Pike Fishing

Vasco

Hello All, This is my first post on the angling forum.

Basically I was wondering where the best places to go fishing for pike are in and around the Dublin area.
When I was younger I used to go to Cavan allot and on the shannon Lock Durg area. Plenty of pike to be caught ( and released ) back then. However I went back to Lock Durg a few years ago and didn't even get a bite. I was told that allot of people have been taking them out of the water over the last few years and the stock have been seriously depleted.

I'm living in Dublin city at the moment and would love to get back into it. Any advice would be much appreciated.

coolwings

Vasco wrote: »

.... where the best places to go fishing for pike are in and around the Dublin area.
... allot of people have been taking them out of the water over the last few years and the stock have been seriously depleted. ....

I'm sorry to say that your very own question contains the reason why you are not going to be handed good information on a public website.
Every experienced angler has already learned what happens to a location after it is given away and the "meat men" move in with their rods and nets, this applies everywhere nowadays, and especially when near a populated area like Dublin.
Therefore any recommendations you get are from less experienced anglers. So it might be from someone who knows less about it than you do and reduce your chances. It might even be deliberately misleading and send you on a wild goose chase.

But that's what fishing is about, isn't it? Locating a place by yourself, making your own discoveries, building a knowledge base on your chosen water, and afterwards, reaping the rewards for your good work by making good catches. It's about fishing and finding out.

I suggest you try Blessington. It is a big pike water if you put in the time to figure it out.

Nodster

100% agreed what the wingman said

Well you could subscribe to the Irish Anglers Digest monthly magazine (available in most good newsagents) or check some of the Angling websites like Eastern Regional Fisheries Board, guess you should start googling about

fishder

Join the DPA dublin pike anglers very good club.

ironbluedun

I agree broadly with coolwings but I wouldn’t say that all recommendations you get are wrong or misleading, but of course some possibly may be. As with all things concerning angling in Ireland it is definitely it is best to keep an open mind and do your own research, then draw your own conclusions.

To be honest there are not too many places left that the poachers have not found out about by now even the remotest of places have been targeted. You probably are best avoiding the smaller Cavan/Monaghan/midland loughs as I believe that many of these are and have been netted very easily. The larger loughs, Derg, Ree, Blessington, Derravaragh, Shannon etc they are harder to net and you can still find good pike in such places (safety in numbers or size sort of thing). So if I was you I would tend stick to the larger loughs, and fish from a boat where you can cover a lot of water. That’s my thoughts anyway. It’s a hard road you are on but stick with it don’t loose faith, nobody said it would be easy.

surripere

Well said coolwings.