Lough Sheelin Report by Brenda Montgomery, IFI from July 15th to July 22nd 2012
Rain! whose soft architectural hands have power to cut stones,
and chisel to shapes of grandeur the very mountains.
~Henry Ward Beecher
Wet weather predominated the earlier part of the week with the disappointing return of rises in the lake’s level but this fortunately this did not deter some of the Sheelin anglers and the lake fished well this week with a very happy 9 year old – Shane Fitzsimons from Crover catching a 2lb trout using a silver dabbler on Monday last in Kilnahard.
Hurry up Daddy!

Last weekend Sheelin was in competition with its sister lake – Lough Ennell with the appearance of the green peter but although large numbers of anglers fished Ennell, Lough Sheelin still held its own among the angling fraternity and boasted up to 30 boats on Saturday evening last. It was interesting to find a number of Mullingar anglers crossing over to us because they wanted to escape the frenzy of Ennell because they needed ‘the peace and calm’ of Sheelin.
This year saw an ‘explosion’ of green peter on the lake and although this fly was not as big in numbers as on other lakes this is a considerable improvement and a real step forward for Sheelin as in previous years the peter was only in evidence in mere handfuls. The top half of the lake saw the biggest hatches and there were some nice trout caught using the ‘green peter’.
There are still hatches of mayfly mainly around the western shore, in Orangefield towards Watty’s rock, these hatches are small and scattered. The sedges are coming and going on the lake, some days are very good while others the sedge seems to have disappeared. Saturday evening saw a massive hatch from Lynch’s pt down to Watty’s rock and although a small brown sedge can be successful, the trout only seem to be coming up the once and if there’s no strike then that’s it for the angler, the opportunity is gone. Evening fishing from 6pm onwards achieved the best results.
The favourite flies used were the silver invicta, dabblers, welshman’s button, green peter, brown sedge, murrough, klinkhammers and stimulators, also for the spinners the tasmanian devil struck gold a few times for some anglers.
Some interesting flies to appear on the radar this week were the Nailer, the Alexandra also called ‘the lady of the lake’ and the Goats Toe. Both the Nailer and the Alexandra have an interesting history in that both were such killers in the mid 1800’s that they were banned on some waters.

 

It was good to see fishermen from the Mallusk Angling Club, Belfast back with us again, these anglers hold their own private friendly competitions maybe twice or three times on the lake during the season.
The Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association will be hosting The McDonald Cup on Sunday August 12th from 12 noon to 6pm starting from Kilnahard Pier, entry fee is €20. In line with this club’s strong conservation policy this annual competition will be changed this year to become a Catch & Release Competition – each boat will be supplied with a measure board and it is the angler who catches the longest fish who will win this coveted cup. As a gesture of thanks to all members and non members who support this club and all its past and ongoing development and conservation work for this lake and its
catchment all other prizes with be presented on the basis of a draw. This competition will be followed by a Bar -B -Q on Kilnahard pier. For further details please contact Eamon Ross @ 087 9436655 or Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033
A catch and release policy is actively encouraged on this lake
Please remember anglers that the size limit on this lake is 35.5 cm (14 inches)
– we need our small fish alive…….
Total catches recorded for the week: 26
Heaviest fish caught for the week was a 4½ lb trout caught by Meath man Billy Carolan on Saturday July 21st using a Welshman’s button.

Our deepest sympathies go to the McCabes of Sheelin Boats on the tragic death on Sunday last of 21 year old Joanne

---

‘Out of the mists of Sheelin’

 

Selection of Catches:
Arter Novikov, Tallaght – Saturday July 21st using a Tasmanian devil
near Church island one trout at 2lbs.
Darren Savage, Wexford – one trout at 1¾ lbs using a green peter.
Peter McArdle, Dundalk – July 17th in the afternoon 3 trout on a stimulator
average weights 1½ – 2 lbs.
Shane Fitzsimons, Crover, Cavan – July 16th on a silver dabbler one trout
at 2lbs in Kilnahard.
Mickey McCluskey, Donegal – on Friday July 20th three trout – 2,2
and 3lbs, all on the green peter.
Liam from Dublin caught a nice 1½ lb trout using a silver dabbler on
Friday last.