9 lb trout caught by Martin Connor, Armagh on April 17th using a claret dabbler

Total catches recorded: 79

Selection of Catches

Martin and David O’Connor, Armagh – Wednesday April 17th, Martin caught his record 8 ½ – 9 lb trout and David caught 3 trout ranging from 2 – 3 lbs in weight, all caught on claret dabblers. On Sunday April 21st both men were out again this time David landed 4 fish best of which was 6 ½ lbs with the others ranging between 1 ½ – 2 ½ lbs, while Martin took 1 trout at 4 ½ lbs.

Gary McKiernan (loughsheelinguidingservices.com) – on April 17th 2 trout at 4 ¼ and 2 ½ lbs, on Saturday 4 trout heaviest weighed in at 2 ½ lbs and on Sunday April 21st 1 trout at 1 ½ lbs. All these fish were caught on a silver dabbler and all were released.

Andrew Brown, Dublin – on Wednesday 3 trout, heaviest at 3 ¼ lbs using a silver dabbler.

Noel McLoughlin & Brendan Moran, Kells – using lures, 2 trout weighing in at 3 and 4lbs.

Dessie McEntee, Cavan – on April 17th, 1 trout at 4 ½ lbs on a green dabbler in Ross bay. Dessie reported a lot of movement of fish and great fishing between 4 – 5pm then it just stopped.

Gene Brady, Cavan – 1 trout at 2 ½ lbs.

On Saturday April 20th a visiting Offaly angler landed himself a lovely 3 ½ lb trout in Goreport on a dabbler.

David McBride, Dublin – 5 trout at 4 ½, 3 ½, 2 ¾ , 2 ½ and 1 ½ lbs on lures.

John Brennan, Longford – on Saturday April 20th 1 trout at 4 ½ lb using a peter ross dabbler.

Alan Murray fishing with Noel Shiels – 3 trout at 1 ¾ – 3 ½ lbs using a sooty olive and a pearly dabbler.

William Craig, Antrim and Harry Graham, Belfast – 3 trout ranging in weight between 1 ½ – 3 lbs, caught using a sooty olive

Eamon Ross fishing with Paul Lunny, Ballyconnell – 3 trout on Saturday April 20th, heaviest at 4 ½ lb, rest ranging in weight between 1 ¾ – 2 ½ lbs. 4 trout on Sunday April 21st heaviest again was 4 ½ lbs with the rest of the fish weighing in at 1 ½ – 2 ½ lbs, best fly used was the peter ross dabbler.

Gary McKiernan (loughsheelinguidingservices.com) releasing his 4 ¼ lb trout caught on April 17th
Gary McKiernan (loughsheelinguidingservices.com) releasing his 4 ¼ lb trout caught on April 17th

Brenda Montgomery, IFI

Lough Sheelin