Lough Sheelin Angling Report By Brenda Montgomery, IFI August 1st – August 7th 2016

“The best fisherman in the world can’t catch them if they aren’t out there”
— Anthony Acerrano

Ger Nolan, Dublin with his magnificent Sheelin trout caught on a fry pattern in Sailors Garden (released)

Now into August, this month tends to be one of those months that gets mistakenly ‘written off’ by many a trout angler as being perhaps too hard to bother with. August is traditionally that time when many people go off on holidays, it can be a restful sluggish time of the season where angling numbers again dwindle on Lough Sheelin with a ‘pick up’ traditionally happening in the run down to the close of the season – October 12th.
Anglers may choose to have a rest from fishing this lake but the Sheelin trout don’t take that same rest, they don’t stop feeding and this can be a great time for peace to study what’s going on and to avail of some text book fishing opportunities.
Lough Sheelin had spates of good fishing this week and then dips of quiet. The bank holiday Monday saw a predictable increase in boating numbers on the lake with a number of trout being caught, the heaviest at 3lbs. There was a consistent warmth permeating most days courtesy of a front coming from the Algarve which kept the air temperatures in the late teens but heavy rain coupled with strong gusty south to south westerlies made exposed areas dangerous and forced anglers off the lake on Wednesday and that same wind made conditions challenging for the McDonnell cup which was fished on the Saturday.

The catches….

Anglers are reporting large pods of small trout up to 2lbs in weight and the catches for this week reflect those observations. Although there were a lot of trout ‘on the move’ in this lake and making their presence felt up to 7 in the evening, these are not easily caught and although anglers were hitting on big numbers, the landing of these fish was a different matter and that number was usually quite low.
On Saturday August 6th the LSTPA hosted their annual ‘Catch & Release’ competition – The McDonnell Cup. Now in its 5th year as a conservation competition, this event despite having two negatives against it on the day – the GAA quarter final and the very windy conditions on the water, this competition attracted a respectable number of anglers and was won by Oliver McCormack with a beautiful 48cm fish. 2nd was Jack Egan, 3rd was Monaghan angler Peadar McAvinney and 4th was Barry Harton.

Selection of the catches

Dara Murtagh, Cavan – 1 trout at 2 ½ lbs on a Green Peter on Monday August 1st.

Des Elliott, Dublin – 18 trout for the week, averaging 1 ¼ – 3lbs, heaviest at 3 ¼ lbs using Golden Olives, Bibios and Sooty Olives.

Mark Bradshaw, Dublin – 6 trout on Monday, August 1st, averaged 1 ½ – 2 lbs. Heaviest was 3lbs on a Green Peter. Rest caught on Bumbles and Daddies.

Pat Brady, Cavan – 4 trout, best at 4lbs on a Shipman’s Buzzer.

The heaviest fish for this week was a trout of 4 ½lbs caught by Edenderry angler Enda Kenny

Total number of trout recorded : 41

Events…

The Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association will be hosting a Youth angling day on Saturday August13th.. This popular event will include fly tying, fly casting and trout fishing followed by a Bar B Q. Casting instruction will be given by APGAI and participants will have the opportunity to catch fish and receive a small prize. For further details contact Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033 .

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

Caoimhe Sheridan, Cavan

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

This week, The Irish Times reported that ‘more than 100 people drown each year in Ireland’.

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.
A catch & release policy is actively encouraged on the lake at all times

The Hatches and the Flies…

The trout are still bashing the pinheads – perch and roach fry but they are not exclusively fixated on these juvenile fish and there are other food sources that are diverting them off this frenzy of feeding. There were sporadic sedge hatches during the day with hundreds of sedges in shoreline bushes, trees and island shrubbery, the drizzly rain effectively discouraging them from going out on to the surface water. Some anglers resorted to shaking the bushes to dislodge these stubborn caddis flies out of their shelter and on to the water in an effort to entice the trout upwards. Welshman’s Button, small brown and silver sedges as well as the last of the Murrough were scattered here and there over the lake.

Sheelin fry

One of the Sheelin pinhead mob – a juvenile pike

Although olives, sedges and midges are the three main hatches for August, the terrestrials particularly the Daddy-Long legs are viewed by the trout as easy pickings and shouldn’t be underestimated and for this week some nice trout were picked up using the Silver Daddy (fished in the surface film rather than sitting on the surface).

For this week, putting all of the above aside i.e. the 20 or so species of sedges that hatch on Sheelin and all those other insects, it was Daphnia which the Sheelin trout seemed to be most fixated on. Daphnia – the water flea, actually not a flea or an insect but a miniature freshwater crustacean can make up a large part of a trout’s diet and is something which they love to feed on. Individual daphnia are tiny but in clouds they are a distinct orange colour and can provide a significant food source. In a trout’s stomach they appear like a non descript gloop of orange jelly and they seem to prefer deeper water.  With the distinct orange colour, a Stimulator was the way to go or a similar brightly coloured fly – Bobs Bits in garish colours or an Orange Booby proved to be successful for some anglers.

Wet fly fishing won over the dries this week using an intermediate line and although there are fish showing all over this vacillating stretch of water, the most popular areas appeared to be Rusheen, Goreport, Merry pt., Chambers, Kilnahard and down along from Arley to Crover.

The flies most used this week by anglers were the Murrough, a Small Brown Sedge (12-14 or smaller), Klinkhammers, , the Stimulator, the Bibio, Golden Olives, Gorgeous George, the Silver Daddies,Yellow Humpies, the Fiery Brown Sedge, the Chocolate Drop, the Grey Flag, hoppers particularly the Bumble Hopper, the Hare’s Ear Sedge, the Alexandra, the Sooty Olive, the red-tailed Green Peter, the Sedge Invicta, the G&H Sedge,  the Black Pennel, the Claret Pennel, the Welshman’s Button, a variety of Bumbles and the Silver Invicta.

With the plenitude of trout flies out there the most important piece of advice for any fly angler is ‘to keep it simple’.

A look around Sheelin…

Brenda Montgomery IFI