The Fish

 

The Fish

Salmon

Lough fishing starts in February with the arrival of the first salmon on Lough Melvin and continues through the months with grilse from May to July. Lough Erne and its rivers are not presently noted for salmon or grilse but much work is taking place to improve the runs and revive the Erne as salmon fishery. Fishing is available, in one form or another, from February until the end of October. Salmon run from 7.5 to 10lbs+ and the grilse from 3 to 6lbs.

Brown Trout

Wild trout will range from 8ozs. - 4lbs. or more depending on location. There is a wealth of river fishing from March to September - with the dry fly, wet fly and nymph.Lough Erne enjoys an excellent Mayfly hatch, perhaps one of our best secrets, when the wild trout of a lifetime is a possibility. Our stocked fisheries mean a larger average with fish to 5lbs or more.

 

Sonaghan, Gillaroo & Ferox

Lough Melvin is home to these trout. Genetically distinct they are easily distinguished by shape and coloration. The gillaroo, feeding on molluscs and wonderfully spotted in reds and orange, is usually found on the rocky shores. The dark sonaghan, black finned and athletic, feeds mainly on plankton though will take emerging insects. Weighing from 8ozs. to 1.5lbs they are found in shoals, often in deep water.The ferox, from 4lbs, and feeding on char, are usually caught trolling.

Rainbow Trout

With many stocked waters, from ‘put and take’ fisheries to wilder ‘grown on’ lakes, a wide variety of rainbow trout fishing is available. The trout will range in weights from 8ozs. - 6lbs plus.

Roach

The Southwest of Northern Ireland is famous throughout Europe for its huge shoals of roach that migrate through the stretches of water in and around Enniskillen. The Roach fishing on the Erne is very good during the spring and early summer periods, with the region’s still waters peaking during mid summer to autumn and lastly the river Blackwater fishing at its best at the end of the season giving year round catches of Roach from a few ounces to around 2lbs.

Bream

The region’s Bream vary from small skimmers to specimen fish up to a maximum of 10lbs. For the larger specimens, some of the lesser known still waters have the most potential, fishing at their best once the water temperature rises between June and September.

Pike

Specimen Pike can be caught throughout the Erne System along with Lough McNean. Many of the waters have only been fished for pike by locals who have been known to catch pike between 20 and 30lbs throughout the season.