Book your
Fishing Trip
Before You Fish
The Lower Bann fisheries are all easily reached from Northern Ireland’s main airports and ferry ports in less than 1 hour. The Foyle fisheries are about 2 hours drive from Belfast, but under 1 hour from City of Derry Airport. For satnav users, the approximate postcodes for the main beats are as follows:
- Carnroe BT53 7NX
- Culiff Rock BT53 7NT
- Movanagher BT51 5YJ
The private beats on the Lower Bann all have adequate car parking arrangements close to the river, especially Carnroe and Movanagher. For Culiff Rock, parking is available outside Movanagher Fish Farm. Whilst none of these beats is far from a town or village, Carnroe is the only one with toilet facilities at present.
For coarse fishing, the Portglenone Forest stands lie less than a mile outside Portglenone village, well signposted off the A54 road to Bellaghy. Mid Ulster District Council provide a good car parking facility, also at NewFerry West. Portglenone Marina on the Antrim bank has a good public slipway for those fishing the area by boat.
The Bann valley has a number of small and medium sized villages with an excellent variety of places to stop and eat close to the river, especially at Toome, Portglenone, Kilrea, Ballymoney and Coleraine. Click here for advice on where to stay. The Tourism NI and its local Regional Tourist Information Centres also have details of where to eat and other local activities / places of interest.
Because of the diversity and scale of the fisheries of the Lower Bann and Foyle rivers, it is sensible for visiting anglers to obtain professional guidance, especially on a first visit. In many cases, it is best to contact the local angling club in the area for a list of names.
Following public consultation, Fisheries Regulations (NI) 2003 have been completely re-written to introduce a range of salmon conservation measures to implement mandatory catch and release for salmon and sea trout angling and remove references to salmon netting which has been prohibited by other enabling Regulations. Catch and Release is where a fish is caught but returned to the water to help preserve fish stocks. Many rivers make this mandatory at particular times of year so you should check the situation when booking.
For more information on the new Fishing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014, including new salmon and sea trout legislation, visit the legislation.gov.uk website and download the Statutory Rules.
WHAT YOU NEED TO GO FISHING LEGALLY
To fish legally in Northern Ireland you need to:
- buy a rod licence
- have permission to fish in the chosen waters by usually buying a permit or day ticket from the fishery owner – note that you can’t buy a permit or day ticket without a rod licence
Rod licences: You can buy your rod licences online or from a DAERA authorised distributor. Details of these distributors can be found at
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/angling-licence-and-permit-distributors
Fishery owner’s permits: Lower Bann permits which cover fishing from Lough Neagh to the sea near Coleraine, can be purchased from our office in Coleraine or from one of the following agents:
- Cressabelle Catherine Deery 60 Sevenaoks Waterside Derry BT47 6BD
- Smyth Country Sports 1 Park Street Coleraine Co. Derry BT52 1BD
- Outdoor & Country Sports 58 Society Street Coleraine BT52 1LA
- Crawfords Sports 34 Main St, Maghera Co. Derry BT46 5AE
- Mid-Antrim Angling Centre 14 William Street Ballymena Co Antrim BT43 6AW
- John Taggart 4 Stirling Road Belfast Co. Antrim BT6 9LX
- Belfast Angling Centre Unit 44 Argyle Business Centre Northumberland Street Belfast BT13 2AP
- McKee’s Tackle & Gun Unit 12 16 Balloo Avenue Bangor Co. Down BT19 7QT
- Loughview Angling Centre Unit 3 Loughview Lough Road Lurgan Co Armagh BT66 6NQ
- Ursula Higgins Brecart Lodge 34 Roguery Road Toomebridge Co. Antrim BT41 3TJ
Booking Your Fishing Trip
There are three ways of booking fishing on fisheries owned by The Honourable The Irish Society:
Private Lower Bann
Season/syndicate/day rods on the private Lower Bann beats have to be booked through the Coleraine office
Season, 8 or 3 Days
Permits (Game or Coarse) for the rest of the Lower Bann are available from the Coleraine office or from a number of tackle dealers/outlets in the local area and Belfast
Day Tickets
Game Angling Day Permits on the Foyle or Bann Tribs are available from the Coleraine Office.
All anglers must also be in possession of a valid DAERA or Loughs Agency rod licence before setting out to fish. For details of where to obtain these, visit the DAERA and Loughs Agency websites.
*Fishpal booking information:
Online credit card booking: Go to the Find Fishing page and find the relevant beat and week that you want to fish. Click on the relevant week and a new window will open which will take you through our simple online booking system. Please have your credit or debit card handy and note that Fishpal will require you to enter your name, full postcode, contact telephone number and email address. If successful, you will be immediately sent an e-mail booking confirmation (or permit) which will include joining instructions.
Manual booking via office: Contact the Fishpal office by telephone: +44 (0)1573 470612; fax: +44 (0)1573 470259; or post: FishPal Limited, Stichill House, Kelso, Scotland. TD5 7TB. Please note that bookings cannot always be dealt with quickly if the office is busy, or is closed, and they are subject to intervening online bookings (see above). Office hours are Mon-Fri 9am-5pm (but sometimes open at other times too!)
