Sheelin trout stick to the deeper cooler water as the heat persists

Lough Sheelin Angling Report By Brenda Montgomery, IFI July 8th – July 14th 2013

For the supreme test of a fisherman is not how many fish he has caught, not even how he has caught them, but what he has caught when he has caught no fish.” – John H. Bradley

The tranquil beauty of Sheelin

The sun beat relentlessly down on Sheelin all week with temperatures each day reaching between 26 – 27 degrees with Tuesday topping the poll at 30 degrees.  The lake in its mirror like beauty was frequented during the day mainly by sun worshipers and those seeking that much sought after tan. There were very few day time anglers and for those day light hours Sheelin was wrapped in a peaceful calm with very little surfacing of fish.  Anglers waited till the evening time – after 9pm and also the early mornings as in 4am onwards before they ventured out onto the lake.

There is no doubt that whereas Lough Sheelin’s water quality will always need our attention, Lough Sheelin’s trout seem to be able to look after themselves.

As the temperatures soared the fish sunk deeper into the cooler more oxygenated depths of the lake with precious little surfacing during the day time heat.  The top layer of water was hot so who could blame the trout for not swimming through that thermal layer.

During the day the lake was left to the myriad of hatching insects, the lily pads with their flowers exploding their seeds on to the lake’s surface and the shoals of perch and roach fry.

Mayfly – July 10^th Lough Sheelin

The gap between the mayfly and the sedge fishing is a renowned sluggish time for fishing on Sheelin and this fact coupled with the current heat wave has lulled Sheelin’s daytime fishing into a complete ‘Rip Van Winkle’ state.

Nature undoubtedly dictates the pace of what happens out on this lake and not man, and that considering some of the mess ups humans have created should be something we should all be very grateful for. It is as if Sheelin gave its anglers a taste of what it is capable of (with the spectacular mayfly season) and now has pulled back to show us who is boss.

But Sheelin’s trout fishing will pick up again, a few more weeks, a drop in temperature by 5 degrees, abit of a breeze and we will be in business again, thrown into the throes of a great sedge fishing for August and September when the trout will undoubtedly rise again to give the anglers the sport, fight and excitement that they are well aware that this lake can produce.

The best time to go fishing on the lake at the moment is definitely just before night fall for the murrough and also for the more dedicated trout angler – early morning, from 4am onwards when there are good hatches of caenis on the lake particularly around Goreport, the Bog Bay, Derrysheridan and Corru.

Caenis requires precision fishing – a cast landing the imitation 3” right in front of the trout, any further back and it just doesn’t happen. Caenis are notoriously hard to represent, there will always be other flies in the water, usually a small sedge but trying a 2 fly cast with a caenis pattern on the point and a small sedge as the top dropper can be successful, the smaller the pattern the better – up to a size 16 if at all possible. A size 8 long shank F1 lime green Baby Doll pulled fast when the fish are fixated on caenis can get a reaction sometimes. Normally when caenis appear it’s a struggle to see them, they are just too small.  Too small to imitate with a fly pattern anyway, so tactics and techniques need to be employed to focus on the fish’s instinct for feeding competition. Normally a small emerger, under the surface, with some movement, but every angler has his preferred tactic for the caenis hatch.  Caenis is definitely not the easiest and has beaten a lot of anglers, it’s not called the ‘The Fisherman’s Curse’ for nothing.

Caenis

Lough Sheelin July 2013

There were great hatches of sedge on the lake during the week although during the day time these were inclined to stay air borne with very few actually landing on the lake’s surface.

Mayfly are still present in small numbers on the lake, apparently reluctant to take their leave for another year but the trout are not interested in them.

Trout are reported to rise just once and then no more so the angler has to be quick.  Along the western shore around Orangefield and up around Arley, Hollywell and Church Island saw the most movement of fish.

There is plenty of simillium on the surface and the fish are feeding on them.  There are also good buzzer hatches around Goreport, Derrysheridan and the Bog Bay areas.

There are still impressive shoals of perch fry around Plunketts Point, Kilnahard, Derrysheridan and Goreport in particular and the only way for the angler to handle these is to either avoid the areas where they are or to fish those sections using a good brightly coloured fly like the Dunkeld.

The flies that worked well on the lake this week were the small brown sedge, the Jack Flash, the Dunkeld, Greenwell’s Glory, the Buzzer, the Claret Bodied Murrough, Murrough (8) Green Peter (wet and dry), the Raymond, The Baby Doll, Golden Olive Bumble (10), the Fiery Brown, hoppers and the Cock Robin (10).

The Jack Flash

The Dunkeld

The Caenis

The Lough Sheelin Protection Association’s Youth Day at Kilnahard, Lough Sheelin

On Saturday July 13^th the LSTPA in conjunction with Recreational Angling Ireland held their annual youth angling day at Lough Sheelin.  This very successful and popular event involved teaching the 5 to 16 year old enthusiastic participants how to tie flies, cast and then fish on the lake.  There was a Bar B Q and prizes and certificates were awarded to everyone.  The Club has been running this event for 15 years with the main objective being the promotion of young people into angling and going on last Saturday’s numbers and excitement they are achieving their objective.

Fly tying is a serious business – 4 year old Shay Little, Mountnugent at the LSTPA youth angling day on July 13^th at Lough Sheelin.

The Tara Mines Angling Club ran their annual fishing competition on Sheelin on Sunday last and despite the fish being sluggish a good day was had by all.

The LSTPA will be hosting The McDonald cup on Lough Sheelin on 10^th August.  Fishing is from 12noon-6pm from Kilnahard pier with an entry fee of €20.  The competition was held on a catch and release basis last year and was judged as being a very successful event so because of that will continue to be a catch & release competition. Measures will be provided for all boats competing.  The cup will be awarded for the longest fish and all other prizes will be allocated on the basis of an open draw to be held at the end of the competition.  The LSTPA will have a number of prizes on the day and they view this competition as a means to recognise and thank members for their support during the year.  for further information contact Eamon Ross @ 087 9436655 or Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033

Erich from Switzerland with his lovely Sheelin trout

Gary McKiernan – Lough Sheelin Guiding

Aengus Byrne happy with his Lough Sheelin catch

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

Trevor McKenna, Monaghan letting his catch back into Sheelin

Please remember anglers to abide by BYE-LAW 790 – we need to keep our small fish alive……………

The trout of the week was caught by John Murphy, Crover weighing in at over 3lbs

on a small dry sedge

Total number of trout recorded: 28

Selection of Catches

Pat Brady – July 11^th 1 trout at 2 ½ lbs on a murrough.

Simon Hunter, Dublin – July 12^th after 11pm 1 trout at 2lbs on a murrough.

John Reilly, Enfield – July 11^th 1 trout at 1 ½ lbs on a small dry sedge.

Mathew Farmer, Dublin – July 11^th 1 trout at 1 ¾ lbs on a dunkeld fishing at Goreport.

Brenda Montgomery IFI