“There is more to fishing than just fishing”, a saying that most certainly holds its truth for the Irish county of Donegal. It is of course possible to just sleep, eat, fish, eat and sleep again, but one hardly learns to know the people and the country in this way. In Donegal one can, in the evening hours in the bar of the hotel or in a local pub, relax, enjoy live music and exchange experiences with other anglers while enjoying an Irish beer like Guinness, Kilkenny or Murphy’s.

Text and pictures Rudy van Duijnhoven

 

Donegal is the fourth largest county of Ireland, still it only borders with county Leitrim in the south, Donegal does however have a border with three Northern-Ireland counties. Because of the isolation from the rest of the Irish Republic, the people of Donegal have largely kept their own identity; “up here it’s different” use to be a well-known slogan in this respect. The country is wild, like what the rest of Ireland used to look like in past times; there are two low mountain ranges (the Derryveagh and Bluestack Mountains) with Mount Errigal at 749 meters as the highest peak. The Slieve League cliffs are among the highest cliffs in Europe, Malin Head is the northern most point of Ireland. The coastline is worn out deeply, whereby large natural saltwater loughs have been formed like Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle.

Due to the influence of the Warm Gulf-stream the climate is moderate, with warm, damp summers and mild, wet winters. People live on two islands in front of the coast permanently, on the others people live only temporarily. The second largest river in Ireland, the Erne, enters Donegal Bay at Ballyshannon.

 

Salmon and seatrout

While the rest of the Irish Republic “suffered’” from the warm and dry summer the year we visited Donegal, the salmon and seatrout rivers of Donegal remained at a good level that year, in such a way that new fish could run up the rivers on an almost daily basis. Seatrout is mainly fished for in the estuaries of the rivers, along the west and north coast of Donegal there are ten areas mentioned as very promising, but there are more of course. Near Ballyshannon people fish in the estuary of the Erne not only for seatrout, but for mullet and mackerel as well. The largest seatrout are caught here early in the season (March) with natural bait, but from September onwards larger fish move into the estuary again. During the summer months large numbers of smaller seatrout up to two or three pounds in weight are caught with the fly-rod or with lures on the spinning rod. Near Donegal town the estuary of the Eske can be found, while there are more good hotspots north of Letterkenny.

 

Apart from the rivers, the salmon are in Donegal also fished for on a number of lakes. Through the Lackagh River, the left side of which has been made readily accessible by the Inland Fisheries Ireland, salmon and seatrout move onwards to Glen Lough and Lough Beagh. Next to the capture of brown trout with a weight from a half to a maximum of several pounds, there is a good chance here to hook into a salmon or seatrout of a nice size while fishing from a drifting boat with a team of two or three wet flies or salmon flies. Lough Beagh is situated in the amazing Glenveagh National Park, the castle with the special landscaped garden here are among the most important tourist attractions of Donegal. Due to its location in a national park, Lough Beagh can only be fished from as early as the 15th of July. The around six kilometers long Owencarrow River connects Lough Beagh with Glen Lough, large sections of this river are deep and have little flow in them; you need a good ripple on the water in order to be successful here. The first salmon of the year are usually caught on the River Drowes, other rivers worth fishing are the Eany, Owenea and the Crana.

 

Sea-fishing

Along the coast of Donegal it is possible to go on board of a fishing charter at numerous places, on the Donegal Angling Holidays website there is a complete overview of the sea-fishing boats that are available for a day trip or that can be rented with a group. Donegal Bay has an open structure with little shelter when the wind comes from the south-west or west. In 2000 the first bluefin tuna was caught here with a rod and line and the Irish record of 440 kilogram comes from here as well. The tuna can be fished for from September until December, blue shark from July until October; the other species can be fished for almost year round. Next to pollack and mackerel, one can fish in a spectacular landscape for, among others, ling, coalfish, cod, conger, several species of wrasse, gurnard, small species of sharks, ray and flat-fish.

 

The year that we were there, there was again a huge amount of mackerel to be found along the coast, they often grabbed the bait which was meant for other species. Every water has it’s own problems… On light tackle (including the fly-rod and fast sinking fly-lines) one can enjoy excellent sport from these boats, keep in mind that the rocky bottom will cost you some flies and lures. On the website there are also a lot of hotspots to be found from where you can fish from the coast for mackerel, pollack, wrasse, ray, conger, flat-fish, gurnard and seatrout. It is also possible to go out to sea with a small boat at a number of locations. One can find sheltered waters in or near, among others, Mulroy Bay, behind Aranmore Island, Sheephaven Bay, Drumcliffe Bay, Ballisodare, Culdaff, Rathmullan Pier and Lough Swilly.

 

Alternatives

When there is too much wind to fish at sea or the level of the salmon and seatrout rivers is too high or too low to fish them well, than fishing for rainbow trout or pike can be an excellent alternative. In the Ballyshannon area there are a large number of small lakes to be found with an often excellent head of pike. These lakes get little fishing pressure, also because there is often a lot of plant growth along the shores. Do not forget to bring the belly-boat for this reason!

 

You can also have some very pleasant time on a sheltered lake like the six hectare large Lough na Tooey near Creeslough. The water here is very clear and during the season new trout are put out in the lake every few months. There are however also enough healthy and strong rainbow trout in the lake that have spend several months or years in the water already (and have come to know a good many fishing techniques and artificial flies…). Drifting with a team of wet flies, but also nymph fishing and fishing streamers with intermediate or sinking fly-lines can deliver some fine catches. The Meadows Trout Fishery near Cloughfin also regularly gets a new supply of trout, but this fishery shows less shelter and it is less than one hectare in size.

 

 

 

Information

Accommodations, fishing guides, sea-fishing boats and such can be booked through the Donegal Angling Holidays website: www.donegalanglingholidays.com. You will also find addresses of angling shops here, information on how to obtain the necessary licenses plus interesting background information on the county and culture. On an interactive chart all angling possibilities, accommodations, restaurants etc. are easily to be found and located.