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.
Crolly Falls
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. Access to the Crolly Falls area is from the N56 just South of Crolly village.
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.
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.
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 beat map. Crolly Falls are in Beat 4.
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 Owenea
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:
River Crolly (Gweedore) Permits
As well as a rod license, you’ll need a permit to fish the River Crolly (Gweedore). You can book online at:
https://permits.fishinginireland.info/product-category/donegal/crolly/
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)
John James O’Donnell (Chairperson)
Email: rossesanglers@gmail.com
Tel: +353 (0)74 9521 162
FB: Rosses Anglers Association
The club controls half of Lough Annure at the top of the River Crolly
