lakes donegal

As you approach Falcarragh you will se New Lake, right and Port Lake is signposted , left. these two lakes are excellent brown trout waters....

This is another artificial sea water lough on the shores of Lough Swilly, where the level is controlled by floodgate. It holds occassional salmon and sea trout and fishes best in July. It can be fished from the shore and July is the best month for sea trout. Permission...

This is a small lough beside Creeslough village. It used to hold an excellent stock of brown trout averaging 10 oz, with fish to 2km, but stocks have been greatly depleted in recent years by greedy and uncaring anglers. If you do catch fish, I suggest you return them safely to the water to conserve stocks. Useful fly patterns are Golden Olive, Wicham's Fancy, Black Pennell, Butcher and Connemara Black. Bank fishing only and about 25 per cent of the shoreline is fishable. Permission....

This is a large, shallow expanse of water between Inch Island in Lough Swilly and the mainland at Burnfoot. The water is brackish and the level is maintained by means of floodgates in the dam wall. It now holds occasional salmon and sea trout but was once noted as one of the greatest sea trout fisheries in Donegal. The trout are mainly taken on sand eels and by spinning, through you many still chance to get one on a Teal Blue and Silver or Peter Ross off the cormer of the dam. Permission: Not u...

This is a lough of some 40 acres, 2 miles form Belleek on the A47 Pettigo road. It is stocked annually with brown and rainbow trout and being a limestone lough has a good stock of natural trout too. The season runs from 1 March to 30 September and there is a 4 trout bag limit and a 10 inch size limit. Only orthodox fly fishing is allowed. Boats may be hired from Mr John McGauran, Bally-megaghran, Leggs Post Office, or from the Carlton Hotel, Belleek. The avergae size of the trout here is over 1...

The Letterkenny and District Anglers' Association exercises rights on that part of the lough to which it has title and the rest of the lough is free fishing. This was one of the great spring salmon loughs until its stocks were hit by UDN in the 1960s, a disaster from which it never recovered. It is now fished for its brown trout and can give superb sport. The trout average a half lb and fish up to 1lb are encountered fairly frequently and you may even get on over 2lb. It is a shallow lough, nerl...

This is a small narrow lough just over a mile south west of Creeslough village. Access is gained by the farmhouse on the north west shore and approximately half of the bank is fishable. The average size of the trout is over 1lb though the lough used to hold trout of 2-5lb before stocks were reduced by gross over fishing. The fishing is now very dour but a small stock of good trout still survives. There are hatches of duckfly in spring, murroughs in Jume, and Green Peter in late July and August....

These loughs are referred to locally as the Twin Loughs and lie to either side of the Buncrana-Cardonagh road. Fad is the larger of the two with a road running along the north and east shores. It is very deep and hold only small brownies and you will do well if you get one of a half lb. It holds a large population of small char and they can sometimes be taken on fly off shore in May. The most popular fly patterns are Peter Ross, Mallard and Claret, Black Spider and Wickham's Fancy. Lough Namina...

This lough is also on the Fermangh-Donegal border. Most of it is in Co. Fermanagh, but the best access is off a by road on the Donegal side. It has a nice stock of trout ranging in size from a half to one and a half lbs. Recent reports indicate that the fishing is not as good as it used to be and that the trout are smaller. There are good hatches of duckfly, olives, sedges and even mayfly. Lough Rushen is easy to fish from the shore and seems to fish best in the evening. An unusual feature of th...

This lough lies less than one mile due east of Milford and is approached off a by road that links the L78 Milford-Carrowkeel road with the T72 Milford-Rathmelton road. The lough is only one field away from the road and access is opposite the little pond on the roadside. The trout average about three quarters lbs and in the past the lough is known to have produced trout of over 4lb. The north and west sides are easily fished while the east side is unfishable. There is another little lough a few h...