Fish Stock Survey of Lough Bridget, August 2022
Lough Bridget, known locally as Silvergrove Lake, is located 5kms from Tulla on the Scariff road, Co. Clare (Figure 1.1). It has a surface area of 55ha, a mean depth of <4m and a maximum depth of 18.5m. The lake is categorised as typology class 12 (as designated by the EPA for the Water Framework Directive), i.e., deep (<4m), greater than 50ha and highly alkaline (>100 mg/1 CaCO3).
Located in the Bunratty sub-catchment in the Shannon River Basin District it is connected to Kilgory Lough via the Derryruane River at the southern end of the lake. Lough Bridget is regarded as an excellent fishery for roach (Rutilus rutilus), bream (Abramis brama), and tench (Tinca tinca). There is a good stock of pike (Esox lucius) present, and the lake is frequently fished by visiting and local anglers (IFI, 2017).
The lake was previously surveyed in 1995, 2006 and 2017 by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI unpublished data; McLoone et al., 2018). Species recorded in the surveys included roach, bream, rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus) (and hybrids of these species), perch (Perca fluviatilis), pike, and tench.
This report summarises the results of the 2022 fish stock survey carried out on the lake using Inland Fisheries Ireland’s fish in lakes monitoring protocol. The protocol is WFD compliant and provides insight into fish stock status in the lake.
Topics: Lake Surveys 2022 , Lough Bridget |