Waters

River Fergus (Corofin–Ennis stretches)

Baseline tactics

Co. Clare · River · wild

Weather check

Issued 08:33

Light north-easterly2 km/h · gusting 5 km/hBlowing from the north-east · rippleGusty — hard casting.

Today — conditions every three hours
Time	Sky	Wind	Air	Rain
06:00	cloud	N 3 km/h	-2 °C	dry
08:00	cloud	NE 3 km/h	0 °C	dry
10:00	sun	NW 2 km/h	4 °C	dry
12:00	sun and cloud	NE 3 km/h	9 °C	dry
14:00	cloud	N 8 km/h	10 °C	dry
16:00	cloud	ENE 5 km/h	9 °C	dry
18:00	cloud	ENE 8 km/h	8 °C	dry
20:00	cloud	E 8 km/h	7 °C	dry

Times are UTC · wind in km/h · sun and rain read left to right across the day.

Air: -2–10°
Wind: 10 km/h
Rain: Dry

Water

measured

Cool 12 °C

Steady sport — the fish will come up for it.

Measured at Doora Bridge · OPW

Ripple on the forecast.

Today · River Fergus (Corofin–Ennis stretches)

Best window today is dusk, around 17:17.

Water · Cool (8–12°C)

Fishability is the engine's own hourly score. Why these conditions matter.

Compare the week

This week

Dawn

Morn

Midday

Eve

Dusk

Today

Tmrw

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

Sun

ExcellentGoodFairPoor★ best of the day

Check season dates with the fishery (link below).

Where & when — all waters ›Pack for this trip — Kit Check ›

Depth character (estimated)

Mixed depths · to ~2 m

Water clarity (estimated)

Clear

Exposure (estimated)

Moderate

Species

Brown trout →Atlantic salmon →

Getting there

Bank access: GoodAccess is at road bridges throughout — no continuous riverside path, but frequent bridge access points along the fished stretches (Knox's Bridge, Drehidnagower Bridge, Templemaley Bridge, Addroon Bridge, Ballyogan Bridge, Kilnaboy Bridge). Two independent tourist-angling-guide source families both state trout fishing on the river and its lakes is free with no permit or licence required — unusual for Ireland, where club/association permit control (as on the Boyne, Suir) is the norm. This is the fishery's headline claim and needed the most scrutiny this session (see reconciliation doc); net verdict is PARTIAL — plausible and repeated, but not confirmed by a primary/club source, and it describes trout access only, not the separate national State salmon licence every salmon angler needs regardless of water (link-out matter, not water-specific permission).

No boats

Knox's Bridge, Ennis · BridgeBest-known lower-river trout water, east Ennis; reported free/informal access — unverified; check locally (O'Callaghan's, Corofin) before fishing.
Corofin (O'Callaghan's / Day Break) · TownTackle shop and Lough Inchiquin boat hire; the practical local-knowledge contact for the upper system — access reported free/informal, unverified; confirm locally.
Kilnaboy Bridge (Killinaboy) · BridgeUpper trout stretch toward Corofin/Elmvale; reported free/informal access — unverified; check locally (O'Callaghan's, Corofin) before fishing.
Post Office Field, Ennis · TownEarly-season salmon taking place in central Ennis (also called 'the Meadow'); access reported free/informal — unverified; confirm locally.

Features

PoolsRunsGlidesRiffles

Weed: UnknownNo source found addresses weed density or extent on the river channel specifically. The river is repeatedly described as 'gin clear' limestone water, which is consistent with (but not proof of) marginal weed growth typical of Irish limestone rivers — do not assert a level without a local check.

Coarse fry present (Pike, Perch, Rudd, Tench)

Local notes

A genuine limestone dry-fly river: gin-clear water over a bed that also swallows the river underground for about a kilometre near Kilnaboy (karst geology typical of the Burren catchment it drains). The best-known trout water sits on the lower river around Knox's Bridge on the east side of Ennis, with further named stretches working upstream — the stream opposite the old Vocational School in Ennis, above and below Drehidnagower Bridge, The Cut roughly 1.5 miles upstream of Ennis, the Upper Cut below Templemaley Bridge, then bridge-to-bridge/lough-to-lough stretches (Addroon Bridge to Ballyteigue Lough, Ballyteigue Lough to Ballyogan Bridge, Atedaun Lough to Inchiquin Lough, Inchiquin Lough to Kilnaboy Bridge, Kilnaboy Bridge to Elmvale) up towards Corofin. Trout run smaller than the Boyne/Suir on average (roughly 3/4 lb, with fish to 4 lb reported) but the river also carries a genuine salmon and grilse run — it appears on IFI's list of rivers open for salmon angling and has its own IFI fish counter (installed as part of the Ennis flood-relief works), with named early-season salmon 'taking places' in Ennis town itself (Post Office Field, the Sandy Hole, the Meadow) — though civic sources describe Post Office Field and 'the Meadow' as the same broad meander, so treat that trio of names with some caution rather than as three distinct beats. Hatches lean olives, iron blues, blue-winged olives and sedges through the season; unlike the Boyne/Suir/Nore, at least one source states there is no mayfly hatch on the Fergus — single-sourced, flagged. Corofin village (O'Callaghan's/Day Break shop) is the practical tackle and local-knowledge contact, and also the boat-hire point for Lough Inchiquin, a lough the river flows through rather than a river-fishing feature itself.

Fishery rules & regulations

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