I spent a couple of days on Lough Sheelin last week including the weekend. I was fishing with John Newman on Sunday and while the weather looked good on paper, on arrival we were met with strong east winds and huge waves.
John had fished the lough once before with me and on Sunday we left Chambers Bay mid morning and were met with walls of water. Not to be deterred, we fished a few long drifts on the sheltered side but stirred only one small fish. However we were seeing quite a few fish jumping which was encouraging for our afternoon session.
After a quick bite of lunch we decided to try some drifts out in the open water. From the off we again were seeing fish jumping. If you were quick enough to get the flies on them, they were hammering them. Over the afternoon a number of fish were boated. One great thing that is obvious on Sheelin this year is that there is a big stock of small fish around.
John landed 2 or 3 fish up to 1.5 lb and lost a few more, hooking 2 at one stage together. The flies that took fish were Black & Silver Dabbler, Gorgeous George and Green Peter.
With only a few days left in the season (October 12th) Lough Sheelin is certainly well worth a visit. I intend visiting again with my friend Jonnie Reddin in the next few days.
Top Tip: With fish soon to start the move towards spawning rivers, most anglers at this time of year are practicing catch and release on Sheelin.
[whohit]-Wild Sheelin-[/whohit]