A persistently cold north to north easterly wind coupled with night time frosts caused a staggered and somewhat patchy start to Lough Sheelin’s 2020 mayfly season. Despite the unwelcome chill Ephemera danica still made its presence felt here with a particularly impressive hatch around 3pm last Thursday followed by a heart stopping rise of fish.

 

 

Covid-19 has made this a very difficult season to be writing any kind of an angling report and I am very conscious of the pain that I might be inadvertently inflicting on those that live too far away from this water and for that I apologise. The gradual easing of lockdown on May 18th is of little or no consolation to the majority of trout anglers, the Governments tentatively flagged date of July 20th effectively wipes out the best of the buzzer, olives, mayfly, murrough and even the bloodworm fishing here.

 

 

‘Never let a good crises go to waste’ a quote from Winston Churchill in the mid-1940s as we were approaching the end of World War two, referred to the fact that opportunities can be created in the midst of a crisis. The Coronavirus is our crises and the ensuing lockdown resulted in weeks and weeks of human inactivity on Lough Sheelin, the opportunity was the rest that this enforcement gave to the lake – no boat traffic, no snagging on hooks, no noise, no killing and no clumsy releases.

Read the full report here: https://fishinginireland.info/2020/trout-reports/july-and-january-on-sheelin-as-mayfly-gets-going/.

 

Also look at:
http://flyfishing-blog.com/flyfishing-blog.com/2019/08/02/inland-fisheries-ireland-warns-anglers-of-rogue-fishing-license-website/
http://flyfishing-blog.com/flyfishing-blog.com/2019/06/25/inland-fisheries-ireland-appeals-for-vigilance-for-presence-of-non-native-species-in-irish-waters/
http://flyfishing-blog.com/flyfishing-blog.com/2018/02/19/inland-fisheries-ireland-report-confirms-presence-of-farmed-atlantic-salmon-in-a-number-of-rivers-in-galway-and-mayo/