Temperatures and calm conditions meant that the first real hatch of fly on the lakes had finally started. Many of the lakes around the country had experienced some hatches of Ducklfly over last weekend and early this week. .
As I do shift work and I am off during the week, so I mostly escape the flotilla of boats that normally arrive on the lakes at the weekend. Unfortunately this really has not worked out for me over last few weeks as the weather seems to become more pleasant as I arrive to work and the weather gets nasty again on my days off, a cruel world.
It was hard not to notice Lough Lene in Collinstown had fished really well over the last few days in calm conditions, with duckly hatching and the fish feeding in the surface layers. So off I went, my first outing on a lake and I was really looking forward to it, although the forecast was terrible.
Conditions were very pleasant when I arrived at the lake shore, I set up two rods, both with floating lines. Two 10ft rods, one a 7 weight and the other an 8th weight. The heavier 8th weigth rod was set up with an 18 foot 3 fly, 8lb flurocarbon cast. The top dropper was 8ft from the floating line,the middle dropper 5ft from the top dropper and the point fly 5ft from the middle dropper. As the duckfly are small chironomids, I positioned two size 14 scruffy buzzers on the first two droppers and a size 12 epoxy buzzer on the point to help steady the cast in the waves.
The other rod was set up with a 16 fooft 2 fly tapered monofilament cast, using fine tippet material is esential in presenting small flys correctly. Flurocarbon sinks quickly and is great when you are repeatedly casting, but if are stalking fish along reed lines and shorelines, leaving your cast out for longer than normal monofilament is better. Selection of dry flies to use is quite difficult , as there are so many patterns to choose from these days. I chose a small black size 14 bits on the top dropper and a size 12 black clinkhammer on the point.
After a couple of drifts fishing buzzers without a touch and with the wind steadily increasing and even with a drogue out the back of the boat , the boat was not very stable. I decided to take a spin around the lake and see if there were fly hatching any where else. My search was in vain, so I decided to take a break for lunch on the lee side of the lake for comfort and to check out the trees to see if there was any fly about in the tree.
Sure enough there were some fly in the trees but not many, the wind had got up now and was blowing quite hard, a few boats were anchored off the rushes in the calm. I shook the trees and a few duckly blew out into the lake. Sure enough up came the fish and took the flies as they were blown across the water. I set up the boat and threw the drogue out into the bed of rushes, it slowed me down , but all the fish were feeding within 20 feet of the edge of the rushes , so the drifts were over quite quickly. On my second drift i hooked and lost a fish straight away and two casts later another fish took the clinkhammer on point. Shortly afterwards I landed my first rainbow of the year on Lough Lene in 2017. A well conditioned 2lb plus trout.
I use a stomach pump on trout that I release, to see what they are eating. The fish had about a dozen buzzer pupae in him. Each drift lasted no longer than 5 minutes and the fish were hugging the edges of the reeds. After about another 8 or so drifts I landed one more rainbow of similar size to the first one, but I lost four more in the reeds.
Frustrated I moved back down the lake thinking to myself, at least I had not blanked i could put something up on my blog. An area I had seen fish move earlier was worth another go. Setting up the drift i could feel the wind was getting up and down and as it was about 4pm I had not much time left. I drifted the area twice and rose six fish that seemed to nudge the drys but did not really want them.
It was cold and it was windy, there was nothing for it but to tie the boat up and fish from the bank. It is unusual to leave a dry and warm boat to plunge into the icy water, but if I wanted to fish my flies right. Needs must and all that. Lucky enough i had brought my Fjord Waders with me on this trip, they are double lined, keeps the chill out.
Wading out into the lake with my buzzer set up, I saw a fish move some 25 yards away, casting out into the area where I had seen the fish. I had just settled myself into position when the line went slowly tight, I lifted nice and easy into the fish and the floating line melted of the reel. After what seemed like an age the fish came closer and closer, I could see the fish wallowing in the clear water. It was a deep girthed fish, it had the lenght a five pounder but by the bend in my rod it was a little bigger. Finally I slid the net under the fish. A few quick photos and the digital scales wfent a ounce under 7lbs. My biggest off Lough lene from the bank. It was a really narly old fish with scars , huge girth and a huge paddle as a tail. Hopefully i might be fortunate to catch her when she reaches 10lb. I took four more fish quickly on epoxy buzzers before takes dried up. The fish had moved higher in the water, but even changing to a washing line set up enabling me to fish the flies higher in the water did not work.
I went back to the boat and changed to the dry fly set up. Again the fish nosed the clink, so I changed to a shipman buzzer. That seemed to do the trick as I hooked most fish that came within casting distance. One fish in particular took me into the backing 4 or 5 times. The culprit was a 3.5lb overwintered bar of silver. It was amazing to see the speed of the fish as they motored out of the shallows at frightening speed.
It was always nice to see the fish feeding from a different angle whilst wading in the lake and I am sure I was able to guess the direction of feeding fish a little better, as I watched them feed at eye level. Fishing from the bank is something I do not do that often on these larges loughs, but I will be doing it more in the future, as long as I remember my Fjord wadrs and my thermals that is.
Trevor
08.04.2017 08:38
Great page Dennis I really enjoy your articles and style of writing. Keep up the great work.
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.