Flyfishing on Ireland's River Fergus

The Fergus rises in the Burren, Europe’s largest area of limestone pavement and famous for its unique communities of Atlantic and Arctic-alpine plants. The river runs clear as it wanders very slowly through Kilnaboy, Corofin, Ennis and Newmarket-on-Fergus before entering the tidal Shannon. On its way the Fergus passes through Inchiquin Lake in the upper reaches and Ballyallia Lake, a wildfowl sanctuary just north of Ennis. En-route several other small lakes contribute a rich source of food for the trout of the Fergus.

Sue Parker fishing for brown trout on the River Fergus

Trout Fishing
Trout of the Fergus grow deep and fat on a rich diet of insects and freshwater shrimps. Plenty of adult trout habitat and limited spawning and nursery area ensures that each fish has lots of space and no real competition for food. Their growth rate is high: next to none of the protein input is wasted in holding station, because the Fergus rarely does more than saunter along.

Fergus trout often have golden flanks

A #4 or #5 fly rod and matching floating line is ideal for this narrow but in places quite deep river. Fish dry flies in spring and on summer evenings, but we find that nymphing is the best method to use on sunny summar days; a size 16 heavily-weighted nymph fished as a 'dropper' beneath a buoyant dry fly is our preferred technique at such times.

What to expect
In summer the water level is held up by dense weed growth that makes anything but dry fly fishing next to impossible over most of the journey to the tidal Shannon below Ennis. A 5lb tippet is not unreasonable in such a snag-rich environment, and the river taught soon taught us that degreasing the tippet so that it sinks is the very least we must do to fool a Fergus fish. Spring fishing can be quite productive during the day, but if you catch two or three fish in a summer's evening you are doing well. the good news is that the fish grow big in this rich river, and four-pound trout will take dry flies in springtime. The local record, a trout caught near Corofin, easily topped the ten-pounds mark.

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