A trout is a cold-blooded vertebrate and fishing for them can be patchy early in the season. When waters are below 45 degrees trout are extremely inactive. They don’t need much food to survive because their rates of digestion and metabolism is slow. Anglers in the early season need to work to excite or anger trout into striking. This is especially true in the spring when a practiced technique can make all the difference. With water temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, monofilament lines tend to stiffen in cold water, often rising to the surface, so it is best to use a thinner alternative. Favourable river conditions to work your flies in spring are behind midstream obstructions and around current breaks. The most productive hotspots for early season trout are deep undercutting banks, and especially under trees and overhanging vegetation. You may lose a fly or two, but it is worth a cast. The most popular early season flies for the trout are a Teal and Black, Coachman, Bibbio, Black Pennell or a Connemara Black, though any black fly seems to work well especially if it has a touch of orange and/or white. A Sooty Olive, Fiery Brown, and Golden Olive also produce good results.
The 9th of May usually sees the first of May Fly appearing on Lough Sheelin, the ideal water temperature for a hatch of may fly is 10c/ 50F.
The Mayfly emerges from the water, goes through the transformation from nymph to fly, swarms, mates, and then lays its eggs and dies, all in the course of little more than an evening. In the 1600s both Charles Cotton and Issac Walton wrote on the subject promoting the use of Mayfly imitations. The Mayflies Life Cycle starts with adult female depositing her eggs in or on the water.The eggs then fall slowly onto the lake or river bottom and in time will develop into an aquatic insect called an immature nymph. These Mayfly Nymphs can spend as much as two years burrowing, crawling, clinging, and swimming around the bottom of the water feeding on algae, organic matter and microscopic organisms. The mayfly nymph will spend nearly 95% of its entire lifespan below the waters surface. When water reaches a temperature of 50 degrees F and maintains that temperature range for three consecutive days, there will be a Mayfly hatch. Hatching life is usually patchy to start with few just a fish at first showing interest. Temperature and weather conditions are master and commander, it must remain mild with the winds blowing from the west or south west to bring on a good hatch. Experience and knowledge can prove to be invaluable to visiting anglers in determining day to day timing and location of hatches, which in turn lead to locating the prime areas for fly fishing through out the day and evening. Buzzer fishing at this time of year is confined to Bog Bag. Buzzers can clump together (the size of golf balls) on the surface of the water and great fishing can be had, especially in the evening weather permitting.
The Mayfly which is the holy grail of fly fishing makes its appearance in May and continues for approximately 4 to 6 weeks on Lough Sheelin.
A Book by Cavan man Patsy Deery called Irish Mayflies is available from most good book stores and will give you a very good idea of the many imitations of this Holy Grail of insect.
If you would like more information about this article, please feel free to contact me.
Damien Willis + 353(0) 868012546
e-mail info@loughfishingbuddies.com