Lough Derg on the Shannon
Lough · Fresh water · in The Shannon system
The largest lake on the Shannon: a long limestone lough some forty kilometres from end to end, shallow and reedy in its bays, deeper in the main channel, with a navigation running through it and a hydroelectric barrage at its outflow.
Safety: cold water shock — can cause serious injury or death. One more point applies here.
FishingHQ describes what this place is, not whether you may fish it. Access, permits and who to ask.
What you can catch here
Documented at this place, grouped by how you would be fishing, with how strongly the sources support each one. This is what has been written down, not a forecast, and being listed is never permission to fish.
From the shore · 3
From a boat · 5
Common breamCharacteristic of this water1 placeLough Derg on the ShannonOver loughAround May–Sept
Northern pikeCharacteristic of this water1 placeLough Derg on the ShannonOver lough
European perchRegular local target1 placeLough Derg on the ShannonOver lough
RoachRegular local target1 placeLough Derg on the ShannonOver lough
Brown troutRecorded here1 placeLough Derg on the ShannonOver lough
What these strengths mean
- Characteristic of this water
- This water is strongly identified with this species by the sources that cover it.
- Regular local target
- Fishing sources describe this as a normal local target here, not merely as caught.
- Recorded here
- At least one credible public account of this species being caught here. That is all it means.
- How breadth is counted
- A fish documented at six marks is shown as six marks: breadth never raises the strength on its own. A fishery account describes the fishing; a recorded catch reports one specific catch. How evidence is weighed.
How people fish it
Practised here: Predator fishing, Coarse fishing.
Methods the sources name for this ground. Each one is explained in full on its own page.
- Trolling
Towing lures or baits behind a moving boat to cover large volumes of water and locate scattered fish.
- Float fishing
Suspending a bait at a controlled depth beneath a buoyant indicator — the most visual, most controllable and most widely applicable method in angling.
- Ledgering
Fishing a bait on the bottom held by a weight, with no float — the simplest way to fish at distance, in depth, or in wind.
- Deadbaiting
Presenting a dead fish as bait for predators — a method that works because scavenging is normal predator behaviour, not an exception.
The ground and the water
- The ground
- The largest lake on the Shannon: a long limestone lough some forty kilometres from end to end, shallow and reedy in its bays, deeper in the main channel, with a navigation running through it and a hydroelectric barrage at its outflow.
- Exposure
- Long enough in a north-easterly to build a substantial sea, with limited shelter in the middle reaches.
Through the year
Fished through the open-water months for pike and coarse species, with the shallow bays warming first and the deeper water holding fish through the summer.
Safety
Cold water shock — Can cause serious injury or death
Northern European water is cold enough for most of the year to trigger the involuntary gasp and the loss of swimming ability that decides most immersion deaths, and it does so within the first minute, long before hypothermia is relevant.
What reduces it: Wear a buoyancy aid rather than carry one, carry a means of calling for help on the person rather than in a bag, and plan on the assumption that an unplanned entry into the water is survivable only if somebody knows immediately.
Boat safety — Can cause serious injury or death
The great loughs are large and shallow, so wind raises a steep short sea across a long fetch far faster than on a deep lake, and they are strewn with unmarked rocks, shoals and islands invisible in a ripple. Striking one at speed can hole or capsize a boat and has caused deaths here.
What reduces it: Wear a lifejacket rather than carry one, stay in the marked navigation when travelling, learn the safe routes before using them at speed, watch the wind forecast rather than the current conditions, and turn for shelter early.
Worse when:
- In a ripple or chop, when covered rocks cannot be seen.
- On the open middle of the big loughs, where fetch is longest and shelter furthest.
Rules and access
Licence
A State licence is required for salmon and sea trout in the Republic of Ireland. None is required for trout, pike or coarse fishing.
Permission to fish
Separate, and frequently required even where no licence is. A local permit from the club, fishery or state fisheries body is normal, and some catchments require one for coarse and pike fishing as well.
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Irish freshwater angling requires permission from whoever holds the fishing rights, and salmon and sea trout additionally require a state licence and a tagging arrangement. Seasons, permits and conservation measures apply and change. Check with Inland Fisheries Ireland and with the fishery owner or club before going.
Who holds the answer:
- Inland Fisheries Ireland, for licensing, seasons and fisheries protection.
- The fishery owner, club or association that controls the water.
- Inland Fisheries Ireland, which manages fisheries, sets conservation measures and byelaws, and administers licensing in the Republic.
- Waterways Ireland, the cross-border body responsible for navigation on the Shannon and the Shannon-Erne Waterway.
- The National Parks and Wildlife Service, where a conservation designation affects the river, the callows or their species.
- The fishery owner, club or angling federation, where permission or a permit is required for a particular water.
- The Environmental Protection Agency, for water quality and the eutrophication status of the catchment.
Sources for this place
- Freshwater Fishes of the British Isles — HarperCollins (New Naturalist 75), 1992 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat requirement, ecology and life history of European freshwater fishes, including the species named for this water.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- The European Environment Agency's assessments of Europe's waters, seas and coasts — European Environment Agency, Copenhagen (Conservation authority)Relied on for: Assessment of Europe's surface waters, including hydromorphological modification, barriers to migration and the pressures recorded on the water body.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Trout & Salmon — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Long-running published description of European game angling practice by river and season, including the continental destinations British anglers fish.FishingHQ's interpretation of what it saysCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated public descriptions of which continental waters are conventionally fished and how, recorded as practitioner consensus rather than as scholarship, and not relied on for access, permission or any current rule.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- RNLI water safety guidance: cold water shock and Float to Live — Royal National Lifeboat Institution (Water-safety or diver-training authority)Relied on for: Cold water shock and the immersion response, tidal cut-off, and water-safety guidance for shore anglers and small-craft users. Cited for the mechanism, which does not vary by coast.States this directlyPassage read and verified
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy. Last reviewed 2026-08-18.