River Crolly (Gweedore)

River Crolly (Gweedore) Guide

The River Crolly (Gweedore River) flows out of Lough Anure and down past Crolly village on its way to the sea, just three miles away. The surrounding scenery is quite breath-taking, with a mixture of mooreland and deepish gorges. Nearby is Leo's Tavern, the home of the world famous Clannad (and Enya). The River Crolly is fairly narrow for most of its course, being just 3-5 metres.

Top of the waterfall on the River Crolly.

Access to the river is fairly easy with roads close to most of the banks, and the banks themselves are reasonable on most of the good fishing spots. As you head downstream towards the sea the banks get pretty uneven in places.

The mouth of the River Crolly is actually joined to the Clady River by a man-made canal. Water from the Clady is channelled down this canal to the hydro-electric power station situated at the mouth of the Crolly. Sometimes when the power station is generating the water from the Clady comes down to the Crolly (mouth) in such quantities that it confuses the Clady fish and they end up running the Crolly.

River Crolly on the lower half below Crolly Bridge.

The Crolly River gets a decent run of spring fish from March through until May. The grilse arrive in early June and the peak of the run is around the end of June and into early July. There aren't that many fishable pools on the river in general but when the Grilse are on the move any of them will offer a great chance of a fish.

About ½ a mile below Lough Anure is a place called The Flag. Here the river drops down a pretty steep waterfall. You can see this waterfall when you're standing beside the old Crolly factory (just through Crolly village on the N56). Just below the falls is probably the best pool on the Crolly (Gweedore) River.

A close up of the Waterfall at the old Crolly factory.

There are a couple of other pools from the falls down to Crolly Bridge although they are difficult to fish with the flies. When you head downstream of the bridge at Crolly, there are a further three good pools between it and the sea.

The Sea Trout arrive on the Crolly in late June and run from then until the end of July. The average size would be around 1 ½ lb.

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Lough Anure is controlled by the Rosses Anglers Association and the ESB (half each). It is a big, but shallow Lough with plenty of Brown Trout in the ½ lb to 1 lb range. The Lough also holds Salmon from mid-July. Most people fish it by boat but you need to be careful as it has a very rocky bottom, and you can damage the boat easily in a big wave.

River Crolly (Gweedore) Tributaries

No River Crolly (Gweedore) tributaries listed.

River Crolly (Gweedore) Neighbouring Rivers

River Clady
River Cloghernagore
River Dungloe
River Glenna
River Gweebarra
River Owennamarve
River Owenwee (Yellow)
River Tullaghobegly (Tullaghabegley)

Fishing the River Crolly (Gweedore)

River Crolly (Gweedore) Season

Salmon - 2nd February - 30th September
Sea Trout - 2nd February - 12th October
Brown Trout - 15th February - 12th October

River Crolly (Gweedore) Methods

Fly Fishing
Spinning
Worming

River Crolly (Gweedore) Fishing Authority

To fish in Ireland you need a rod license from the appropriate fishing authority. You can find the details for the River Crolly (Gweedore) at:

Northern Fisheries Management

River Crolly (Gweedore) Permits

As well as a rod license, you'll need a permit to fish the River Crolly (Gweedore). You can get permits from any of the following distributors:

An Chúirt Hotel
Gaoth Dobhair
Tel: +353 (0)74 953 2900

Bunbeg House
The Harbour
Bunbeg
Tel: +353 (0)74 953 1305

Charlie Bonner's Tackle Shop
The Bridge
Dungloe
Tel: +353 (0)74 952 1163

River Crolly (Gweedore) Clubs

Rosses Anglers Association - River Crolly (Gweedore)
Eddie Sweeney (Chairperson)
Chapel Road
Dungloe
Email: info@rossesanglers.com
Tel: +353 (0)74 9522 127
Web: Rosses Anglers Association

The club controls half of Lough Annure at the top of the River Crolly

River Crolly (Gweedore) Ratings

River Crolly (Gweedore) Fishing Conditions

River Crolly (Gweedore) Status

Bag Limits

There is an angling bag limit of 10 salmon (any size) or sea trout (over 40 cm).

NOTE: The bag limits are subject to any quota allocated to a river and its tributaries. You should check locally when buying your permit.

Subject to the maximum annual bag limit of ten fish, an angler may take:

- A season bag limit of 3 fish in the period 1 Jan to 11 May.
- A daily bag limit of 3 fish from 12 May to 31 August.
- A daily bag limit of 1 fish from 1 September to the end of the season.
- You must use single hooks and not use worms as bait, once the specified number of fish have been caught in the specified periods.
- Please note that no sea trout of any size caught in the Western Region or the Clew Bay area of the North Western Region can be retained.

After the daily bag limit has been taken, anglers are permitted to fish catch and release, using single barbless hooks and there is a ban on the use of worms.

Local Restrictions

Some rivers impose their own local restrictions so when you are going to buy your permit for the River Crolly (Gweedore), please check with the distributor.