‘You cannot lose what you never had’
Izaak Walton
This spell of old fashioned summer weather has made a lot of people very happy, especially as we think back to the unrelenting cold and wet of recent years. There’s a battle of conscience here for most of us in that we are caught between basking in the heady warmth of a proper summer while trying at the same time to suppress the fact that we know that we desperately need rain.
Problems are looming as we carry the absolute drought status for another week, a hose pipe ban has become country wide (an Irish solution to an Irish problem in that we can still use watering cans and buckets!), water restrictions are imminent and Ireland’s land has taken on a 50 shades of brown appearance.
Lough Sheelin like every other place in Ireland needs rain.
We didn’t however get the soaring temperatures of the previous week, day time highs ranged between 18 to 20 and there were nightly drops to as low as 7 degrees and we did have those much coveted fishing conditions of good cloud cover with some wind on a number of days. These changes, albeit small, brought a welcome improvement to Lough Sheelin’s fishing.
Catches
This week every day’s fishing was different and the only way for success was to keep an open mind and not to lapse into the belief that the trout would behave in a certain way every time.
Last week it was all about fishing periods of low light or after dark – early mornings and late evenings but for this week it was a total change around in that it was the day time that mattered when some nice trout catches were recorded and it was the evenings that were poor.
The fishing success and how the trout act is all irrevocably and intrinsically linked to the weather patterns – hot bright weather will sink the trout to the lower water columns while drops in temperature and lack of sun will move them to the surface. The surface temperature has only gone down a degree or so but this seems to have been enough to jazz up the trout and there was some head and tailing evident across the lake. Please note that I’m not talking about large numbers of trout surfacing but there was an adequate sufficiently to keep spirits up and to remind us that when the weather does takes on an Atlantic front (from Sunday onwards) these fish are there and the opportunities to catch them will be afforded to those that go out on this lake.
The biggest fish for the week was a 5 ½ lb trout caught by Cavan angler David Tierney using a Silver Daddy fishing mid lake.
Total number of trout recorded: 21
Selection of Catches
- Cian Murtagh, Cavan – 11th July one trout at 3lbs on a Silver Daddy off Church Island.
- Mark Brennan, Dublin –5 trout averaging at 3lbs, heaviest at 3 ½ on Green Peter patterns, Stimulators and Pearly Green Dabblers.
- Pat Brady, Cavan – 1 trout at 2 ½ lbs on a dry Buzzer.
- Michael McKenna, Monaghan – 1 trout at 3lbs on a Pearly Dabbler.
- George Stonehouse, Ross – 1 trout at 3 ½ lbs on a size 14 Sedge pattern.
- Des Elliott, Dublin – 2 trout at 1 ½ and 2lbs on July 14th on Bumbles in Chambers Bay.
Best places for sedge fishing on this lake are behind Stony Island, Gaffney’s Bay, Ross Bay, Rusheen and the bottom of Goreport and Bog Bay.
Water levels are low and there are large stands of Canadian pondweed and Potamogeton (particularly around Corru and Inchacup) visible in many areas of the lake making access into the shallows and some bays difficult. The middle and deeper areas of Lough Sheelin fished best and this was because with high water temperatures trout will naturally seek the lower, deeper more oxygenated areas. The shallows and bays although in some cases offering weed cover, will have less oxygen with the added disadvantage that moving around in relatively shallow bright water is an invitation for predators and so their instinct makes them go deeper like the middle of the lake or into heavy cover like weeds which makes them inaccessible to boats.
Until water levels go up again anglers are well advised to stick to the middle and more open areas of Lough Sheelin.
Hatches
This week the Sheelin anglers used the term ‘head and tailing’ to describe the surfacing of the trout here. Back in the day analyzing trout forms was considered a necessary skill for dry fly and nymph anglers. Those skilled in the art could look at a surface disturbance, characterise it as bulging, tailing, sipping, slashing, head and tailing or spotted ring and accurately determine what the trout were feeding on and where in the water column they were feeding. This is a skill I fear may no longer be in the repertoire of most anglers but some of those terms are still used around Sheelin. The head & tailing of trout was seen during the day this week and this is usually when trout are either taking anything caught in the surface film or perhaps they were agitated by temperature changes. The term sipping was also used here in previous weeks to describe the trout feeding on caenis as well as slashing when the trout were after a sedge running for bankside cover across the water.
‘Trout fishing from all angles’ written by Eric Tavener was first published in 1929 and if anyone can get their hands on an edition it makes for a logical and relevant informative read on the intricacies of trout fishing but at 448 pages with 250 illustrations this is not for the faint hearted.
Flies
The most successful flies this week were the Daddies (Silver and Purple), a good combination was a Purple Daddy as the top dropper and a Pearly Green Dabbler on the point, Stimulators, small brown Sedge patterns (12 -14)and Black Gnat dry fly also got a look in. Other patterns catching fish were the Dabblers (Claret, Green and Silver), Klinkhammers, Murroughs and Bumbles (Golden and Cock Robin).
Now into mid-summer the selection of potential food for the trout is phenomenal here. The terrestrials are very much a summer thing and some of them are almost like extracts from an alien world – the orchid beetle, strange and amazingly patterned caterpillars as well as numerous entomological delights pepper the shoreline vegetation waiting to be discovered by the more discerning angler. The Daddy Long Legs for mid-July epitomizes I think the excitement of the dry fly season. Long bodied, big winged with those gangly, clumsy and fragile legs, this insects if unfortunate enough to be blown on to an aquatic environ, are capable of drawing a full-blooded take from a passing trout. The Daddies worked well this week with the Silver and Purple hooking up with some lovely trout of 3 and 4lbs in weight.
This beetle flies around on hot calm days and may land in the water by accident providing a tasty meal to a passing trout
The Stimulator worked well and was responsible for four good fish in this week’s angling records. The Stimulator originally developed by Randall Kaufmann to imitate an adult stonefly is an amazing trout fly pattern in that it is multi-functional imitating not only what it was originally intended for i.e. the adult stonefly but also grasshoppers, sedge or even the odd straggler of a mayfly. The bushy profile and deer hair makes the Stimulator a highly buoyant fly, good to use as a combination with Buzzer patterns.
The last of the Mayfly on last year’s sloe
There were plenty of sedges but only mere handfuls were coming out on to the water. Peters, Murroughs and small brown sedges were present but the trout weren’t surfacing for them.
This week just wasn’t about evening fishing. There is no sign of the bloodworm yet but it is perhaps a little early for these Buzzer larvae.
Competitions
The McDonnell cup will be held on Saturday August 11th on Lough Sheelin, fishing from 11am till 6pm from Kilnahard pier… This competition has been fished catch & release for the last five 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.
Youth Day
The Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association will be hosting a Youth angling day on Saturday July 28th. This day offers an exciting opportunity to our younger anglers. The day includes a fly tying demonstration, 2 ½ hours on the lake with an experienced boatman, a Bar B Q and photo call as well as lots of prizes and further information on training programmes.
For further details contact Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033.
Go Fishing…
House Rules
A permit is required to fish Lough Sheelin. Buy your permit online at: shop.fishinginireland.info or from any of the permit distributors listed here.
Another tasty meal for trout
Catch and release
A catch & release policy is actively encouraged on the lake at all times
Extra care is needed when landed trout as high water temperatures will decrease the survival rate of hooked and released fish
BYE-LAW 949 strictly prohibits:
- The taking of any brown trout of less than 36 centimetres.
- For a person to fish with more than 2 rods at any one time.
- To fish with more than 4 rods at any one time when there is more than one person on board the boat concerned.
- For a person to take more than 2 trout per day.
- All trolling on the lake from March 1st to June 16th (inclusive).
- To fish or to attempt to take or to fish for, fish of any kind other than during the period from March 1st to October 12th in any year.
Join the Club…
For anyone interested in joining Lough Sheelin’s Angling Club – The Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association please contact Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033.
Guides and ghillies…
Grey Duster Guiding
Kenneth O’Keeffe
Tel: 086 8984172 Email: [email protected]
Christopher Defillon
Tel: +33 68 596 4369 Email: [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christopher.defillon
Lough Sheelin Guiding Services
Tel: 087 1245927 Web: www.loughsheelinguidingservices.com
D.C Angling & Guiding Services
contact David @ 087 3946989
Michael Farrell
Tel: 087 4194156 or +353 43 6681298
Email: [email protected]
Michael Flanagan,
Trout and Pike Guide.
Email: [email protected] Web: www.midlandangling.com
Lifejackets
We would implore anglers and all other users to wear life jackets for their own safety as well as it being the law.
Life jackets are required by law – SI No 921 of 2005 – Pleasure Craft (Personal Flotation Devices and Operation) (Safety) Regulations 2005. Water rarely gives second chances and a life jacket is just that – it saves your life.
Please put on and keep on that life jacket until you are back on dry land.
