Commercial Fisheries (Trout, Dublin)

stevenmu

Does anybody know what commercial fisheries are fishing well at the moment? I feel like having a go at "stockie bashing" for some nice rainbows over the weekend.

bernard0368

Avoid corkagh, the weed growth is awful you can only fish from the pier.

Doc Farrell

i was thinking of going to annamoe early on sunday morning if i'm in dublin, i love that place but the front kiddies pool attracts a lot of starnge folk in hot afternoons.

stevenmu

Annamoe sounds good, I'd forgotten about there. I remember they covered it in Irish Angler and it looked really nice. Might see you there

stevenmu

Doc, if I could thank your post again I would

For those who haven't been, I went up to Annamoe today and had a fantastic day. Got there about 12 and going up I could see a huge amount of activity in the kiddies pond. I knew that didn't nessecarily equate to a lot of activity in the main lake but I took it to be a good sign. I made my way up to the main lake, paid my fee and chatted a little with the guy at the counter. It seemed like the flies I'd normally use in the Dodder were the flies to use here too which was good news, the bad news is most of mine are stuck in trees around the dodder but I was able to buy a few more there at €1.80 each which was a reasonable price to pay for the convenience.

The main lake itself is very well laid out, it's lone and narrow making it possible to cast out to just about any point on the water. There are a few large rocks and islands and the bank is shaped nicely creating bays so there's plenty of "cover" and features to target. There's plenty of greenery around the sides but with good casting lines too and the whole place gives the impression of being very well maintained and looked after. All set in a lovely scenic Wicklow mountain location.

And most importantly there's plenty of life in the lake too. Within a few minutes of being there I'd missed two takes, well, I discovered later that there's fry or minnow of some kind in the lake and despite being barely bigger than my fly they were attacking it and dragging it down . But I'd hardly been there ten minutes when I connected with my first proper Annamoe trout. It wasn't much more than a pound but put up a nice fight on it's way to the net. As I was letting it back in, the guy from the desk promised me that there was much bigger fish to be had, and he wasn't far wrong. after letting the first one go, I threw the fly and bit of line I still had out onto the water, looked down to pull some line from the reel and when I looked back up my fly was gone. I assumed it just sank, I hadn't dried it or added more floatant after the first fish so no surprise there, then I noticed the leader start to move away, I gave a little pull and I was straight into fish number two. A much bigger one this time, maybe close to 4lbs. He put up a great fight, and just when I thought it was all over and he was coming into the net he spat my fly back and dissapeared with a flick of his tail .

The fishing was quite a bit harder after that, but there was a few more caught, and a few more that got away, but all put up a great fight while they were on the hook and seemed in very good condition. It ended up being a perfect mix of being reasonably easy to catch a fish, there's plenty there and they're willing to feed, but without being too easy either. Everything I caught was on small natural dries which had to be presented fairly well to encourage a take.

Definitely worth the price of admission (€25 for the day, I think there's shorter times available for less too), and I'm already looking forward to going back.

thehamo

I went out there the other day at 5 p.m. 4 and a half hours fishing and not even a tickle. Have to say, it was a nice place, but in terms of commercial fisheries, I would prefer Rathbeggan..

Kippure

thehamo wrote: »

I went out there the other day at 5 p.m. 4 and a half hours fishing and not even a tickle. Have to say, it was a nice place, but in terms of commercial fisheries, I would prefer Rathbeggan..

Rathbeggan has lost its appeal, I went there about 7 weeks ago, It was like a circus. People BBQ everywhere, litter everywhere, The main lake now is a free for all, spinning, worming etc.

It use to be a great spot, strickly fly only at the front lake, bait at the kiddies and back lake.

I will not be going there again.

ravey

Relax Kippure. Its the Circus as you call it, that keeps us in business so that we can afford to stay open for fishing all winter. Just wait and see, as soon as the schools go back and the autumn moves in the main lake will be back to Fly only and the "appeal" will be back.
As for the litter.....dunno where you get that one ...ask any of our staff, we make sure the place is tidy all the time. Ask Thorntons!
Remember that every evening the place is just lovely and quiet, we just have to make commercial decisions to survive. Youre welcome back any time.:D

Kippure

ravey wrote: »

Relax Kippure. Its the Circus as you call it, that keeps us in business so that we can afford to stay open for fishing all winter. Just wait and see, as soon as the schools go back and the autumn moves in the main lake will be back to Fly only and the "appeal" will be back.
As for the litter.....dunno where you get that one ...ask any of our staff, we make sure the place is tidy all the time. Ask Thorntons!
Remember that every evening the place is just lovely and quiet, we just have to make commercial decisions to survive. Youre welcome back any time.:D

No offence to be taken from what i said. It was a mad house the last time i was there. It was a shock to see so many people cooking food. I should have said there cooking area,s were messy. I was very taken back that the main lake was all legal methods. I was use to going down there and fishing the main lake peace and quite etc.

Hope the main lake goes back to fly fishing soon.

I will make a return at some stage.

ravey

We will be delighted to see you. I will post up as soon as we return to fly only, and we will also be offering some attractive winter rates which we hope will make up for the summertime disturbance. As i said previously, we have to go with these commercial decisions in order to survive. Tight lines wherever you cast.:D
In fact we were featured on an RTE programme last night which will explain a lot of what i have spoken about. If youd like to have a look go to http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1053217 and the bit about us is just after the halfway point.

bitemybanger

ravey wrote: »

We will be delighted to see you. I will post up as soon as we return to fly only, and we will also be offering some attractive winter rates which we hope will make up for the summertime disturbance. As i said previously, we have to go with these commercial decisions in order to survive. Tight lines wherever you cast.:D
In fact we were featured on an RTE programme last night which will explain a lot of what i have spoken about. If youd like to have a look go to http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1053217 and the bit about us is just after the halfway point.

Dave, is that you???:eek:
If so, hello from an old friend and very regular of Rathbeggan