Home Trout fishing reports Sheelin anglers’ flooded dreams

Sheelin anglers’ flooded dreams

April 4, 2023

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Lough Sheelin angling report March 27th – April 2nd 2023

“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet”

L.M. Montgomery

There has been substantial rainfall over this past week and water levels on Sheelin have risen considerably. Heavy showers of rain and hail persisted on most days right up to the weekend and it felt that March’s lion had returned with a vengeance for the beginning of this new month. True to our unpredictable Irish weather pattern, Sunday was what we in Ireland term as ‘a pet day’ where temperatures increased, the sun shone, and you could almost pretend it was summer. Heat brought on a flurry of buzzer hatches and the duck fly which previously had only been spotted inshore, swarmed over the water in the sheltered bays and coves along the lake. Winds were mainly southerly veering westerly changing to east on some days. Water temperatures are steadily climbing with double figures in sight, with 9.7°C at 5m and 9.5°C at 12.5m.

Reflecting the weather – Klinkhammer under cover

Some nice trout were recorded with the heaviest tipping the scales at 6.5 lbs caught by Meath angler, Pat Gallagher on a Golden Olive Dabbler along the Crover shore.

A number of anglers frequented the lake on most days with the usual increase in boating numbers at the weekend. With heavy rainfall and sometimes gusty strong winds, water clarity was poor, particularly mid lake. Best areas to fish were Kilnahard, Chambers Bay, Merry point, along Crover shore, at the back of Church Island and in and around Stony island.

The lures are still in top position with the brightly coloured Snakes, Tobys, Rapalas, Humungus and Minkies bring in the highest catches. The Dabbler on a team of flies is still pulling in the trout with the Golden, Claret, Peter Ross, Green, Golden Olive and Pearly all up there at the top table. With the heat on Sunday, buzzer fishing picked up and it was lovely to see the Epoxy’s, Connemara Blacks, Gnats, Sooty Olives and Black Pennells being dusted off and making their debut on this lake.

We need the warmer weather to bring on the transition from lures to fly fishing and the duck fly will be the first insect to ring in that change here on Sheelin. Chironomids, of which the duck fly is a family member (Chironomus plumosus) are predominantly unobtrusive insects except to anglers. The adults are commonly referred to as midges, duck flies and buzzers or gnats. In Ireland, some 520 species have been identified so we have a lot of them out there which is good news because they account for 40% of the trout’s diet and are without question the most important stillwater trout food source. There are four stages in their lifecycle, most of which can be imitated by the angler – bloodworm (larvae), pupae (this is the one imitated with the epoxy buzzer patterns) and adult (dry buzzer patterns).

The chironomid or midge pupae is reputed to be the most important stillwater trout food source. Taking up to two years to transform from a larva to a pupa, its sole purpose now is to get to the surface and this is no easy task. The buzzer pupae have slender, segmented, tapered bodies with distinctive ‘cottony’ white gills. They range in size from 5 to 25 millimetres in a range of colours with black, brown, olive and green being the most common. They trap air bubbles under their skin which provides them with buoyancy and allows them to make the painstakingly slow ascent to the surface. The trapped gases also results in the pupa taking on a silvery shine, one of the reason why epoxy buzzer patterns are treated to imitate this. Silty areas are popular places for buzzer hatches so Bog Bay, Goreport and Sailors are good places to head for.

If trout are moving around the margins a good set up would be a floating line with a team of epoxy buzzer nymphs imitating the pupae, with maybe a suspended or Shipman’s buzzer on the top dropper. A heavier larger epoxy buzzer pattern should be used on the point.

There are plenty of interesting looking flies being displayed out there but for Sheelin the basic traditionals (with perhaps the odd variant) are all you need – Bibios, Sooty Olives, Wickhams Fancy, Klinkhammers, Red Arrows, Blae Sooty Olives, Blae & Black, Shipman’s, Hare’s Ear, dry Buzzers, a small Claret & Mallard and the Dunkeld.

Anglers who have been fishing this lake for decades repeatedly tell me that catching fish rely on two things, firstly luck and secondly having the ability to work your team of flies. Chatting to an angler about the lovely winning fish of over 8lbs caught in the recently held Kilroy cup, I mentioned the Lough Mask fly which the angler had caught the prize winner on – the Colga Bumble, my friend immediately dismissed my dissection of what this fly looked like by reminding me that every fisherman has ‘his own way of walking’ and that what worked for Trevor Goulden more than likely would not work for me.

We are progressing in the right direction with shoreline trees and bushes ‘greening up’, a dust of white flowers on the blackthorn bushes, snatches of heat and the odd pitching of a spotted fish. We are at the very beginning here and it feels good.

Athlone angler, Evan McMickan with his 3.7lb trout at the Kilroy Cup competition

Please remember anglers to abide by BYE-LAW 949 which strictly prohibits from June 14^th, 2017 onwards:

The taking of any brown trout of less than 36 centimeters.
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 1^st to June 16^th (inclusive).
To fish or to attempt to take or to fish for, fish of any kind other than during the period from March 1^st to October 12^th in any year.