Lough Sheelin Angling Report By Brenda Montgomery, IFI August 22nd – August 28th 2016
‘One great thing about fly fishing is that after a while nothing exists of the world but thoughts about fly fishing’
Norman Maclean
Christopher Defillon with one of his dry Sedge trout
This past week on Lough Sheelin has been very much like that familiar extract from Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn – ‘you pays your money and takes your choice’ as angling reports swung from total blanks to excellent catches of trout up to a top weight of 5lbs, coupled with considerable fly variations.
Summer can be the best of times or the worst of times to catch trout. With the uninterrupted warmth of the past few weeks, you won’t find a more comfortable time to be out there fishing on Sheelin’s mercurial waters. Although there were some early mornings where soft mists shrouded the immediate surface, we have not as yet experienced that familiar autumnal chill and so early mornings and late evenings continued to be good times for fishing – as a general rule for a warm summer, trout feed most at first light and again near dusk.
Now into late summer, we are talking low, clear water, lily pads punctuated with their gold disc flowers, the evocative cry of the curlew and above all FUSSY FISH.
Lough Sheelin’s in late summer
This week’s fishing successes were completely at the mercy of the weather and for most of the time this proved challenging. Anglers had to deal both with alternating and absences of wind where the necessity of being versatile and altering tactics repeatedly was an essential requisite for catching. On a number of days this week for both the evening and early morning, Lough Sheelin put up a mirror calm front and although very beautiful was not conducive to catching trout.
Wave height was not high enough for good trout takes and flat calm knocked any buzzer fishing on the head, as this chironomid needs a surface ripple. The most common deterrent is sunlight and on the bright sunny days trout headed into the deeper portions and fishing for those times became almost nonexistent.
The anglers who were most successful were the ones who had time on their hands, the ones who could pick and choose what times they went out, when conditions were right and the majority nine to fivers had to make do with the vagaries of the Irish weather.
The sedges were still in evidence with good hatches mainly towards evening at the back of Church Island, Plunkett’s pt., the Long Rock and Merry pt. Inlets, sheltered bays and around the Stony Island also featured well for this Caddis. The buzzer fishing which was good last week, was poor this week due to the ‘sheet of glass’ conditions.
Sheelin has had a constant over the past six weeks and that constant is its huge numbers of small trout, averaging 1 ½ to 3lbs and sometimes smaller. There is an indescribable feeling of hope and pleasure in knowing that Sheelin appears to hold large numbers of juvenile trout. The Sheelin angler, however, has set the bar high and although appreciative of the daily showings of these exhibitionist young trout, most anglers want what Sheelin is reputed for and that is the heavy weights – those 5lb plus trout.
The Catches
Despite great and tantalizing pods of rising trout, late summer does mean pernickety fish. Anglers are getting plenty of sightings and follows and takes but in a flash these fish are gone. The trout themselves are part of the problem, especially those that have previously been caught and released. Trout readily learn to be selective in feeding and the mayfly/spent gnat parade of anglers have educated them well. There is a vast abundance of food in the lower and bottom columns of this lake so the surface offerings are more or less the treats, which they can take or leave. The heavier trout have a tendency to stick to the lower layers but at Mayfly and at this time of the year they move upwards and the end of season is a good chance to catch that dreamed about weight.
Trout that are being caught are in good condition, plump and thick from head to tail, confirmation that they are getting plenty of food.
Lynch’s Pt. Lough Sheelin. August 2016
The bugs can be an issue too at this phase of the fishing season as the major hatches of large insects are dwindling and what’s left, although in abundance, is a procession of the small guys – little grey and brown sedges, a few mayflies, midges and terrestrials, most of them size 16 or smaller. That means a sipping trout may take a couple of sedges, some midge pupae, perhaps an emerger and finish off with an unfortunate tetterestrial (maybe a Daddy), it’s a day long buffet for our trout but for the anglers it’s a smorgasbord of opportunity.
Please remember All anglers are required to have a Fishery Permit to fish Lough Sheelin which must be purchased BEFORE going out on the lake.
The heaviest fish for this week was a 5 lb trout caught using a Klinkhammer by Dublin angler Mark Trent.
Total number of trout recorded : 35
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
Caoimhe Sheridan, Cavan
It won’t work if you aren’t 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
This week, The Irish Times reported that ‘more than 100 people drown each year in Ireland’.
Please remember All anglers are required to have a Fishery Permit to fish Lough Sheelin which must be purchased BEFORE going out on the lake.
A catch & release policy is actively encouraged on the lake at all times
Selection of the Catches
Pat Brady, Cavan – 4 trout, heaviest 2 ½ lbs, all on wets – Sooty Olives and Claret Bumbles.
John Mulvanney, Kells – 1 trout at 3lbs using wet flies.
Michael O’Neill, Donegal – 9 trout, 4 between 3 – 4 lbs, 5 at 1 – 1 ½ lb using Klinkhammers, Stimulators, Invictas and Red Tailed Green Peters.
David Kellet, Dublin – 5 trout, heaviest at 3 ½ lbs, caught at the back of Church on a Silver Invicta.
George Stonehouse, Ross – 3 trout, heaviest at 4, using wet flies – Humpies and Red Tailed Peters.
The Flies and the Hatches
There is another factor in this fishing melee and that is, towards late summer, fast approaching the back-end of the season trout will be feeding on daphnia and the daphnia feeders definitely respond better to wet fly tactics.
There is an interesting piece in Dennis Moss’s book ‘Trout From A Boat’ where he tries to unravel the mystery of why daphnia feeding trout should take a fly that bears no resemblance to the tiny crustaceans they are feeding on – ‘Trout, both rainbows and browns, which are locked in to daphnia-feeding, take coloured flies with some gusto. It must be a combination of movement and colour that triggers a response from the fish. Either way, this is certainly not imitative fishing. I have long given up trying to understand why some trout take a particular fly at a certain time in the season.’
David’s Silver Dabbler
For this week, it was definitely wet fly fishing that came out on top, ahead of the dries, with the most successful patterns having claret, yellow, green, ginger, brown and to a lesser extent black in them. The Klinkhammer proved very successful with the Red Tailed Peter, the Alexandra, the Stimulator, Golden Olive Bumble, the Silver Invicta and the Sooty Olive, all close contenders in catching the highest numbers of trout.
At this time of the season, when all that small food is going on, if a number of casts produces nothing but the fish are still rising, it’s time to change flies. The trick is to do it logically. Go a size smaller with the same pattern. Move from a lighter to a darker one. By following a commonsense progression, you eliminate possibilities and eventually get a take.
Fishing on Lough Sheelin is a continual learning process, there is no proper sequence set in stone, everything has to be figured out on the water, from flies to floating/intermediate/sinking lines to a lighter tippet, everything is open to change and it’s all about trial and error and an attempt to understand and a lot of the Sheelin anglers are getting it right as the angling catches (and photographs) testify too.
The flies most used this week by anglers were a Small Brown Sedge (14 16 or smaller), Klinkhammers, , the Bibio, Gorgeous George, Yellow Humpies, the Fiery Brown Sedge, the Chocolate Drop, the Grey Flag, hoppers, the Hare’s Ear Sedge, the Alexandra, the Sooty Olive, the red-tailed Green Peter, the Sedge Invicta, the G&H Sedge, the Black Pennel, the Claret Pennel, , a variety of Bumbles and the Silver Invicta.
Competitions
On Sunday October 2nd Lough Sheelin’s angling club The Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association will host their annual Stream Rehabilitation Competition starting at Kilnahard from 11am to 6.0pm.
All proceeds of this event go towards the enhancement and rehabilitation of the rivers within the Lough Sheelin catchment.
The club and organisers of this competition, now in its eleventh year, welcome all anglers who wish to fish one of the best wild brown trout fisheries in Ireland and to experience first hand the magic and allure of this lake which has the potential to produce the heaviest trout in the country.
For details please contact Eamonn Ross @ 086 6619834/ 049 9526602 or Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033
A look around Sheelin
Brenda Montgomery IFI
