Lough Sheelin Angling Report By Brenda Montgomery, IFI -June 27th – July 3rd 2016

‘Fishing in a place is a meditation on the rhythm of a lake, the arc of a year and the seasons of life. I fish to scratch the surface of those mysteries, for nearness to the beautiful, and to reassure myself that the world remains. I fish to wash off some of my grief for the peace we so squander’.
Carl Safina

Lough Sheelin, June 2016

Now into July, fly fishing on Lough Sheelin has shifted into the second part of the fishing season, when the frenzy of the Mayfly is over and this lake seemingly appears to be taking a deep intake of breath in preparation for the next phase.
Traditionally Sheelin always goes relatively quiet around now, with the theory perhaps being that the trout are stuffed with mayfly and now portly are lying back to allow time for the food to digest after that period of over-indulgence. A more plausible argument to the present day time quietness would be the appearance of another food source – the pinheads – shoals of tiny perch and roach fry which dominant the shallows particularly around Orangefield, Plunketts Pt., along Derrysheridan and into Goreport Bay. Bashing trout aggressively lash the fry with their tails in an apparent effort to stun these tiny fish, and then feed on the dead fry lying on the surface. It can be a difficult time for the fly angler, as the trout, fixated on this food, chase large shoals of these juvenile fish scooping them up by the mouthful. Best results at this time can be achieved by staying away from areas where the fry congregate and heading out in the late of the evening when fish are feeding on sedges and buzzers but for those ‘office hours’ anglers using flies with silver and gold in them (perhaps a Silver Humungous or Silver Dabbler) fished very slowly would be the safest bet.

Lough Sheelin’s pinheads

The Catches…

With the unappealing weather and the bulk of the trout gorging on fry along with sporadic fly hatches, day time numbers fishing Sheelin dwindled to one or two boats per day and it was all a little like the dead sea.
The majority of trout were caught on the blind pulling wets with Gorgeous George, Dabblers, the Bumbles and the Silver Invicta all achieving modest degrees of successes with trout up to 3lbs being caught.

A 2 pounder

July is the month of the evening rise, even on apparently perfect fishing days flies may not hatch during the day but there is always some sort of a rise in the evening and at dusk and this is where Lough Sheelin somewhat redeemed itself this week and although trout catches were not huge, it was quality not quantity that shone out with trout in superb condition up to 4lbs being caught.
This was undoubtedly a slow week for fishing on Sheelin and it put me in mind of that much quoted motto ‘Study to be quiet’ from Izaak Walton’s book ‘The Compleat Angler’, published in 1653 (yes the compleat is spelt correctly). Lough Sheelin now more than at any other time needs to be studied by the angler to see exactly what is going on and peace and concentration are the essential commodities to do this. This lake is a comfortable stretch of water, not too big and yet not that small but it is important to remember that we are dealing with wild fish here so it’s no walk in the park.

Sheelin’s pinhead

Considering the fact that civilized humans – humans at least bright enough to seek shelter in caves – have been on Earth for 50,000 to 100,000 years, you might think we’d have this business of fishing down to a fine art. Fish do have the advantage of time, though, because they’ve been around for an estimated 400 million years. On the other hand, they still have a brain about the size of a pea. And it’s not much of a one, being pretty much an enlargement of the spinal cord.
Ironically, that itself is a clue as to why catching a fish isn’t a simple and straight forward process. Fish are slaves to their senses; they don’t ponder abstracts and permutations like us humans, they react to stimuli and this is the key to it all. One of the best Sheelin anglers I know repeatedly tells me that ‘we must see as well as look’ and patience and observance are of paramount importance and still adopting all this you might not catch a thing but to con that sometimes annoying but very true saying ‘fishing is called fishing and not catching.
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

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

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.
The heaviest fish for this week was a 4 ½ lb trout caught on a Murrough at Lynch’s point by Northern Ireland angler Denis McInerney.
Total number of trout recorded : 22
Selection of the catches…
Turlough Carolan, Cavan – 1 trout at 3lbs fishing wets
Conor Sweeney, Cork – 1 trout at 2 ½ lb on a Klinkhammer
John Bennett, Armagh – 2 trout, all on sedge patterns, heaviest 2 ½ lbs.
Cian Murtagh, Cavan – 1 trout at 2 ½ lbs on friday July 1st on a Gorgeous George off Inchicup, played and lost a few more.
Emmet Dunne, Cavan – 1 trout at 3lbs on a Stimulator at Chambers.

Competitions…

The McDonnell cup will be held on Saturday August 6th on Lough Sheelin, fishing from 11am till 6pm from Kilnahard pier.. This competition has been fished catch & release for the last four 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.

The Hatches and the Flies…

Trout caught during the evening and after darkness were caught on the Murrough, small sedge patterns (size 14 and 16) and the Bloodworm. It is still a little early for both the Murrough and the Bloodworm on Sheelin, more sultry weather and a few more weeks into July should liven this part of fishing up a bit, also the Green Peter will come on board. Any shoreline with rocks can be promising for Murrough fishing, maybe Lynch’s pt or in and around Chambers Bay. For the Peter, Murrough and Buzzer fishing we are largely talking late evening pursuits and these hatches can last well into the night and although always risky where weather is concerned, if conditions are favourable then good movement of fish can be guaranteed.

Before the onset of heavy showers there were good hatches of a variety of species of sedges in the evening along banks and in sheltered bays – Goreport, Bog Bay, at the back of Church Island, Crane Island and along the Western shore in particular depending on wind direction. Ideal weather for sedge fishing is calm but changing wind directions at the weekend played havoc with this. In a game that places a premium on casting accuracy, constant changes in wind direction can create serious problems but at the same time the weather is the anglers constant companion and for success the necessity to study the lake and to head for the butt of the wind and take it from there was a must. Different strategies must be adopted to deal with our unpredictable weather conditions.
A 2lb fish spooned on Thursday night was found to be stuffed with green sedge pupa so this means the angler is back to sub- surface feeding. A Klinkhammer isn’t too far off a pupa and using a ‘ghost tip’ which accomodates deeper fishing (particularly when using nymphs) without the need for long leaders can be very useful if the fly is required to be presented just subsurface, good for drowned Hoppers after our frequent heavy showers of rain.
There are large stands of Perfoliate pondweed or Potamogeton perfoliatus present in the lake at the moment, particularly out from Curry point to Inchacup, its proliferation making boat access into Ross Bay difficult. This is not an invasive weed, very common in limestone lakes and will eventually die off as the season progresses

Sheelin’s Potamogeton

The flies most used this week by anglers were the Murrough, a Small Brown Sedge (12-14 or smaller), Klinkhammers, , the Bibio, Gorgeous George, Yellow Humpies, the Fiery Brown Sedge, the Chocolate Drop, the Grey Flag, hoppers, 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.

Buff-tip moth, Mullaghboy, Lough Sheelin

This clever little moth disguises itself as a twig when resting and flies at night in the months of June and July and could be a snack for an opportunistic trout.

A look around at Sheelin…

Brenda Montgomery IFI