Home Trout fishing reports Sheelin anglers dig deep for their spotted gold

Sheelin anglers dig deep for their spotted gold

March 17, 2025

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Lough Sheelin angling report March 10th – March 16th 2025

‘Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th’

Julie Andrews

It has been a cold week on Sheelin with a persistently ‘thin’ north wind relentlessly whipping the surface on most days, varying in strength from moderate to fresh. As the week progressed, night time temperatures dipped to a disappointing minus 4 and water temperatures struggled to get past 7 degrees with little variation on this from top to bottom. Water temperature is probably the biggest factor that affects fly fishing for trout in early season and certainly for this week, March felt like it was in the wrong season, winter and not spring. Cold water is bad news for your average fly angler, as the lower the temperature, the less active the trout will be. The less active the trout are, the less they need to feed reducing the chances of a fly being taken. When trout are not feeding they are normally flush to the bed of the lake and with no naturals, a chilly surface and an unforgiving north wind it is very unlikely for them to rise to a dry or sprint after a swinging team of wets. In the most optimistic scenario the angler would need to get the fly down deep and practically hit the fish on the nose to get a take. 7 degrees is a figure bandied around by anglers, a magical number when the trout apparently become active but this lake’s temperature is just sitting on the 7 and until we can climb into the double figures when trout will become more active the fly purist will just have to wait it out.

The month of March generally isn’t the time for the angler who wants to line up the old Sheelin traditionals of Black Pennels, Connemara Blacks, Sooty Olives or Claret & Mallard. It is sacrilege to some anglers not to fish flies regardless of what time of the season it is so for these the advice is to pick the small windows of feeding, mid day on a good sunny day might result in a hatch of midges, also pick your days, forget the bitterly cold ones with a fresh wind ripping across the water and go for a slight breeze with a little cloud cover.

Celebrating International Women’s day on Sheelin, Beata Kielak with her fabulous 60cm plus trout which wins Catch of the Week

Regardless of challenging fishing conditions, Sheelin attracted anglers on all days with the predictable increase at the weekend and more so with the bank holiday. Angling catches slowed down as the weather refused to behave but in the earlier part of the week there were some great trout recorded with the heaviest trout weighing in at 8lbs caught on a lure by Krzysztof Pawlowski. This is the time for larger patterns – Humungous, Snakes, Minkies and Woolly Buggers – the attractor patterns, large and streaming that quite often trigger a take. Woolly Buggers despite having an unfortunate name (although there are worse out there) did well this week, resulting in a few hefty 5lb plus catches. This fly is one feeding trigger after another – a wavy tail, a segmented body and caterpillar-bristle of legs.

The Dabblers in fiery brown, silver, pearly, peter ross and claret held their own with a respectable smattering of catches around Chambers and Kilnahard, trout averaging 3lbs plus fished using an Intermediate, Di3 and Di7.

The best fishing areas for this month and into early April is mainly along the rocky shores and exposed points – the shallows were the water is warmer and the food – shrimp and hog louse is plentiful and easy to access. The best areas are Chamber’s bay, Kilnahard shore, Holywell down to Crover, Merry point, Curry point, at the back of Church Island and the south shore of Derrysheridan. Some trout still hold the depths of water though, so blind casting if you can cast your line where you think the fish might be and retrieve might trigger a take. Daily choices of fishing spots are governed, as always, by wind direction.

The local angling club – the LSTPA hosted the Kilroy Cup on Lough Sheelin on Sunday March 16th. The weather again was challenging with a light easterly wind, air temperatures hovering around 8 and extensive cloud cover. This was a fly fishing, catch & release competition with the longest fish winning the prizes.

Thirty two anglers took part with John Byrne winning the event with a 52.3cm trout, second was Eamonn Ross at 50.2cm and third was a 49.9cm trout by Trevor Goulden, Sligo.

One for the fry feeders – Kieran Sherlock

Most anglers during the long painful months of winter fantasize about the day when they can once again launch their boat and fish Lough Sheelin but all the excitement, enthusiasm and preparation can all too often fizzle out in a ball of disappointment as early season trout (particularly the Sheelin ones) are notoriously reluctant to cooperate. There is an old saying which goes – “it’s not worth casting a fly until there are leaves on the trees” and certainly there are no leaves here.

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.

Lough Sheelin Guiding Services (www.loughsheelinguidingservices.com) 087 1245927

Grey Duster Guiding
Kenneth O’Keeffe
Tel: 086 8984172 Email: [email protected]

John Mulvany [email protected] 086 2490076

Competitions

The Ronnie Cox Cancer Trials Ireland competition is being held on Lough Sheelin from Kilnahard pier on the 30th March. Fishing from 11am to 6am. This is a Catch & Release competition. Prizes for longest fish plus loads of other prizes. Photo of measured fish to be provided. The competition proceeds will be donated to cancer trials Ireland. They carry out research and trials on new treatment methods for all types of cancers. Any donated prizes greatly appreciated. Contact Eamonn Ross @ 086 6619834.