2026 salmon fishing

I have been thinking long and hard about what to do about salmon fishing next year, and in particular should I buy a salmon licence at all. Here is a rough outline of my thoughts and my decisions.

We anglers have been saying for years that trouble was brewing due to the decline in salmon stocks here in Ireland. Each season we saw fewer and fewer fish returning to the river and every season ever more stringent rules were applied on anglers by the government. We were told to follow the science, that the IFI were working hard to ensure the decline would be reversed and fishermen just had to play their part. Like may others I bit my lip and did just that, even though I could see C&R, closed river systems, shortened seasons and bag limits were have no effect. By 2024 it was clear we were in a full blown crisis but little changed beyond further restrictions on anglers. 2025 was nothing short of a disaster with once productive rivers yielding zero catches in some cases. The proposals for 2026 are, wait for it – further restrictions on anglers, more rivers closed, shortened seasons on others, C&R and brown tag lottery for a few ‘lucky’ systems.

For decades the dogs in the street have known the IFI was not fit for purpose. If I were to start listing the glaring deficiencies here this would be a very, very long post. The misuse of funds, failure to protect endangered stocks, and lurid allegations of criminality have been so widespread as to be accepted by many as normal. The IFI has been underfunded for years, is poorly managed and moral among the many hard working employees on the ground is rock bottom. While all of this is happening the levels of agricultural and industrial pollution of our waterways has reached terrifying levels. And still anglers are being told to cough up €100 for the state salmon licence.

As I say, I have been mulling all of this for weeks now. I have always bought my salmon licence in January so I could fish for salmon if I wanted. The fact is that I have not cast a line for salmon for three years now, simply because there were so few fish around. My logic was partly there might be a sudden improvement and if a big run of grilse came into the Moy I could fish a day or two for them. Of course that never happened. There was also a feeling that my hundred quid was going to help towards the rehabilitation efforts. Likewise, that never happened! So I will not be buying a state salmon licence for 2026. If you like, I am boycotting the licence system and I would urge others to do the same. It feels like we anglers are powerless, not listened to by the government. The only action we can take is to refuse to pay up.

Anglers have no political clout in Ireland. A small group, we don’t generate huge amounts of money, nor are we a substantial source of votes. While I am not in any way surprised the Irish government does not care about wild salmon, I am amazed that Europe turns a blind eye to the extinction of such an iconic fish in this country.

I have seen efforts by disparate angling bodies to arrange rallies in Dublin to raise awareness of the plight of the salmon and by extension, the salmon angling business in Ireland. So far, these have come to nothing. This is a huge disappointment and I hope that we anglers can find a way of coming together to protest on mass. I for one would welcome the chance to partake in any peaceful protest. Until then, all I can do is refuse to buy a salmon licence and leave the big rods in the shed for another year.

If you were considering buying a salmon licence for 2026 I would ask you to reconsider and join me in boycotting the state licence. We must send a strong message and this is the only way I can see that might just get a response from those in power.