The rivers:

On the Owenea River, our closest salmon river to Ardara, the river is divided by beats, four rods to the beat, and each beat is about a mile long. The beats are clearly marked for the fisherman. 

However on some systems close to Ardara, such as the Glen and Eany Rivers, the ticket is for the whole river for salmon fishing.  Then again, in the Dungloe area, just up the coast road from Ardara, the daily  ticket includes all salmon rivers and over 130 loughs to fish for trout, all for the same daily fee, about $30 US.

Most of our rivers along the Donegal coast are spate rivers, meaning they are greatly affected by rains, filling swiftly and rising quickly after a rain and emptying just as quickly.  The catchments of our coastal rivers are comparatively small and short, so the rivers are steep and swift. 

When the river begins to empty a new rainfall into the sea or estuary, the salmon smell the fresh water and run in on the "flood" or "freshet".  As you might expect, they are easiest to entice to the fly just after they enter the river system. 

These rivers are not often waded because they are deep when running full from a flood and are deeply cut into the surrounding pastureland.  They are riffle and pool streams, usually fished from the bank -

- or from a rock not too far out to get to.

When our local Donegal rivers are not in shape for salmon fishing, we have contacts in County Mayo which may get some time on that county's famous river, the Moy, for salmon and sea trout fishing.  Sometimes it can be a bit more crowded than our Donegal rivers, but it does have a grand number of salmon.  If you look closely, you'll see a 15 pounder in mid-leap in this shot of the famous Ridge Pool in the town of Ballina.

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Page Last Modified 01/22/2007 10:08