Dollaghan Trout – Northern Ireland’s Big Fat Fellow

Throughout the world, there are a huge number of different brown trout strains that fly anglers fish for. Many new strains are created regularly in order to suit local conditions in rivers and lakes where there is a desire to plant brown trout.

In Northern Ireland, there is a strain of brown trout native to Lough Neagh that scientists agree has remained genetically pure, and are named Dollaghan trout. “Dollaghan” is a word formed from the Gaelic dulach which means “swift running.”

Dollaghan, which are sometimes also referred to as Breddach (another Gaelic word, which means “big fat fellow”) spend most of their life in the largest body of freshwater in the United Kingdom – Lough Neagh, where they can grow upwards of 15 to 20 pounds. At spawning time, they will enter several of the rivers that flow into the huge lough.

These rivers include the Six Mile Water River, Bann River, the Mayola and the Ballinderry. Like other trout and salmon, Dollaghan will return to the same river where they were hatched and spent the first part of their life in. Trout that were hatched in the Ballinderry River will return to that same river when they are ready to spawn.

These big fat fellows are prized by anglers from around the world that travel to Northern Ireland in the hope of catching one of the few truly wild trout that are available today. The fish may be in the rivers anytime between August and October, and Irish salmon fly patterns such as the Bann Special, Yellow Shrimp and the Fox Fly can be very effective. Because of their similarity to sea trout in that they are sensitive to light, night time fishing is often the best way to target Dollaghan for the best chance of success.

These Lough Neagh natives are a valuable resource to Ireland and today, efforts are being made to ensure that Dollaghan trout are conserved for generations to come.

Check out Stevie Munn’s article on Dollaghan trout.