My Dad and I decided to head to Lough Conn earlier than usual this year to try and sample some of the amazing Mayfly Sport that the lake is known for. We normally travel to Lough Conn on the June Bank Holiday weekend to fish the Conn and Cullin two day competition. But the fishing is hit and miss, not giving out at all, we both have had good years fishing the competition , but the best of the Mayfly seems to be over when the competition is being held. The Mayfly start hatching as soon as May arrives or even before May and they can hatch all the way into September, so if you go hunting for them you can normally find a few fly.
Many years ago when I was single, well it seems like a lifetime ago, I travelled to Lough Conn for 2-3 weeks. My buddy Fergal Scully always ventured with me on these trips. We caught trout big and small, we had epic battles with big salmon and pike. One big Salmon in particular comes to mind on a flat calm baking hot day on Lough Conn. We were actually looking for salmon feeding on spent, their black dorsal cutting through the water gave their presence away. After a long time of rowing after the fish we eventually got in front of it and Fergal had the chance. The fly was presented perfectly and the fish took it as sweet as a nut. To cut a long story short the fish fought long and hard and actually confined Fergal to the Mobile we were staying in for the next day as he got a touch of heat stroke from the battle, the fish also got away. I have many memories from our visits to Conn and I may actually put them in a book one day.
I’m getting off the point of the blog, this trip was about spending time with my Dad on Lough Conn a lake we both love dearly.
My father is renowned for catching big trout on Lough Conn and most of them on the dry’s. He normally fishes with his good friend Michael Rutledge who lives on the shores of Lough Conn or with his close friend Eamonn kelly from Dublin. They all have fished the lake together for many years and the Knowledge they have of the lake is something special, bu the knowledge that Michael has from being on the lake all his life is second to none.
We eventually pushed the boat out at 11am and conditions were ok, a small ripple and it was not really that cold. We headed for Castlehill Bay to see if there was any fly. Sure enough about 11.30 the fly started to hatch and we were immediately into fish from 10-14 inches. Nothing big at all. Over the years the size of fish on Lough Conn has decreased, there are lots more trout present now but most of them are small. If you want a big fish on Lough Conn Castlehill Bay is a prime area to be in.
After about a dozen fish all on dry’s the wind what little there was went. Fish rose at the mayfly’s as they hatched, but it was next to impossible to get a cast to them.
We decided to make a move.
The conditions were not nice at all, but we headed to the two pins out deep off the Middle of Mayo. Fly were hatching and again we caught fish, but nothing close to a 1lb. About 6pm a small ripple came up, the wind changed if you could call it that four times throughout the day, But the wind satrted to get strongeer. it started to blow North and Cold, typical, bloody typical. We headed back into Castlehill and motored all the way to the top of the bay. Positioning the boat in a foot of water, a few fished moved in front of us and as there were adult buzzers, spent sedges olives and hatching mayfly on the water I went for dry buzzers and my dad stayed with the dry mays.
As we started to drift out fish were going well in front of us but they were all rising differently, Dad covered a fish and it just sipped the fly down. There was an explosion as the fish felt the point of the hook. The fish was golden orange in the evening sky as it leapt out of the water and a proper lump at that. The fish fought hard, it was a very deep fish. Soon enough my father was taking him out of the net for a photograph, We had done it, we had found Lough Conn Gold once again. The fish was slipped back to fight another day
Within minutes i hooked a fish on the dry buzzers but as it hurtled out of the shallow water the fly popped out of its mouth. As quickly as the fish started rising as the wind increased and it started to rain they stopped rising and we headed in for the night at about 9pm.
The second day was much like the first, but it was flat calm as we motored out of the bay. I decided to start with nymphs as I had tried them briefly in the calm the day before and I had a few pulls and a couple of small trout. Things looked next to impossible, flat calm ,lovely warm day and fly hatching. The only problem was once the fly hatched they immediately flew away as their wings dried quickly in the heath. My dad caught a few small ones straight away on the dry’s and as I waited with the nymphs. Sure enough when 11am came the fish started to pull at the nymphs, I had numerous perch, roach and trout but again nothing over a pound. It was great fun but I did get many more pulls than I converted. something to work on I suppose, I have tried to devise a good mayfly pattern over the years and to be honest I think the depth of water and retrieve is more important. But I had fun . I varied the retrieve and caught fish figure of eighting fast in shallow water and very slowly in deep water. I also had numerous fish of all species take me on the hang.
We again left the bay but this time in search of wind. We went to various pins, reefs and points that have been consistent for myself and Dad over the last 20 years. It seemed like every drift brought memories of fish caught , lost or risen. It was a great afternoon with fish caught nearly everywhere we stopped at.
The wind started to pick up about 5pm. Unfortunately we were heading back East that evening but the draw of Castlehill Bay was too much. One last drift found us in really shallow water. An odd mayfly was still hatching and it was much warmer evening. Spent might go out???
All of a sudden my Dad conjured up a take from a Castlehill Bay resident. The trout sucked down the fly and seconds later was mid air as Dad set the hook. The golden yellow belly glistened in the evening light. Unfortunately the fish shook the hook moments after it re-entered the water. That was enough for us. . I would of really of liked to of stayed out that evening but with a 3 hour trip home we called it a day. We had caught a lot of fish over the two days and met two solid Golden Bars that would made any trip worthwhile.
Lough Conn we will be back soon.
Smaller dry’s require lighter leaders, some people use tapered leaders, with fluorocarbon tippets. I use monofilament line in all conditions. I use 4,5 or 6lb monofilament depending on the size of fly and wind conditions.
For pulling wets I use either 6 or 8lb fluorocarbon as the fish can hit hard when they are feeding on Mayfly especially in a good wave.
There are so many kinds of leader material out there and everyone has their own preferences, use leader you are confident in.
The Mayfly is now in full swing on most lakes, enjoy your fishing, i hope to visit a few other lakes in the coming weeks and sample more of ther Duffers Fortnight
Again if you like the blog please hit like and I would be delighted to hear your comments.
NYMPH 1
HOOK 10-12
THREAD- BLACK OR BURNT ORANGE
TAIL- DYED FIERY BROWN PARTRIDGE
BODY- PALE GOLDEN OLIVE AND NATURAL SEALS FUR MIXED
RIB- BURNT ORANGE 4 STRANDS TWISTED
THORAX COVER AND LEGS- PHEASANT TAIL
THORAX- FIERY BROWN / NATURAL/ BROWN SEALS FUR
NYMPH 2
HOOK 10-12
THREAD- BLACK OR BROWN
TAIL- PHEASANT TAIL
BACK COVER- PHEASANT TAIL
RIB- BLACK THREAD FOUR STRANDS
BODY- NATURAL SEALS FUR
THORAX COVER AND LEGS- PHEASANT TAIL
THORAX- ORANGE /YELLOW/BROWN/RED SEALS FUR MIXED
Jim
20.05.2019 12:58
Great article.
Dusting down the gear for the annual pilgrimage.
Castle Hill is a long old motor from where we launch the boat but has always been worthy of a drift, I agree the fish are a beautiful.
Denis
19.05.2019 21:35
size 10 I will post the dessings on the page
Leo Foley
19.05.2019 20:13
Good blogs, really enjoyed the one on the Leinster. What is the dressing and the hook size for the above nymphs Denis
Sean goulding
19.05.2019 18:53
Thanks Denny for a great couple of days Seanie G
Aidan Rush
19.05.2019 17:41
Looks like you had a great time. The fish are just a bonus
chris meadows
19.05.2019 15:40
great blog, Lough Conn has everything you could ever want from a totally wild fishery!
Latest comments
19.05 | 05:47
Hi Denis
Good meeting last night, and enjoyed reading your blog. Felt I was on the lake with you. Great work
02.05 | 20:42
Hi Dennis loved the article straight to the point .just wondered will the trout feed on the small buzzers all year ?
06.04 | 11:57
Cant wait to read this
01.03 | 03:03
glad u enjoy, ty, will be back when the fishing returns
AND SO IT BEGINS.
After fishing from the bank all winter long, I was looking forward to getting back in the boat. Normally I would wait for the first hatch of the year and travel down to the west of Ireland or not go at all until the Duckfly appears in the midlands. But after not fishing for 3 weeks I was starting to loose the plot. So with limited time I opted for Lough Owel and maybe chance to see the first hatch of the year, which is a small buzzer about half the size of the Duckfly which hatches just before the Duckfly itself. The weather looked good enough in the days before my trip, but as always the weather turned. A South wind but 19 to 24km which isn’t really what I was hoping for.
Arriving early at Lough Owel I was greeted with a bare pin ripple on the lee shoreline and a balmy 10c, but as I fitted the boat out I could feel the breeze building. Two 10ft ever reliable 7 weight RS Wychwood Competition rods were both adorned with floating lines, a straight buzzer set up on one and a bung on the other.
As I travelled down the lake it was lovely to hear the hum of my 15hp Johnson, I checked every bay and reed bed but more in hope, for any sign of buzzer. The wind was picking up all the time and after an hour or so I resigned myself to defeat and out came the di3. Fishing at this time of year in my opinion is normally shallow for hoglouse and snail feeders, whilst drifting in 10 to 20 ft of water you would be after fry feeders on the drop off with di5s and di7s depending on the wind.
The greater the wind the heavier the sinking line. At this stage I had travelled as far as the cornfield and I drifted off the shelf in nice conditions pulling dabblers and fry patterns. A three fly 16ft cast of 8lb strong leader, 6ft to first fly and then 5ft between with flys .
Just coming off the shelf I got my first fish, a lovely marked but thin overwintered Triploid Brown of about 2lb. Working up the shoreline to the neck I got two more on Black Dabblers and a big white Hummungous.
Stomach pumping the fish is a must when fishing in my opinion, you don’t need to go mad emptying the fishes stomach, a brief pump will tell you what the fish are on. In this case snail and hoglouse were high on the menu.
HE WHO DARES WINS....
I worked along the lee shorelines as it was getting very blustery picking up a fish here and there. I changed flys a few times, but it seemed whatever I put on the top dropper the fish took. The top dropper is the first fly the fish sees as you pull it by him, typical early season fishing. All fish were in the 1.5lb to 2.5lb bracket. Its been years since I fished Owel on a regular basis, so this year I have decided to fish it a lot more and re-learn the lake. With this in mind, I kept moving, instead of repeating drifts.
About lunch time I decided to head to deep water and see if I could contact some of the larger trout Lough Owel has know become known for.
I put up the di-5, but after one drift I felt I was not staying in contact with the line or getting deep enough due to the wind. So the dreaded di-7 was taken out of the box and the cobwebs blown off it. It took me 5 or so minutes to get the feel for the line as I hadn’t fished it from a boat in what seemed like an age.
But sure enough 10 minutes later after a count to 35, followed by a long slow retrieve the first marker went through the rod rings and I hung the flys, I thought I got slight knock, I waited and waited, nothing, continuing my long slow retrieve I barely got three more long pulls before the rod hooped over and the tip of the rod buried into the lake as line peeled off the floor then off the reel. Playing a fish alone out in the middle of the lake on a blustery day will certainly get your heart thumping. Anything and everything can go wrong , so that’s why I keep a tidy boat( stop laughing) when fishing alone. Regaining half the line onto the reel, I began to drag the fish from the depths. At times it just hung beneath the boat and there was nothing I could do. The wind was pushing the boat along too quickly.
Eventually the fish came to the surface and at over 4lb I was gobsmacked and puzzled at its strength. Lying on its side one second, then it vanished, the penny dropped, I had two on. Now it got messy, eventually I guided the first one into the net, unhooked it, then netted the fish on the tail fly with the first fish in the net. The tail fish was about 3.5lb and the fish on the top dropper was over 4lb, they certainly stretch the di7. Both released back to their watery homes, after a little rest in my net.
I fished all the way back to the moorings, catching an odd fish and I had another double hook up of newly introduced fish but it was pleasant. Just as I packed up the redundant Bung Rod, a fish rose in front of me. As a wise man once said “never pass up a willing fish”. Out with the di- 3 and 3 casts later the line went tight, fish number 13 was landed. Enough was enough and in I went.
Lough Owel was kind to me on a not so kind day. It was great to be back out on the lake and I hope to be back out again next week, hopefully there will be Duckfly !!!. But knowing my luck , the wind will be howling and the rain will be coming down sideways.
But as Anglers we Live in Hope.