Lough Melvin - History

History

Charlie Chaplin fished Lough Melvin extensively, and stayed in Garrison, County Fermanagh, while he was in the locality.

Local fokelore tells of an old monk who was fishing late one night at the boat quay in the Rusheen - this is apparently the origins of the Gillaroo myth. The old monk had fasted for a long period and had nestled on Lough Melvin's rocky shores to seek solice and find himself. Upon completing his period of abstenence he combed the surrounding landscape to quench his appetite. Having acquired a bounty of wild mushrooms from the grassy slopes of the Rusheen he proceeded to seek an adequate complement to his fungal feast. Lough Melvin provided the perfect source for having spent many days gazing upon its vast expanse he had watched in awe at the abundance of wild salmon and various trout like fish that frollicked in pursuit of unsuspecting insect life. After an evening's fishing the only luck he had was an eel which was hardly was worth roasting and a duck egg that he had managed to retrieve from a nest in a nearby reedbed. Becoming ever increasinly desperate and starving the Monk decided to make a cross in the sand and laid his catch within - this is why an eel will not leave a cross of sand if caught in the Lough! It was now that the Monk turned to his spiritual advisor asking him to reward him for his faithful fast - upon opening his eyes he saw that his eel and egg had turned into two of the most beautiful golden bellied trout, a fish so splendid that he simply could not eat, so he turned them free to multiply in the Lough!