Just thought i would share this with those who wonder why there are no big wild trout in our waters.Although the Dollaghan has made a great come back the wild trout in our rivers are still struggling.(most browns over 1/2 pound here are stocked).
What you will read here is the time i grew up fishing our rivers with some great fishing and also watched them die......im no expert on the subject but i am witness to the great fishing and then the death of our waters......enjoy the read those who think differently.

Jon Beers fishes for dollaghan on the Ballinderry River at Coagh

Well i can see folks are impressed

Anyhow after Lough Neagh got over its pea soup years and the rivers got their Dollaghan back not much has changed.There was some great fishing for browns for a few years when the government seen the errors of their ways and stocked the rivers with browns 1/2lb to 2lb in places which was also adopted by clubs to ease the preasure from anglers.(another great idea).
Not much change on the wild brown trout though they seem to be in very low numbers a dark shadow on the fish i caught from 1lb1/2 to 3lbs on a regular basis.(mobile phones and digi cameras would have been handy in those days)...most pics now days seem to be of small fish 4&5 inches, prob small Dollaghan people think are wild river browns, and apart from some pics of bigger fish which are stocked the wild browns of years gone by have dissapeared.

Dont know about the river management up north! but if its any thing like the work thats been carried out on the river Bonet in Leitrim its no wonder there are no big trout left.
The board of works have ripped out every bit of dead wood and cut back all the trees near the river, them some idiot thought it a good idea to tip 150 tonne
of building sand in to make salmon beds first spate and it all ended up in lough Gill.
There is a big need for river management teaching in Leitrim.

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I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,9 bean rows will I have there and a hive for the honey bee.

Yip...if you read through my first post it points out poor drainage scheme up here...ripped away trees from banks and dug out spawning redds.....i always rember the Blackwater at Augher.They spent near 2 million on drainage scheme and ripped the river to shreads, first winter flood and the worst flooding of lands ever known.I think the repair bill of that went well above 4 million.Great work saving the Dollaghan but the poor wild browns didnt get the same grace....still too many fish kills on our rivers with little justice being forced.

.(most browns over 1/2 pound here are stocked).


Complete nonsense. Do you fish any of our rivers regularly? I'd love to know where because I have been enjoying some fabulous fishing in lots of rivers here for years and have caught plenty of wild fish up to 1.5lbs

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And when none bite, I praise the wise
Whom vain allurements ne'er surprise.

IF you think that the rivers are not looked after in Northern Ireland,you should get on to the Ulster Angling Federation Ltd,as they say they are the govering body for all game angling,and looking after all waters in ulster.

I dont fish the rivers as much as i used to but i did fish through the their demise and ruin.....if i talk complete nonsense to you then ill happilly be proven wrong by your evidence that our wild brown trout are on their comeback...from the start of the the eighties our rivers were stuffed with stocked fish and some rivers do still get this treatment.....one river i know they aint back is the ballinderry as i fish it every year and have done so for over 40yrs.

---------- Post added at 11:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:40 AM ----------

Yeah they done a good job looking after the sixmile water...it seemed to get wiped out 2yrs ago

You should get out there and fish them then rather than make absurd sweeping statements. This season i have fished the upper bann, braid, maine, bush and clough rivers. They have all held good stocks of fish with plenty over 10 inches and I have not caught a single stocked fish

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And when none bite, I praise the wise
Whom vain allurements ne'er surprise.

Good for you...im not making absurd sweeping statements...fished most rivers appart from the bush....my opening post shows something i didnt write but witnessed as i fished our rivers when the wrong doing took part, im just pointing out what actually did happen.
What i will say is wild fish are there but not as big or anywhere near the size or numbers they used to be.
The Braid gets stocked,....havent fished the clough from time it was full of rainbows, 3,ooo i think got washed out of fish farm years ago.Stocking still goes on and not sure if wild brood from rivers are used or not to re introduce what was lost,maybe you know.?....what with bad managment for years here on our rivers and reports from all wild waters certainly not much to go on on our wild brown trout recovering from hard times.

there are no big wild trout in our waters.
(most browns over 1/2 pound here are stocked).
the death of our waters



Three quotes from your original post which I would say are clearly absurd generalisations from someone who admits to not really fishing rivers much anymore. The rivers I mentioned are full of wild fish and there are plenty of good ones to give pleasure to those who can be bothered to go out and fish for them. No free tea and coffee and no huts provided to shelter from the rain but great wild fishing and I wouldn't want someone running them down without challenge.

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And when none bite, I praise the wise
Whom vain allurements ne'er surprise.