Lough Sheelin Angling Report By Brenda Montgomery, IFI – July 28th– August 3rd 2014
‘Everyone is a child in the eyes of a lake’ … Herb Curtis
Bracing himself for the big one – River Houston, Enniskellan
This week Lough Sheelin rested under sultry grey skies and a persistent clammy heat with some rain fall and light winds followed by heavier rain sweeping in on Friday night and into the weekend which brought with it a much needed ‘breaking and freshening up’ of the lake’s surface water. We have moved into the month of August where the now noticeable autumnal darkness is gradual spreading like an unwelcome cloak over the evening fishing. August tends to be one of those months that gets mistakenly ‘written off’ by some fly fishermen as being too hard and too slow to fish but for Sheelin this can be a great month and provide a haven of peacefulness and great trout catches for the serious trout fisherman. This month, often angling numbers are significantly reduced on the lake (exhausted perhaps from the mayfly mania as well as maybe going abroad or elsewhere on summer holidays) and so this superb trout lake stretches out in front of us all – still full, almost to its peak holding capacity of wild brown trout – because they don’t just disappear for this month and reappear in September…….
Dave McPhail’s Caddis Pupa
August is the month for exploring this lake, a month for finding out what makes the Sheelin trout ‘take’. During the warm evenings, the Pale Watery or Pale Evening Dun is a fly to watch out for in the deeper middle section of the lake. The damselfly nymph is an important source of food for the trout particularly in the early afternoons but conditions need to be right.
For this week, however the sedges still dominated top position with the best fishing being during the late evenings, dusk and that first drop into nightfall, when the trout were feeding mainly on the small brown sedges with an occasional Green Peter being taken around Inchacup, off Lynch’s pt. and around Watty’s rock. Everything on this lake is weather dependent and conditions were ideal for many days this week with a combination of warmth stretching beyond dark with little or no wind. The general rule of thumb is that if there are insects on the surface then the trout will rise to feed on them. August with its slightly cooling night time temperatures is a paradise for the dry fly fisherman.
The number of fish caught this week were disappointingly low but this was primarily due to the fact that very few anglers fished the lake but as Sheelin angler Mick Kelly correctly reminds me ‘if you are not out there, you are not going to catch fish’ which is very true. The Sheelin trout are not going to give themselves up and the anglers seem in general reluctant to put in the time to take on the challenge during these warm summer weeks and the plain fact is that if you do put in the time (and patience) into fishing this lake, you will undoubtedly catch trout.
Nigel McBerwick, Scotland with his 6 pound Sheelin beauty
The flies that are presiding most on the lake are the sedges, daddies and hoppers with caenis, buzzer and bloodworm fishing showing now and then when conditions suit. There were also good hatches of the apple green midge particularly around the bog bay area and at Chambers were the lake weed is starting its natural die back.
The sedge is in top position on this lake right now and can be seen in their seemingly millions, carpeting the surface in the early evenings and at dusk. Once mature, the sedge pupa bites its way out of its protective case before swimming to the surface. This stage is one of the most little fished by the fly angler and can lead to many anglers being baffled by the trout. Many times over the past weeks anglers have been perplexed by the trout as they witness spectacular rises with the surface water literally boiling with fish but where the trout have ignored every surface pattern thrown at them and this is often because they are changing around taking sedge pupae just sub-surface, it’s worth remembering.
With sedge fishing on Sheelin and probably on other trout lakes, the one fishing line that rules supreme is the floater because of its versatility. A lot of people might dismiss a floater as only being for surface fishing but this isn’t true. Yes, when it comes to fishing flies on the surface it’s the only one, but fish a weighted pattern and every time you retrieve you draw the fly up in the water column, then you let go of the line and the pattern falls back towards the bottom. If you look at the sedge pupae and the buzzer they behave in exactly the same way.
The trout this week were mainly caught on the final stage of the sedge lifecycle – that adult with its tent-shaped wings and characteristically long antennae, it’s hard to miss. Although some species are active during the day, such as grannon, most of the sedge hatches occur in the evenings and at night-time when the adults return to the water’s surface to lay their eggs and are often seen skittering across the water giving the dry fly angler some pulse racing sport but this doesn’t last for long sometimes as little as 30 minutes so it’s important to put in the time and be out there at that crucial feeding time. Sedges are more or less found everywhere on the lake but the majority of anglers never get to see the serious action because most of them are usually off the water by the time the hatch is underway. Moonlight is a great time for the adults to come back to the water to lay their eggs and we are due another ‘super or perigee moon’ on August 10th so this bodes well for some nice catches of Sheelin trout.
Getting it right for Sheelin – a selection of winning flies
A County Tyrone angler with his Sheelin catch
The rain at the weekend cooled the water and with the evenings temperatures gradually dropping as well, the day time fishing improved as the trout seemed to turn up their feeding dials and the Daddy-longs-legs were put on the fish menus with some nice catches of over 3lbs for two English anglers – Mark Davies and Sam Whitely on Friday August 1st but there were other sporadic catches using this fly on early days during the week as well. Naturally gusty weather is considered the optimum conditions when it comes to fishing daddies but because they lack aerial deftness really they never stray too far from cover in breezy conditions. For Sheelin softer days with intermittent light winds produce the best ‘daddy’ fishing. For surface fishing, low riding flies that are semi submerged seem the best and patterns with clipped hackles or those incorporating foam seem best.
It’s ‘Daddy’ fishing time on Sheelin
Detached Daddies
Barry Fox’s trout caught on a Minkie
Sheelin’s Mottled Peter
Different areas of the lake fished well for different insects. Mid lake was good during the heat of the day because of the depth meant cooler conditions and dragging a team of wets in a wave from drifts varying according to wind direction, around got results. The top of Bog Bay, Corru, Lynch’s pt and parts of Goreport was promising for the bloodworm and for buzzer fishing it was drifts from Long Rock through Church island, Derry point, Goreport and Corru Bay, also Chambers Bay and Derrahorn to Watty’s Rock. For the sedges a good plan was to stay along the shorelines at Rusheen, Bog Bay, Sailor’s Garden and Goreport.
Peter Neeson, Antrim with his Sheelin prize, fishing with Michael Kelly
The best flies were the small brown sedges (14 -16), the Daddies (Detached Body), CDC Emerger, the Shipman’s Buzzer (good for tricky surface feeders locked onto hatching buzzers), the Pheasant tail Nymph (for buzzer and nymph on the surface fished with a floating line with a long leader using a slow figure of eight retrieve), the Claret Bling, the F fly, Hoppers, the Silver Invicta, a selection of Dabblers, the Raymond, the Klinkhammer ( a great little fly for moving trout), the Stimulator (Albert Berry’s Green Stimulator), the Dunkeld and the Golden Olive Bumble. Trout feeding on the Apple Green Midge can be taken on a green nymph (size 12 or 14) or a small Greenwells Glory dressed with a pale olive body and a very pale Greenwells hackle.
A Water Scorpion on its travels in Kilnahard
Please remember anglers to abide by BYE-LAW 790 which strictly prohibits
• All trolling on the lake from March 1st to April 30th (inclusive).
• From May 1st to June 15th – no trolling between 7pm –6am and no trolling under engine between 6am – 7pm and
• June 16th – October 12th – no trolling under engine between 7pm – 6am.
• No trout less than 14 inches should be taken from the lake
Taking the rough with the smooth on Lough Sheelin
A stormy Sheelin – Saturday evening August 2nd
Calmer conditions – Friday August 1st
Up-Coming Events
The McDonnell cup will be held on Sunday August 10th on Lough Sheelin, fishing from 11am till 6pm from Kilnahard pier with an entry fee of €20. This competition has been fished catch & release for the last two years which proved to be very successful. Measures will be provided for all boats with the cup awarded to the longest fish.
There will be lots of prizes on offer and this day is generally viewed as a great day out.
For further details contact Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033.
The Lough Sheelin Protection Association’s Stream Rehabilitation competition has been set for Saturday October 4th. Match booklets will be out by mid- August and will also be available to download off the LSTPA’s web site.
A catch & release policy is actively encouraged on the lake at all time
It won’t work if you are not wearing it
Water rarely gives second chances and a life jacket is just that – it saves your life, so we would implore anglers and all other users for their own safety as well as it being the law under
SI No 921 of 2005 – Pleasure Craft (Personal Flotation Devices and Operation) (Safety) Regulations 2005
Please put on and keep on that life jacket until you are back on dry land.
Caoimhe Sheridan, Cavan – getting it right
Lough Sheelin Guiding Services (www.loughsheelinguidingservices.com) 087 1245927
Michael Farrell @ 087 4194156Telephone: +353 43 6681298 Email: loughsheelinguide@hotmail.com
Most of the fish featured in these angling reports are returned carefully and safely to the lake
The heaviest fish for the week was a trout of over 6 lbs caught by German angler Per Schmidt using a Detached Daddy.
Total number of trout recorded for the week: 31
Selection of Catches
Peter McArdle, Dundalk – on the sedge, 1 trout at 1 ½ lbs.
Alberts Cepurnieks, Navan – 3 trout weighing in at 2, 2 ½ and 3 lbs.
Andrejs Raibs, Navan – 3 trout, heaviest was 4lbs.
Roberts Vanadzins fishing with Osvalds Alksnis, Carrickmacross – these two Latvian anglers landed themselves 5 trout mid-week using a combination of lures and teams of wets.
Per Schmidt and Frederick Becker, Germany – on the Sedge and Daddy 6 trout in total, heaviest weighed in at 5lbs, the rest averaged 1 ½ – 2 lbs (all released).
Eamon Conner, Ardee – 1 trout at 2lbs dry fishing a small brown sedge.
Vladas Kazlauskas and Edvinas Petrrauskas, Dundalk – 9 trout for the week, all released, averaged 1 ½ – 4 ½ lbs.
Brenda Montgomery IFI
