River Moy (Foxford beats)

Getting there

Features

Local notes

The system's famous water is concentrated around Ballina: the Ridge Pool — immediately below the town weir and old fish traps, running roughly 300m down to Ham Bridge — is Ireland's best-known salmon beat, fishing hardest in low, bright water when running fish stack up unable to clear the falls; the adjoining Cathedral Beat and Lower Beat (Polnamonagh, Springwells, Ash Tree Pool) carry the same water down through town, and all of it is tide-affected, unfishable for up to two hours either side of high water. Upstream through Foxford, Cloongee, Gannons/Bakers and the East Mayo Anglers' water the river alternates shallow gravelly riffles, sweeping-bend runs, deep holding pools and classic glides — this stretch was heavily channelised by the 1960s-70s OPW arterial drainage scheme, which destroyed many of the original pools and left long, canal-like, deep sections better suited to spinning/bait/bubble-and-fly than pure fly work. Spring fish show from February, the grilse run is prolific from early May into July, and low summer water is prime time on the Ballina beats; resident adult brown trout are essentially absent from this Foxford-to-Ballina main channel (it is too deep and slow to hold them) and are instead found in the upper sub-catchments and tributaries above Foxford, where IFI/QUB genetics work has mapped distinct local trout populations across the wider catchment.