Fishing in Northern Ireland

Trout & Salmon Fishing: Colebrooke Park offers excellent trout fishing in 3 miles of the Colebrooke river and a number of hill loughs in the beautiful countryside of Co Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.

Fishing on the Colebrooke river can produce trout up to about 3lbs and in September, if there is good water, much larger fish of up to 10lbs come up from Lough Erne to spawn. With some skillful fishing and a little luck it is possible to catch them!

Fishing for trout in the hill loughs is very good sport and although there are large numbers of fish under 3/4lb caught during the day, there are a significant number of between 1 and 3lbs caught late in the evening.

Colebrooke Park is within ½ hour of Lough Erne and literally dozens of small trout loughs.

We can also arrange for Salmon Fishing on the River Mourne, please contact us for further details.

Pike Fishing: Many people tend to think of pike fishing as rather boring coarse fishing - however at Colebrooke it is a very exciting Brooke family sport! There are quite large numbers of fish which average about 4lbs and we frequently meet 6-10 pounders. One fish of 20lbs was caught a mile outside our private water last year.

For something a little different you could try catching pike on the fly. This isn't a new idea but in general pike flies need to be bigger and brighter than their trout fishing counterparts, with an extra bit of flash to attract those predators !!

Fly Fishing Courses: Are you an experienced fly fisherman wanting to perfect your skills or are you a beginner wanting to take up this fascinating sport? Why not try one of our new residential fly fishing courses?

Improve your technique and achieve more from your equipment by coming to Colebrooke Park where we have a very experienced ghillie who is also a fully qualified casting and fishing instructor. Patrick Trotter, a local man of great character, is a member of APGAI-Ireland (Association of Professional Game Angling Instructors in Ireland) and is one of only a handful of instructors in Ireland to have been awarded an FFF Master Certificate (Federation of Fly Fishers) in casting tuition and instruction.

The weekend will start with a lecture on fly fishing equipment, the art of knot tying, river and lake craft and entomology. Each guest has their casting ability assessed and tuition is tailored to individual needs. Initially this is on grass and then guests move to the river, to the lake which is stocked with rainbow trout and to private hill loughs for further practical experience.

The full range of casting is taught from basic overhead, through slack line and mend casts to double haul and long distance techniques. Guests will be taught about the fascinating subject of river wildlife and its importance to the success of the fisherman. This will include the fish themselves, crayfish and the entomology of the insect life in the river. An example of a weekend programme can be seen below. NB: A minimum number of five people is required for residential courses.

Fly Fishing Courses:

The Weekend Programme could be as follows:

NB: This programme is totally flexible depending on the ability of participants. Greater emphasis may be placed on the river of lough or indeed salmon fishing if the guests so require it.

Fly-tying instruction may be included if you wish – your instructor would be Frankie McPhillips from Tempo. He was featured in ‘Country Life’ magazine in 1996 as a ‘Living Treasure’ and he ranks amongst the best fly-tiers at present in the British Isles.