Lough Sheelin Angling Report By Brenda Montgomery, IFI May 30th – June 5th 2016
‘Even when my best efforts fail it is a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing’
For the week gone by, Lough Sheelin more resembled the Algarve than a premier trout lake split within three counties in Ireland’s midlands. The blue of the lake blending seamlessly into the blue of a cloudless sky. Daytime temperatures soared and remained at a constant 20 -23 degrees and as the week progressed, carrying with it this Irish heat wave, the fishing changed on the lake from daytime to evening so by the weekend most of the trout catches were from 9pm onwards.
Still in mayfly mode, anglers from all parts flocked to Sheelin during this week, jumpers were shed, sun cream applied liberally and everyone seemed on a roller coaster of hope – the hope of catching that elusive Sheelin heavy weight.
Hot bright sunshine might be good for the beach but as a rule sunny weather equals poorer fishing but of course there are always going to be exceptions, a point proved by Dublin angler William Davis with his 5 ½ lb trout caught on a Mosley May in Holywell last Wednesday afternoon.
The Catches…
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 an 8 ½ lb fish caught by Derry Gibson, Waterville, Cork on a Murrough
Total number of trout recorded: 472
Selection of the catches
Peadar McAvinney, Monaghan – 4 trout heaviest at 5lbs on Spent Gnat patterns.
Brian McAvinney, Monaghan – 5 trout heaviest weighing in at 4 ½ lbs caught on a Spent Gnat pattern
Michael Brunton – 1 trout at 50cm using an Anderson Spent, fishing at 8.30pm
Pat Brady, Cavan – 12 trout for the week, heaviest 5 ½ and 4 ½ lbs caught in Bog Bay and at Wilson’s pt on Spent Gnat patterns.
Derry Gibson, Cork – 2 trout at 7lbs and 8lbs caught on a Spent Gnat pattern and a Diawl Bach.
Paul MacMinnon, Northern Ireland – 1 trout at 22 inches using a Grey Wulff. 1 trout at 5lbs plus on a Spent Gnat pattern.
Seamus Russell, Warren point – 1 trout at 4lbs on a Yellow Mayfly
Padraig Casey, Athlone – 3 trout on Grey Wulffs and Spent Gnat patterns, heaviest at 5lbs caught at Wilson’s pt.
Greg Welsh, Dublin – 2 trout at 2 ½ and 3 ½ lbs caught on the Grey Wulff
Anthony Brady, Galway – 2 trout at 2 and 2 ½ lbs caught on wet Mays.
Paul Brady, Galway – 3 trout heaviest at 4lbs all on the Spent Gnat.
Martin Griffiths – 4 trout heaviest at 4 ½ lbs caught on a Diawl Bach, all others caught on Spent Gnat patterns.
Gene Brady, Cavan – 1 trout at 8lbs caught on a Spent Pattern
Andrew Brown, Dublin – 1 trout at 3 ½ lbs on a Spent Gnat Pattern
Colin Watterson, Northern Ireland – 1 trout at 3.75lbs on a May fly Dun pattern, sunday June 5th.
John Cosgrove, Clane – 1 trout at 3.15lbs on a Grey Wulff at Church/Derry pt..
Releasing the fish…
More catches…
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
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
A catch & release policy is actively encouraged on the lake at all times
The careful release of one of Sheelin’s ‘nymph’ trout
With the glare of the mid-day sun the trout with their lack of eyelids and with a preference to the cooler lower layers usually sink deep resulting in very little surface feeding.
Anglers were advised not to despair with these recent sunbathing conditions because this onslaught of heat sometimes brought some spectacular rises and catches later in the day.
Fishing, however, has been tough on the lake over the past seven days and it seems the elation of the long anticipated mayfly and reputed ‘easy fishing’ had come to an abrupt end before it ever really started. The mayfly hatches were spectacular with the evening dances, covering the sky like an extract out of Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ softening that connotation as the dance played out with the freshly hatched duns flitting over the waves more akin to a scene from Tchaikovsky’s Sugar Plum Fairy. Watching the spinners perform their mating dance above and around Church Island, like a seething mass of mosquitoes rising like smoke from the trees is just amazing; can there be anything better and more beautiful in the natural world?
The Dance of Sheelin’s mayfly – Church Island
‘I could have missed the pain but I’d have had to miss the dance’ Gareth Brooks ‘The Dance’
The Hatches and the Flies…
The numbers of mayfly on Sheelin were staggering and the fall of spent most evenings carpeted the water’s surface but despite this abundance of food the trout in many cases seemed indifferent to the bounty of goodies adorning the surface water and stubbornly ignored pro offered patterns.
So what’s going on, where is duffer’s fortnight where the pickings are supposedly easy? why are the Sheelin trout not rising to the surface in masses and taking this new and inviting food?
Firstly a high percentage (up to 80% some would argue 90) of Sheelin trout feed sub-surface and our fish are well fed because of the huge quantities of food available to them in this lake so there is no real need for them to go near the surface. It has only been in the last few weeks that the trout have been even seen feeding in the top layer but despite this any trout that has been caught has been plump and in beautiful condition so this backs up the theory that they are getting plenty of food without bothering with the surface pickings. Feeding on the newly hatched greens was sporadic this year and there was nothing near the frenzy of takes that there has been in previous years. The vast majority of trout caught mid-May onwards were caught using an intermediate line and sink tip and it was nymphing and using buzzer patterns that was landing the majority of the heavy weights. Dry fly purists made the mistake of dismissing the nymph and epoxy buzzer patterns with the belief perhaps that once we are in May such methods and patterns should be put firmly behind you. The Sheelin trout with their indifference to the freshly hatched may and the spents meant that these anglers considerably narrowed their window of fishing opportunity on this lake.
So where are we now – this week saw us moving into June, the month of the summer solistice (June 21st) and the longest days of the year with sunrise around 5am and sunset 9pm. Given a choice between starting at daybreak or fishing at dusk most anglers seem to choose the latter. The morning is often still a bit chilly and until the heat gets into the day the hatches will not start. The lake fished best from 9pm onwards with many anglers fishing through till midnight and beyond.
It seemed a sudden change from the dry green mayfly patterns to all about the Spent Gnat with the Murrough starting to feature in the angling returns. There was no gradual transition from daytime to evening that has been apparent in previous years. This is the stage in the fishing season that brings out the ‘vampire’ anglers, the lake remained reasonably quiet throughout the day as the sun beat down on blue calm waters and then as the sun started to slip down behind the trees, in the last few hours of daylight, touching dark and into the night, a large number of boats slide onto the water from the various piers.
Wild brown trout are very sensitive to the vagaries of the weather and there were some evenings during this week where the temperatures dropped and the fish paralleled this change by dropping too but there were other evenings particularly around 10pm where the fishing was amazing and anglers were reminded as to why this lake has earned its reputation for being one of the best brown trout fisheries in world. There were areas of the lake particularly around Derrysheridan, Bog Bay, Inchicup and Wilson’s point, where in the fading light, fishing towards the west and with a substantial covering of spent gnat on the water, this lake became alive with feeding trout and they were not small. Very big trout were reported rising in multitudes creating continuous surfaces boils as they fed on the surface bounty, throwing anglers in the vicinity into an ecstatic confusion as one angler put it to me ‘I never landed one of those fish but I have been left with an indelible memory of pure joy over what I saw and heard’.
The angling records are still high for this week despite poor daytime fishing but it was the increased numbers fishing the lake and the fish latching on to the spent gnat that pushed up the records over the four hundred mark. Anglers from all over Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England headed on to Sheelin and notably the number of French anglers have increased dramatically for this year. Good fish were caught but they were worked hard for involving long hours and perseverance – the top weight was over 8lbs by Cork man Derry Gibson but there were other fish in the 5, 6, 7 and 8lb bracket that were equally impressive. It never ceases to amaze anglers (and sometimes myself) how a fish of 3lb is considered a ‘small trout’ on Sheelin, nearly not worth mentioning whereas on other lakes this would be boosted as a monster. For Sheelin the bar is always set high and this is because many anglers have had experiences of either catching or seeing huge fish on this lake so the possibility of a specimen is always there in the back of every anglers mind.
The fishing patterns stuck rigidly to a variety of Spent Gnat patterns with the Murrough, Diawl Bach and Wulffs claiming some good catches.
The most popular flies were the Wet and Dry Mayflies – the Melvin May, Dennis Moss’s Ginger, Green and Gray Mayflies; the Mosley May as well as angler’s variants of the mayfly.
The Wulffs were in the line up this week though with the onset of the spent fishing their popularity had somewhat diminished but all the same were responsible for some nice 6 pounders. The Green, Gray, Yellow and Royal all had their moment of glory. These flies were mainly fished dry.
Other flies used were the Dabblers (Peter Ross, Green, Silver and Fiery) Epoxy Buzzer, Buzzer variants, Spent Gnat, Sooty Olive, Golden Olive Bumble, CDC Mayfly Nymph, the Welshman’s Button, the Fiery Brown Sedge, the French Partridge Mayfly, the Royal Coachman, the Silver Invicta, the Cock Robin, The Grey Klinkhammers (size 12 -14 (Emerger), the Cinnamon Sedge and Stimulators.
The Competitions
The McDonnell cup will be held on Saturday August 6th on Lough Sheelin, fishing from 11am till 6pm from Kilnahard pier.. This competition has been fished catch & release for the last four years, which proved to be very successful. Measures will be provided for all boats with the cup awarded to the longest fish. This competition is open to members of the club only but membership is available on the day
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.
Crover, Lough Sheelin – early morning
Brenda Montgomery IFI
