Victoria Bridge Bridges, 2 Nov 2023 - v1

The Bigh
This is a very popular spot for experienced fly fishermen. A good number of large salmon are caught in this stretch every year. Wading is best on the East bank, following the curve of the river bank.

Polly's Bigh
This stretch was named after an old fisherman who lived beside it on the East bank in the early 1900's.
Polly's Bigh provides easy wading from both banks for fly fishing. It is a very popular section of the river when the Grilse are running, for good reason. It holds some large salmon during June to July.

Breen Streams
This stretch is named after the townland in which it resides “Breen” from the Gaelic word “Bruíghín”
It’s a series of small streams running along the East banks, there’s a number of access points via styles in the fencing, the bank is heavily wooded so this limits fly casting, however wading is fairly good and improves casting ability.

The Cognac
This name derives from the Gaelic word (An Cúngach) meaning “narrow pass”, in this case narrow pass in the river. This is a deep running pool, which is good for most types of fishing. If you want a quiet days fishing, this is the place to go.
The Cognac is situated below Victoria Bridge and immediately above the old disused "Breen GNR Railway Bridge". The river banks are fairly clear.

The Hospital Pool
This is also known as "The Quiet Pool" (somewhere quiet to relax), just the place where fish can rested after running up through the fast streams of Paddy’s and Breen Streams.
This pool has produced many large salmon over the years, it is good for spinning in parts and the head of the pool is a prized fly fishing location.

The above fishing locations are managed by Sion Mills Angling Club (SMAC)
The names of these pools can be dated back to the 1800's. Most of this information was extracted from the SMAC web site before it closed and it revered to using Facebook.