Mixed · North West / Donegal, IE

Lennon

Lennon fishing venue photo

A moderate spate river in County Donegal that enters the Atlantic via Lough Swilly near Ramelton and Rathmullan.

Tomorrow · Closed season
Czech Nymph
Forecast · Tomorrow
Closed season
Out of season. File this water for the right month.
70% projected
Today's fly
Czech Nymph
Czech Nymph
Conditions on the water · Tomorrow
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.83 m
Water temp7.9°C
ClarityClear
Weather6°C
WindN 25 km/h
Pressure1004 hPa
Rain · recent0.5 mm
Rain · ahead4.4 mm

The nearest gauge doesn't record temperatures, so we've estimated it — defer to the river keeper's advice.

Water temperature for Atlantic Salmon
Cool — slow
8°C est.ideal 10–16°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for Atlantic Salmon
When
Morning into early afternoon.
Where
Pool tails, steadier runs, and any water with pace.
Method
Fish a sensible line-and-fly combination for the height and pace of water.
Kit
13 ft #8/9 double-hander in spate, 10 ft #8 single in low water. Floating line plus a fast-sink tip. 12–15 lb fluoro tippet.
Likely species
Hatch timeline · tomorrowPeak at 11am

12pm(now) — Autumn Needle Fly

Stage: Creeping nymphsApproach: Heavy nymphActivity: 37%
Also:Autumn Olive33%Black Midge31%
Peak emergence window5 food groups active

Peak activity at 11am — Autumn Needle Fly (Autumn Needle Fly, Peak emergence window)

Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

Top nymph shown — see all 4 guilds as a supporter.

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey(1)

Hatch predictions

Top prey shown — see all 3 as a supporter.

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Evidence
Survey-backed · regionalHigh confidence

Backed by regional invertebrate surveys; no sampling on this exact reach yet.

Through the year
0–3 scale · November highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Salmon runRun
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
Daddy Long LegsHatch
2
3
3
2
CapererHatch
2
3
3
2
Hawthorn FlyHatch
2
2
GrannomHatch
2
2

Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.

Ranked for today
Atlantic Salmon fly box

Connemara/Mayo low water: a lightly-dressed shrimp on a floating line with sink tip, sized down from 8s in cold spring water to 12s and 14s as summer water warms and clears. Where the current runs faster, a slim tube or hairwing swung through tracks better than a shrimp.

Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • IFI rod licence (RoI)
  • Estuary tidal — check Lough Swilly tide table
  • Day tickets available; low angler pressure.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Other water nearby · 5
Gallery · 2
  1. Lennon River Waterfall
    Lennon River Waterfall
  2. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

The Lennon fishes as a salmon and sea-trout river with a moderately responsive catchment. Spring salmon from February; grilse from June; sea trout abundant from May through September. The estuary of Lough Swilly is tidal — lower reaches of the Lennon are subject to tidal influence. Multiple named pools; public access to most sections. Salmon numbers have been recovering since the UDN outbreak of the 1970s, though the river remains less prolific than in its pre-disease prime. For 2026 this is a catch-and-release fishery under the Wild Salmon & Sea Trout Tagging Scheme — all salmon and grilse must be returned.

Hatches & food

EPA monitoring on the Lennon (Leannan) confirms mayflies — including Ephemera danica — alongside stoneflies, a strong caddis assemblage, chironomids and blackfly larvae, and freshwater shrimp and hoglice, are all present in the river; this is food-presence evidence from kick sampling, not a record of emergence timing.

Sea trout here

The Lennon near Ramelton is described as having "sea trout abundant from May through September" — one of the longer sea-trout windows claimed for any Donegal river. Tidal lower reaches via Lough Swilly. Moderate response time (8 hours) gives longer fishing windows than typical Donegal spate rivers.

  • Mixed
Water quality (WFD)
  • Ecology: Unknown
  • Chemical: Unknown
Why this score · for Atlantic Salmon
  • Temperature3930% weight
  • Flow6025% weight
  • Clarity9520% weight
  • Feeding Time1015% weight
  • Pressure8510% weight
Directions
Seasons & zones
  • Salmon 1 January → 30 SeptemberC&R
Related guides
Casting instructors near here
Booking & contacts
At a glance

Lennon is a river in North West / Donegal, Ireland. It sits at about 0 m above sea level. The river is described as roughly 16 km long. Our data lists brown trout, salmon and sea trout here. It is classed as a salmon river. The salmon season is recorded as running from 1 January to 30 September. Best window recorded for anglers: June–August (grilse and sea trout); February–May (spring). Core methods listed: across and down wet fly (sink-tip on the rise); tidal pool fishing (around slack water); dry fly (grilse, summer evenings). Level and flow data for this water is linked from 1 gauge. Nearby waters in our listings include Crana at 16 km, Lackagh / Lough Beagh at 21 km and Lough Beagh at 21 km.