Mick Flanagan reports on the trout fishing on Lough Owel…

Trim Anglers

I am nearly sure we featured these two Trim anglers some years back coming from Sheelin after landing a few nice fish on the dap during the May Fly. The lads told me the photograph was printed onto their Mugs for the old cup of tea. Well this time around the deadly duo from Trim Henry Sheridan and John Gantly were enjoying a day on Owel last Saturday.

Trim anglers on owel. John Gantly and Henry Sheridan.
Trim anglers on owel. John Gantly and Henry Sheridan.

It was a beautiful day, not unlike a July or August day with brilliant sunshine and flat calm conditions. Not ideal conditions for trout fishing, but some lovely fish were caught and a huge number of fish were showing on the surface. John Gantly and Henry Sheridan had two lovely Owel fish the best well over 2lbs. I also had a bit of luck and boated a nice fish, and the photograph just shows what conditions were like. News of Owel producing such quality fishing will surely have had many anglers out this St. Patrick’s weekend. Lough Owel Trout Preservation Association is open for membership, and if you drop into David O’Malley in Dominick Street he will sort out all you need for Owel, including what flies and lures are working.

OWEL TROUT

Lough Owel Trout Preservation Association recently presented Mullingar angler Philip Keena with a study grant. Philip is well known on the angling scene, and is doing his 4th year in GMIT studying marine and freshwater biology. In the past few season Philip has taken scale samples from trout on Owel and Lene, and has learned a lot about growth rate in wild fish, and also the how stocked fish settle into our lakes.

L.O.T.P.A. Chairman Andy Boyle presents Philip Keena with Study Grant.
L.O.T.P.A. Chairman Andy Boyle presents Philip Keena with
Study Grant.

On Owel he identified some wild brown trout, the oldest at 5 years old. Also his research on stocked rainbows on Lene, and brown trout from Owel was interesting, and having taken samples from fifty-four fish found some were reaching the 4 years old mark. Philip reckons this is a good sign that these fish are over wintering. Philip told Angling Focus that one of the main reasons he wanted to do this research is because there is no monitoring like this taking place regularly on Irish lakes and I think if done regularly on a larger scale we could learn a lot more about the fish we are stocking into the lakes and how they are adapting to the lakes [Ed: Inland Fisheries Ireland does conduct similar research during its National Research Survey Programme in which over 300 lakes, rivers and estuaries are surveyed to establish their ecological status for the WFD reporting cycle. Although the focus is often on wild fisheries and wild fish populations, surveys have been conducted on both Lough Lene and Lough Owel every three years since 2007:  Lough Lene was surveyed in 2007, 2010, 2013, and Lough Owel was surveyed in 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2015. Scale samples are taken from trout as well as other species for ageing and back-calculation of growth rates, and there are breakdowns of brown trout age structure in these reports.    Results can be found here: www.wfdfish.ie] . This is a very interesting study on our trout stocks on Owel and Lene, and we will be keeping in touch with Philip and wish his all the best on his 4th year in GMIT.

Michael Flanagan
Midland Angling

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Midlands Angling  provide a top class Guiding service covering many of the top coarse and game waters across the Midlands. Visiting fly anglers have landed some fine trout while out with Midland Angling Guides, pike anglers also recorded some net bursting catches including many pike over 20lbs. Top waters include Lough Ree, Ennell, Owel, Lene, Mount Dalton, and Glore Lake just to mention a few.
Michael Flanagan
Midland Angling
Pike and Trout angling guide.

Telephone: +353 (0)44 9348969 or +353 (0)87 2797270
Fax: +353 (0)44 9342781
Email: [email protected] Web: www.midlandangling.com