Lough Sheelin produced some fine trout up to 8lbs+  on the may fly this week.

The may fly is still in abundance and excellent fishing can be enjoyed on a selection of wet and dry flies.  Well respected Angler Denis Moss landed a fine trout of 8lbs. Wet fly fishing is one of the best ways for budding male and female anglers to be introduced to sub-surface fishing. Unlike dry fly fishing, where skill and practice and precise imitations are needed to effectively catch trout consistently, wet fly fishing can provide results quickly to even the beginner angler. Many wet flies imitate a struggling nymph as it attempts to reach the surface of the water. These same wet flies also suitably imitate dead or drowning insects. Either way, one thing about wet flies is that they generally imitate aquatic insects in transit. For new anglers, an adequate cast and presentation is all that is required when wet fly fishing. The reason for this is because of the way most wet fly fishing is carried out. It neither requires perfect casts or timing when presenting the fly.

By using two or more flies an angler can improve their chances of finding fish. There are a countless flies obtainable for wet fly fishing. Most wet flies have soft hackling. The explanation for this is because this type of hackling has fibers in it that moves about in the water tempting the trout to seize it. Additionally most wet flies are designed to sink rather quickly. For this reason, many wet flies tend to be a little heavier, tied in a wide variety of ways, each way designed to sink the fly in a particular fashion. Wet flies are generally fished in areas that have fast moving water or in a wave on the lake.

Fishing a sink-tip fly line will assist the fly in getting down to the right depth; a floating fly line can also be used with a weighed nymph on the point. When a second, or third, fly is used, it is called a “dropper fly”. When setting up a dropper fly, simply attach the first fly onto the end of the tippet. Then, for the second fly, take a 12 inch of tippet material and tie it to the leader about 24-36 inches above the first fly. Attach the second fly to the end of that line. You now have a dropper fly set up. A note for beginner anglers, “to avoid tangles it is probably best to start with one fly”, and then graduate to two or more flies when comfortable with basic casting and wet fly fishing technique. Either way, one nice thing about a dropper fly is that it allows anglers to test out flies at the same time. It’s a great way to quickly experiment around to see what works and what doesn’t when covering the water.

There isn’t really anything fancy about wet fly fishing. As long as an angler can do even just a basic cast, an angler can catch trout using wet flies. There are numerous other methods for fly fishing with wet flies. However, these methods tend to be rather more demanding, requiring greater skill on the part of the angler. Wet fly fishing used to be the most popular type of fly fishing. Today, it comes in a distant third to dry fly fishing and nymph fishing.

Nymph fishing is now often times considered to be wet fly fishing. While the more precise fly imitations and more precision methods used in nymph fly fishing do indeed generally work better for catching larger, more wary trout. Anglers should never overlook fly fishing the traditional wet fly. This is especially true for beginner anglers, whom by wet fly fishing can be introduced to some of the basic principles and techniques used in nymph fishing while actually catching fish in the process.

If you would like more information about this article or wish to book a guided days fishing on Lough Sheelin, please feel free to contact us.

Damien Willis +353 (0) 86 8012546

e-mail info@loughfishingbuddies.com