Lough ennell

zacmorris

should hopefully be getting a few hours one of the evenings over the next week or so.
Anyone down there recently?
what flies are fishing best and where on the like...

Thanks in advance

coolwings

I'm looking to get down myself in a few days.
They should be munching on the olives, green midge, the Welshmans Button sedge, and possibly a couple of mayfly at the moment.

Post how you get on.

ironbluedun

always found it a tough spot...it can be very moody...the button and apple green midge should be about?? interesting to see how you get on...best of luck.

Eddie B

ironbluedun wrote: »

always found it a tough spot...it can be very moody...the button and apple green midge should be about?? interesting to see how you get on...best of luck.

They don't call it the GRAVEYARD for nothing!:D

ironbluedun

zacmorris wrote: »

should hopefully be getting a few hours one of the evenings over the next week or so.
Anyone down there recently?
what flies are fishing best and where on the like...

Thanks in advance

how did you get on? is your soul shattered?:)

zacmorris

well, I didn't event get a chance to fish the lake and i was looking at it all weekend!! I was working at a festival down therre and was just too busy.
Pitty though, the lake looked amazing.

Going to plan an early morning trip down there with the boat very soon though.

ironbluedun

mmmmm i have not fished it for a few years now but i believe that the fishing is not good at the moment....its a shame really because it is a fine lough with a lot of potential if only it was managed properly........the sooner the fishery boards are done away with then the better and then hand the control of loughs and rivers to local anglers, then they would be managed far better....

coolwings

ironbluedun wrote: »

mmmmm i have not fished it for a few years now but i believe that the fishing is not good at the moment....its a shame really because it is a fine lough with a lot of potential if only it was managed properly........the sooner the fishery boards are done away with then the better and then hand the control of loughs and rivers to local anglers, then they would be managed far better....

My understanding about Ennell is that it has a genetically distinct type of brown trout.
So after the fish were reduced 99% by the sewage, and that was eventually fixed, the FB biologists advised the FB to allow the wild trout to regenerate, instead of re-filling it with stockies.
They sorted the water out first, and then did remedial work on the incoming spawning streams, to bring recruitment of juvenile fish back up, with juveniles of the original Ennell stock.
Now at the moment there is tons of feeding available to a small number of trout so they grow fast. They have a high average size. And they feed deep most of the time and are incredibly hard to catch using drifting tactics.
That makes it a wild large fish lake with great difficulty involved in catching. If you like - a break-your-heart type big fish lake. The other species are big in there too.
It's the polar opposite of a commercial fishery for sure, and most anglers just give up on Ennell after a while.

Such natural regeneration takes a long time, especially when a lake was effectively dead from pollution. I wish they were 10 years further on with it, but I think the direction of management is correct and we will have those wonderful Ennell fish back in greater numbers in coming years. I know the local club run a hatchery on a stream where wild fish are stripped, hatched and released, so I'm aware of that, and approve bigtime.

Given that Owel is stocked, was for so long the original stock is altered, and pretty much full of easy to catch fish, and just down the road, to provide the other alternative type of fishing for competitions and learners, I'm curious what you think is being managed wrong on Ennell? What would you do different, or change?

ironbluedun

coolwings wrote: »

My understanding about Ennell is that it has a genetically distinct type of brown trout.
So after the fish were reduced 99% by the sewage, and that was eventually fixed, the FB biologists advised the FB to allow the wild trout to regenerate, instead of re-filling it with stockies.
They sorted the water out first, and then did remedial work on the incoming spawning streams, to bring recruitment of juvenile fish back up, with juveniles of the original Ennell stock.
Now at the moment there is tons of feeding available to a small number of trout so they grow fast. They have a high average size. And they feed deep most of the time and are incredibly hard to catch using drifting tactics.
That makes it a wild large fish lake with great difficulty involved in catching. If you like - a break-your-heart type big fish lake. The other species are big in there too.
It's the polar opposite of a commercial fishery for sure, and most anglers just give up on Ennell after a while.

Such natural regeneration takes a long time, especially when a lake was effectively dead from pollution. I wish they were 10 years further on with it, but I think the direction of management is correct and we will have those wonderful Ennell fish back in greater numbers in coming years. I know the local club run a hatchery on a stream where wild fish are stripped, hatched and released, so I'm aware of that, and approve bigtime.

Given that Owel is stocked, was for so long the original stock is altered, and pretty much full of easy to catch fish, and just down the road, to provide the other alternative type of fishing for competitions and learners, I'm curious what you think is being managed wrong on Ennell? What would you do different, or change?

yes the regeneration of any limestone lough ruined by idiots takes a long time most of us know that all too well...the lough was drained and as we all know drainage is like cutting the veins to the heart....certain death... in fairness they have tried to rejuvenate the streams but as average lough levels were dropped by about 10 feet and the streams turned into broad shallow flat featureless culverts it is impossible to return them to their former nursery system capacity, any wild game fishery is only a s good as its spawning facilities. And as Ennell’s spawning streams have been ruined they wont return to the their full capacity. This happened while the fishery boards were ‘in charge’.

Same as Sheelin the board did nothing worthwhile, so that begs the question do we need them??….My point is that if loughs and rivers were managed and controlled by local clubs and local anglers then the situation might be better. anglers would pay a subscription to fish and the revenue earned put back into the proper management of the fishery….not just another tax lost in the big black financial hole……….this season, and for a many other seasons, I gave €39 to the Shannon regional fisheries board now that’s not a huge amount of money but I see little return for it…this year, and others, I gave €30 to the LSTPA and the work they do puts the board to shame……..Yes the board do some things but they are too slow and cumbersome….any contact I have ever had with any of them has not been productive or proactive…..is the hatchery on Ennell not run by the local anglers?? correct me if I am wrong….

rather than stocking owel with those things (stockies) why not spend the money building a proper hatchery....they should take a look at whats being done on lough rea (co Galway)....they might just learn something.... owel is not trout fishing, it is a waste of public money filling that lough with those things...there is no need, just do it right for once....if someone wants to catch stockies go to one of the put and take ponds....

bribren2001

ironbluedun wrote: »

yes the regeneration of any limestone lough ruined by idiots takes a long time most of us know that all too well...the lough was drained and as we all know drainage is like cutting the veins to the heart....certain death... in fairness they have tried to rejuvenate the streams but as average lough levels were dropped by about 10 feet and the streams turned into broad shallow flat featureless culverts it is impossible to return them to their former nursery system capacity, any wild game fishery is only a s good as its spawning facilities. And as Ennell’s spawning streams have been ruined they wont return to the their full capacity. This happened while the fishery boards were ‘in charge’.

Same as Sheelin the board did nothing worthwhile, so that begs the question do we need them??….My point is that if loughs and rivers were managed and controlled by local clubs and local anglers then the situation might be better. anglers would pay a subscription to fish and the revenue earned put back into the proper management of the fishery….not just another tax lost in the big black financial hole……….this season, and for a many other seasons, I gave €39 to the Shannon regional fisheries board now that’s not a huge amount of money but I see little return for it…this year, and others, I gave €30 to the LSTPA and the work they do puts the board to shame……..Yes the board do some things but they are too slow and cumbersome….any contact I have ever had with any of them has not been productive or proactive…..is the hatchery on Ennell not run by the local anglers?? correct me if I am wrong….

rather than stocking owel with those things (stockies) why not spend the money building a proper hatchery....they should take a look at whats being done on lough rea (co Galway)....they might just learn something.... owel is not trout fishing, it is a waste of public money filling that lough with those things...there is no need, just do it right for once....if someone wants to catch stockies go to one of the put and take ponds....

yep so true!

ye the hatchery is run by the local anglers there, i know quiet a few of the lads there, fair play to them, they were down there checking,minding, working on the hatchery there in the coldest of weather where most people wouldnt put there nose outside the front door!

Ive seen a few of the spawning streams on ennell and to be honest you could p#ss a bigger stream...a huge problem with all the other problems there.....but water wise i believe that it as improved compared to 10 years ago even though i think i read a while back that lough Ennell lost its blue flag status this year after having it the last few.

But Lough Ennell does still have the record of Irelands largest ever trout so lets hope they can bring her back to her best...

It still broke me heart on many an occasion

coolwings

You guys have missed one point .... the fish killers go to where the easy meat is .... and with Owel being stocked that's it - where the competitions and newbies hang out.
If funding was better and Blessington could be stocked at a more intensive rate, it would function very well in that regard. But the enforcement is only begining to stick, and the revenues only beginning to come in from that water. In 10 years or so, with more ticket sales by the ESB and managed (stocked) more, Blessington could be a great sponge to soak up city based angling pressure, and that would relieve Owel greatly, allowing a more natural approach there.

Until then - long may they keep stocking Owel ... I'm all in favour.
I can go to Ennell with those others who appreciate undisturbed water.
If Ennell wears me down, I can take a morning or evening on Owel, for a rest and return to Ennell.
With Dublin, Mullingar and Longford on the same road a really big water with stock augmentation is required to take all those anglers with their competitions, and show them what a trout looks like. Owel is it. If it was not stocked they would empty it in a season.
Looking at the photos they catch very few wild fish in Owel, but the wildies are there, just not taking little flies off the top, so the stockies are targetted by the anglers on Owel, and they act as a buffer protecting the Owel wild fish except during the Green peter nights. Given the angling pressure I think it works surprisingly well.

ironbluedun

Blessington? Would that really make a good trout fishery? I have never fished it for trout; I did fish it a few times for pike in the 1980s but never for trout. In regard to trout fishing I know little of it. Is it not too deep? What is the fly life like? I assume it has buzzers and sedges but Ephemeroptera? It may not have the characteristics suitable for up-winged flies. What is the water like? Alkaline? Spawning facilities with the correct size of gravels?? These are things that a good trout fishery needs and I don’t know if Blessington has them. I suppose with correct management it could become like some of the larger English put and take reservoirs, Rutland and so on. And for those who like that type of thing well that’s fair enough.

Owel is a fine limestone lough, that is ruined by stockies, I am sorry I know loads of lads like fishing for them and that’s ok for them but its not real trout fishing. Owel’s problem relates to lack of spawning facilities therefore the wild stock do need a little assistance in the form of a hatchery or a few hatcheries. That is the only way to make Owel a real trout fishery. The stockies are not wily they are of no challenge to any person who takes fly-fishing seriously. They are alien to any wild fishery and when compiling catch statistics they should be completely discounted and not considered at all. This is something that the SRFB do not do.
Surely the money spent on stockies could be diverted to the creation and management of a half decent hatchery……..

Ennell will never return to its former glory because the spawning facilities can not be reinstated to former capacity. Therefore going down the hatchery road is the only liable option. And that will improve things to a certain extent. And of course the hatchery is run by a few dedicated anglers, so again why not let the anglers control and run the fisheries?????????

manage Owel properly now, bring on the 'natural approach' now why wait? rear on ranched brown trout taken from resident wild Owel stock. Throw all the stockies into Blessington and let the fish killers go there to get their easy meat coolwings.......what do you think of that policy??

coolwings

I think we are heading that way. But it might take another 20 years to get there!
What I'm getting at is the new fisheries policies are to do away with stocking of fish that are bot from the stock of that very water.
Hence Ennell is getting Ennell fish, and so on.
What I don't know is which fish are brood stock for the Owel stockings.
I'm willing to bet that the FB officers choose gravid wildies to use. I would in their place.

If they are doing that, then the stockies are actually from wild Owel fish, but being grown on in ponds, have eroded fins.
There is no doubt they are easier to catch.
But the FB also stocks Owel with smaller fish - fingerlings or fry (not sure which). So these would not have developed the feeding traits that make them easy to catch stockies, but probably feed deeper not coming up until late summer, and form the bulk of the "wild trout" caught from Owel.

Now all it would take to make them all "wild" is to stock only as fry/fingerlings. But the anglers would have to return greater numbers of fish to grow bigger. Some of them are resistant to that!

ironbluedun

coolwings wrote: »

I think we are heading that way. But it might take another 20 years to get there!


Now all it would take to make them all "wild" is to stock only as fry/fingerlings. But the anglers would have to return greater numbers of fish to grow bigger. Some of them are resistant to that!

The way things are being done it will take 20 years +

Yes stock annually with unfed fry and actually encourage anglers to practise catch and release and get away from that 'kill all' mentality, it is a matter of education and to be honest the boards have to do a lot more in that area, but i am not holding my breath.