The Moyola flows from the Sperrins through Draperstown and Maghera to Lough Neagh. A productive mid-sized spate river with salmon from April and brown trout throughout. Dollaghan (Lough Neagh lake-run trout) enter from July — the main draw for specialist anglers. The river fishes best on a falling flood. Managed by Moyola Angling Association with affordable day tickets. Volcanic bedrock underlies this river. Atlantic salmon are managed under DAERA and Loughs Agency conservation byelaws, with mandatory catch-and-release on many waters; check current rules before fishing.
The Moyola runs twenty-seven miles from high in the Sperrin Mountains above Draperstown down to Lough Neagh, past Tobermore and Castledawson to the lough shore near Toomebridge. The upper river is mountain water — streams and fast runs broken by short deep pools off the heather hills — gathering more than a hundred miles of tributaries before it quickens again through Castledawson over well-defined pools, then slows and broadens as it nears Lough Neagh. The water is clear and lightly peat-tinged off the Sperrin uplands. The Moyola is one of Northern Ireland's premier salmon and dollaghan rivers: alongside the returning salmon run the dollaghan, the great migratory brown trout of Lough Neagh, which run up out of the lough in autumn to spawn, with native brown trout through the season. The character is upland-to-lowland freestone. Wading is steady on rock and gravel, with care in the deeper Castledawson pools.
Wading: Deeper pools through Castledawson
No venue-specific hatch data yet; as a spate river draining peat and farmland, expect modest, rain-influenced upwing and sedge activity rather than a documented hatch — a general expectation only.
- Volcanic
- Partly confined
- Pool riffle
- Step pool
