Lough Sheelin Angling Report By Brenda Montgomery, IFI – April 7th to April 13th, 2014

Trout fishing is a pilgrimage of the spirit

 Gordon MacQuarrie

‘The waiting game’  Lough Sheelin, April 11th

This week Sheelin remained firmly stuck in a kind of transitional gap between the very early season of fishing lures, fry patterns and traditional Wet fly patterns and the much anticipated next stage of olives, buzzers and more traditional wet fly patterns.  We haven’t made that jump yet and probably won’t for another week and this is all down to the cold weather conditions.  It was mainly dry for the week but the harsh cold winds and chilly night time/early morning temperatures dipping down to a 2 and 3 degrees hasn’t helped.  It’s a frustrating time because spring increasingly is making itself known with the bright long evenings, trees and bushes getting that haze of green as leaves start to burst out and the distinctive sweet smell of the gorse glowing like flames of fire intermingled with the blackthorn flowers on the surrounding hills. We are nearly there but not yet and the shackles of winter are still clinging on.

John Ryan, Dundrum with his trout of over 3lbs from Sheelin

Lough Sheelin is indisputably one of the top wild trout lakes in Ireland.  Trout anglers know what ‘heavy weights’ lie beneath its water surface and few other lakes can stir the anglers blood in the way that Sheelin can with a heady combination of excitement, anticipation, peacefulness and escapism.
Catching a trout on the fly is the ultimate for any trout angler, but a successful fly that has been used because of the angler’s ability to recognize the naturals and to ‘match the hatch’ is the crowning glory for any Sheelin angler.
The trout for now are still slow to come up from their low feeding depths and it’s difficult to be patient.
Barry Hickey, Dublin (ghillied by Lough Sheelin Guiding Services) with this week’s weight of the week – a 64cm 5.8 lb Sheelin classic.

There has been some sub surface feeding and its mainly Sooty Olives and the Dabblers that have been successful when they do.  It’s hard to shake off the Humungus and Minkies (brown, black and black & silver) and these are still responsible for the majority of catches on the lake for this week.
The Dabblers always do well on Sheelin and featured strongly for this week
in all different varieties with Claret, Fiery Brown, Golden Olive, Silver and Peter Ross being in top position with a number of variations on these also landing some lovely trout.
A piece from Peter O’Reilly’s book makes for interesting reading in that he writes that:
‘The Dabbler is one of the great Irish wet fly patterns of recent times and has several variants as well It was invented by accident when Donald McClarn of Co.down phoned a friend for the dressing of the Gosling. The fly took the trout angling competition by storm in the early 1990s and was the cornerstone of the success of the Dromore trout-fishing teams. It is without doubt a great killing pattern when stripped fast and then dibbled, on an intermediate, sinking or floating line in a good wave. It, and its variants, have accounted for numerous big wild lough brown trout, many into double figures’.
A perfect 5 pounder caught & released on Sheelin by Gary McKiernan (www.loughsheelinguidingservices.com)  
Other fly patterns that featured for this week were the Black Pennell, Epoxy Buzzer, Bibios, Glister Ollie, Cock Robin Connemara Black, Mallard & Claret, Sooty Hopper, Bumbles and Silver Invicta.

David Reilly, Tullynallen with his 3 ½ pounder from Sheelin (returned)

 The Di3 is still being used to get down to those deep feeders but also the Fast Glass line is in there too.  The Fast Glass is a fast sink intermediate line with a sink rate of 1.5 inches per second.  This is a great line for searching depths and fishing through the top layer of the water column, great for fishing lures and nymphs.
Flies are fished in teams of three with maybe a bushy type of fly on the top dropper to create an attracting disturbance or kink in the water to grab the attention of those big fish
The areas of the lake which fished well this week were Holywell, Chambers, Merry Pt. Crover, Chambers, Kilnahard and up along the Western shore.  In general the lake fished well on most days and despite rough waters on Sunday last over 70 anglers fished with good catches of fish generally ranging from 1 ½ – 3 ½ lbs in weight.
Each day varies and everything is governed by wind direction and speed so the angler must change according to what nature throws at him.
There could be great fishing in one spot and then the wind will change and all will go quiet…….

Craig Sheridan’s 1 ¾ pounder caught April 10th

Andy Mitchell, Co.Armagh with his 3 ¾ pounder caught April 8th

 L.Finney’s Sheelin Duck Fly pattern

Andrew Brown, Dublin braving the elements with his beautiful wild Sheelin trout

Craig Sheridan, Bray on Sheelin with his trout of 1 ½ lbs fishing Dabblers

• All trolling on the lake from March 1^st to April 30^th (inclusive).

• From May 1^st to June 15^th – no trolling between 7pm –6am and no trolling under engine between 6am – 7pm and

• June 16^th – October 12^th – no trolling under engine between 7pm – 6am.

• No trout less than 14 inches should be taken from the lake.

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

Most of the fish featured in these angling reports are returned carefully and safely to the lake

John Ryan, Dublin releases his trout of over 3lbs back into Sheelin

Upcoming Competitions             
The popular Sheelin Classic trout competition now in its 10th year will be run on Lough Sheelin on Saturday April 19^th which is the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.  The kick off time is 11am with a finish at 6pm.  All boats should be on the shoreline and ready to go by 10.50am.  There is a strict 15” size limit and the individual with the heaviest fish wins.  There comes an impressive list of prizes with this competition with a 19ft Sheelin boat as a first prize.
 
 
 
 
 
 
For further information on this competition please contact Noel McLoughlin at 087 2179460
On Saturday April 26^th The Ulster will be hosted on Lough Sheelin.  This prestigious event was last hosted on this lake in 2009 so we welcome its return.  The Ulster is normally run on a rota system between Lough Erne, Lough Melvin and Lough Sheelin.  To enter anglers must be a member of the Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association or be affiliated to a Northern Ireland trout angling club.  The winner of this competition will be officially the best fly angler in Ulster for the year and will be awarded the Ulster cup.
For further information please contact Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033

Rising Trout Photography by Oystein Rossebo

Total number of trout recorded: 38
Selection of Catches             
Gerald Taggart – using a Claret Dabbler 1 trout at 43cm.
Ned Clinton, Crover – 1 trout at 1 ½ lbs using a Sooty Olive also on Tuesday April 8^th 1 trout at 2lbs using a Sooty Hopper.
Craig Sheridan, Bray – Thursday April 10^th 1 trout at 1 ¾ lbs.
Thomas Lynch, Cavan – 1 trout at 2lbs on a Sooty Olive.
Andy Mitchell, Lurgan, Co.Armagh – April 8^th  ghillied  Gary McKiernan (www.loughsheelinguiding.com) 1 trout at 3 ¾ lbs.
Sam Wilson, Belfast – Friday April 11^th 1 trout at 64cm using a Minkie.
Eugenijus Zematis, Dundalk – Sunday April 13^th 2 trout averaging 2 ½ lbs each using lures.
Mark Robinson,Clare – 1 trout at 1 ¾ lbs on wet flies.
Darragh Murtagh, Cavan – April 13^th 1 trout at 2lbs using a Cock Robin.
Devidas Firsoufs, Lituania – April 13^th 2 trout averaging 3lbs plus each using lures.
Mantas Silickas, Lituania – April 13^th, 3 trout heaviest was 3 ½ lbs using minkies.
Alexander Trifovs, Lituania – April 13^th, 3 trout averaged 2 ½ – 4 lbs in weight.
Kevin Walsh, Mullingar – 1 trout at 3 lbs using a Minkie, April 13^th .
Michael Farrell, Finea – 4 trout on Tuesday April 12^th averaged 1 ½ – 3 ½ lbs using Bibios and Ollies.
Brenda Montgomery IFI