Dodder Fishing

RoadSweeper

Looking to do some feeder or float fishing on the Dodder.

Has anyone any recommendations on the best places to go in thr Rathfarnham/Churchtown area?

Alot of the water I have seen along Dodder Park Rd seems wayyy too shallow apart from just after the waterfall.

Any advice appreciated.

coolwings

You won't get much advice about fishing feeder for trout.
It is frowned on as a way of damaging immature fish.

Take a read through the existing threads already here about the Dodder and you will see what are the commonly used angling methods, and how/where they work.

spaceHopper

It's against club rules to ground bait which would rule out feeder fishing. Aslo most of the trout will be in the shallow sections, try trotting a worm down on a float but please use barbless hook alot of the fish a small. Most catch and release.

RoadSweeper

Okay thanks for the advice guys.

I was told by someone in the angling club that all legal methods of fishing were accepted on the Dodder.

I catch and release only.

dodderangler

RoadSweeper wrote: »

Okay thanks for the advice guys.

I was told by someone in the angling club that all legal methods of fishing were accepted on the Dodder.

I catch and release only.

if u want u could do my very productive method of go down to shallow water were u will find minnow use a size 18 hook and one maggot ( dont use the maggots for fishing for trout its illegal) or u can use small bread bits for them and use the minnow as bait like jerk them after casting them always cast upstream and slowly jerk them back have one hook size 14 in lip an smallest treble hook in tail its produced serious fish for me gud luck let me kno how u do

uch

dodderangler wrote: »

if u want u could do my very productive method of go down to shallow water were u will find minnow use a size 18 hook and one maggot ( dont use the maggots for fishing for trout its illegal) or u can use small bread bits for them and use the minnow as bait like jerk them after casting them always cast upstream and slowly jerk them back have one hook size 14 in lip an smallest treble hook in tail its produced serious fish for me gud luck let me kno how u do

Live Baiting is Illegal, you would have to kill the fish first

dodderangler

uch wrote: »

Live Baiting is Illegal, you would have to kill the fish first

well thats what i do. wen jerking baits its not as gud if the bait is alive it gets better movement wen its dead which seems strange but its true

chiefwiggum

dodderangler wrote: »

RoadSweeper wrote: »

Okay thanks for the advice guys.

I was told by someone in the angling club that all legal methods of fishing were accepted on the Dodder.

I catch and release only.

if u want u could do my very productive method of go down to shallow water were u will find minnow use a size 18 hook and one maggot ( dont use the maggots for fishing for trout its illegal) or u can use small bread bits for them and use the minnow as bait like jerk them after casting them always cast upstream and slowly jerk them back have one hook size 14 in lip an smallest treble hook in tail its produced serious fish for me gud luck let me kno how u do

Is using maggots for trout illegal everywhere or just on the dodder?

coolwings

It's frowned upon everywhere. It is a coarse fishing bait, not a trout method.
Anywhere that is properly managed will have rules to protect the young trout, which is the reason for a maggot ban in game fish waters. So you can count on it being specifically banned in most club or fishery board waters.
In less well managed waters there may not actually be a specific rule or law in place, but the trout stocks will be reduced as a result of mortality amongst deep hooked fingerling trout.
The reason is that the little ones inhale it and gobble it down. Mouth hooking can not be counted on, which necessitates handling and dehooking stress on the little trout. Putting them back bleeding is an unsavoury angling experience. The throw it in a plastic bag guys don't care much about young fish and often drift into doing it.
It's better to focus on ways to target the largest fish, rather than the immature ones. That will (for trout) be fly, spinner, and if bait fishing, minnow, worm.

chiefwiggum

coolwings wrote: »

It's frowned upon everywhere. It is a coarse fishing bait, not a trout method.
Anywhere that is properly managed will have rules to protect the young trout, which is the reason for a maggot ban in game fish waters. So you can count on it being specifically banned in most club or fishery board waters.
In less well managed waters there may not actually be a specific rule or law in place, but the trout stocks will be reduced as a result of mortality amongst deep hooked fingerling trout.
The reason is that the little ones inhale it and gobble it down. Mouth hooking can not be counted on, which necessitates handling and dehooking stress on the little trout. Putting them back bleeding is an unsavoury angling experience. The throw it in a plastic bag guys don't care much about young fish and often drift into doing it.
It's better to focus on ways to target the largest fish, rather than the immature ones. That will (for trout) be fly, spinner, and if bait fishing, minnow, worm.

I really wouldn't have known that , excellent reply and info coolwings thanks..I'll stick to worms if I can get any or small spinners.. Can you buy minnows to use or do you have to catch them??

dodderangler

chiefwiggum wrote: »

I really wouldn't have known that , excellent reply and info coolwings thanks..I'll stick to worms if I can get any or small spinners.. Can you buy minnows to use or do you have to catch them??

very few shops sell them and even then their crap cuz they fall apart go down to river wi some red maggots and use just one on a single size 18 wi some split shots and look for calm water to see them jump then cast t them its like mackeral fishing u wait ten seconds and gently strike it u will have one get about 15 for evening fishin man and ur sorted i always catch at least 6 or 7 trout not always big but lovely to catch original wild brownies:D

thehamo

Im not very familiar with the geography of the dodder and surroudning areas. I know ive fished up by dodder and bushy park. Thats it tho. What part of the river is it where the big bull statue is?

coolwings

The Dropping Well, Milltown.

coolwings

dodderangler wrote: »

very few shops sell them and even then their crap cuz they fall apart go down to river wi some red maggots and use just one on a single size 18 wi some split shots and look for calm water to see them jump then cast t them its like mackeral fishing u wait ten seconds and gently strike it u will have one get about 15 for evening fishin man and ur sorted i always catch at least 6 or 7 trout not always big but lovely to catch original wild brownies:D

Except you are river fishing here, and trout are not in numerous shoals in a stream, as mackerel are in the sea.
Hey you know a net is even quicker than the maggots! How about poison ... you could get em all .....
That's why the rules are made.
The idea of angling is self imposed limits which require skill to overcome. Otherwise we wouldn't use rods.

ironbluedun

coolwings wrote: »

Hey you know a net is even quicker than the maggots! How about poison ... you could get em all .....

true.....some people have eyes but just can not see...just kill them all, dont worry about anyone else, the future me arse.

surripere

chiefwiggum wrote: »

I really wouldn't have known that , excellent reply and info coolwings thanks..I'll stick to worms if I can get any or small spinners.. Can you buy minnows to use or do you have to catch them??

dude buy a fly rod set up, believe me u will not regret it. fishing with maggots for wild brown trout does these precious, beautiful fish no good.

surripere

dodderangler wrote: »

very few shops sell them and even then their crap cuz they fall apart go down to river wi some red maggots and use just one on a single size 18 wi some split shots and look for calm water to see them jump then cast t them its like mackeral fishing u wait ten seconds and gently strike it u will have one get about 15 for evening fishin man and ur sorted i always catch at least 6 or 7 trout not always big but lovely to catch original wild brownies:D

Hang on here a minute...in a previous post you stated you do not fish for trout using maggots because its illegal, yet here you are advising others to do as much as well as giving tips on how best to do such :rolleyes: Fishing for trout with maggots is wrong for the previous oft said reasons by coolwings. If you love and care for the wellbeing of these fish, you must refrain from doing such. Also spinners do nasty damage to trout, particularly the younger ones. If you must use spinners for trout, I would urge you to use single barbless hooks i.e. flatten them barbs and snip of hooks on trebles.

spaceHopper

surripere wrote: »

Hang on here a minute...in a previous post you stated you do not fish for trout using maggots because its illegal, yet here you are advising others to do as much as well as giving tips on how best to do such :rolleyes: Fishing for trout with maggots is wrong for the previous oft said reasons by coolwings. If you love and care for the wellbeing of these fish, you must refrain from doing such. Also spinners do nasty damage to trout, particularly the younger ones. If you must use spinners for trout, I would urge you to use single barbless hooks i.e. flatten them barbs and snip of hooks on trebles.

He was talking about catching minnow with a maggot and using the minnow as dead bait.

For the record, you aren't alowed to ground bait on the dodder that basically mean throwing maggots in to attract fish but you can use maggots as hook bait and if you use a float or a bite indicator or just hold the line feeling for bites and strike then you should not deep hook the fish and harm them un hooking.

Yes Fly fishing is best but it's not for everybody.

RoadSweeper

How can you fish for minnow with maggot and not catch trout?

jack01986

Could use a minnow trap.

spaceHopper

RoadSweeper wrote: »

How can you fish for minnow with maggot and not catch trout?

Because you don't just throw it out there and let it sit waiting for any fish to bite you find some minnows and strike when you see that one has taken it.

coolwings

If fishing for minnows, nothing beats 1-2 segments of a small redworm, pinched off for use. Three - four redworms is adequate for a minnow session.
It's more effective than maggots, which are too large for average size minnows, possibly due to the juices, but they can get it into their mouths easier.

chiefwiggum

surripere wrote: »

dude buy a fly rod set up, believe me u will not regret it. fishing with maggots for wild brown trout does these precious, beautiful fish no good.

yeah i think i will eventually..might need some lessons..im not going to use maggots for trout..i have been educated;)..would still like to try with a worm(barbless hooks only)
what would i be looking at for a beginners set up surripere?

dodderangler

coolwings wrote: »

Except you are river fishing here, and trout are not in numerous shoals in a stream, as mackerel are in the sea.
Hey you know a net is even quicker than the maggots! How about poison ... you could get em all .....
That's why the rules are made.
The idea of angling is self imposed limits which require skill to overcome. Otherwise we wouldn't use rods.

are u retarded have a look at the texts that ive been writing he was asking about using minnow and i was explainin how to catch minnow with a single 18 hook and single red maggot and then using the minnow to catch the trout seriously mate you would wanna read wat we're talkin about before bitching like a schoolgirl next time stay out of the convo if you dont know how to read that goes for the little girl that commented after you!!!!! oh an the minnow are used dead before u start bitching about live baiting!!! w**ker

dodderangler

RoadSweeper wrote: »

How can you fish for minnow with maggot and not catch trout?

cuz minnow will stay well away from trout so you need to lookin for minnow jumpin for tiny midges on the water and you will hit a big shoal of them use one maggot trust me you wont get a trout near it and the minnow will let you kno if there is any trout away cuz they will scamper off if trout comes close

coolwings

chiefwiggum wrote: »

I really wouldn't have known that , excellent reply and info coolwings thanks..I'll stick to worms if I can get any or small spinners.. Can you buy minnows to use or do you have to catch them??

dodderangler wrote: »

very few shops sell them and even then their crap cuz they fall apart go down to river wi some red maggots and use just one on a single size 18 wi some split shots and look for calm water to see them jump then cast t them its like mackeral fishing u wait ten seconds and gently strike it u will have one get about 15 for evening fishin man and ur sorted i always catch at least 6 or 7 trout not always big but lovely to catch original wild brownies:D

dodderangler wrote: »

are u retarded have a look at the texts that ive been writing he was asking about using minnow and i was explainin how to catch minnow with a single 18 hook and single red maggot and then using the minnow to catch the trout seriously mate you would wanna read wat we're talkin about before bitching like a schoolgirl next time stay out of the convo if you dont know how to read that goes for the little girl that commented after you!!!!! oh an the minnow are used dead before u start bitching about live baiting!!! w**ker

I did read your posts. You were unclear in that post. You did give the impression that you meant fishing maggots for wild trout.
On re-reading your posts, it is obvious only from reading chiefwiggum's and your post that you meant fishing for trout with minnow, the minnow being caught with maggots.
I was not the only reader who took your post in that way. Mistakes happen, that's life. Apologies for being sharpish.

dodderangler wrote: »

are u retarded .... before bitching like a schoolgirl .... if you dont know how to read that goes for the little girl that commented after you!!!!!..... w**ker

Your other classy words are not really open to be misinterpreted by anybody.

ironbluedun

dodderangler wrote: »

are u retarded have a look at the texts that ive been writing he was asking about using minnow and i was explainin how to catch minnow with a single 18 hook and single red maggot and then using the minnow to catch the trout seriously mate you would wanna read wat we're talkin about before bitching like a schoolgirl next time stay out of the convo if you dont know how to read that goes for the little girl that commented after you!!!!! oh an the minnow are used dead before u start bitching about live baiting!!! w**ker

I dont know why anybody would want to post to help or give advice to anyone who puts up juvenile stuff like this.
This sort of post degrades this forum and makes it look like the joke that it has become.

stevie_b

ironbluedun wrote: »

I dont know why anybody would want to post to help or give advice to anyone who puts up juvenile stuff like this.
This sort of post degrades this forum and makes it look like the joke that it has become.

totally agree. this sort of rubbish keeps me from posting anything in this forum

surripere

spaceHopper wrote: »

He was talking about catching minnow with a maggot and using the minnow as dead bait.

For the record, you aren't alowed to ground bait on the dodder that basically mean throwing maggots in to attract fish but you can use maggots as hook bait and if you use a float or a bite indicator or just hold the line feeling for bites and strike then you should not deep hook the fish and harm them un hooking.

Yes Fly fishing is best but it's not for everybody.

Oops that he was, my apologies...though in my defence the way it was put lends to easy misinterpretation. Tis true that by employing this method and technique you will have less cases of deep hooked fish. Unfortunately very few practice such. I always look to promote fly fishing for trout and discourage bait fishing, as I believe fly fishing is the most effective, enjoyable and least harmful way to catch trout. I also understand it is not for everyone (juniors, disadvantaged ppl etc.) due to the relative high cost of the gear required. But i have found this be not the main reason why ppl don't take fly fishing up, i believe it is more down to ignorance and misunderstanding of the sport than anything else; hence my ongoing promotion of fly fishing for trout.

surripere

chiefwiggum wrote: »

yeah i think i will eventually..might need some lessons..im not going to use maggots for trout..i have been educated;)..would still like to try with a worm(barbless hooks only)
what would i be looking at for a beginners set up surripere?

You should do, its great fun and truly the most effective way to catch em. I had always bait fished for trout before I was introduced to fly fishing. I'm now sorry to say I knocked no end of trout over the head for the pan and damaged lots of fingerlings due to deep hooking when I was a younger. I knew know better, just plain ignorant, which is no sin. Also I held the common believe that fly fishing was uber difficult, as well as instinctively associating it with snobbery. So coarse fishing was more my thing. Wow are my eyes open now. I just wish I had dicovered the joys of fly fishing earlier, if I had someone then to teach me no doubt things would have been alot different. I'd suggest you kit yourself out with a budget set up to start with, give it a whirl and see if its for you. Talk to the ppl in anglers world and other adjacent shop about whats required to get started or just ask us lot here .

dodderangler

i apologise for my use of words but when you have 3 blokes giving out to you over doing nothing wrong at all it gets to me. i use minnow on the dodder every time i fish it as it is the most effective way of fishing i fly fish the river but i may only get 2 trout were as one night while using minnow i caught 21 trout not all monsters but all caught from firhouse to spawell bridge and all trout were returned un harmed and in good condition

thirtypence

lads, this weekend im staying with a friend in clonskea (spelling?), he said the dodder goes by the back of his house............ can i fish there with my fly rod, any advice?

Kippure

Just to put this out there. There is a lot of seatrout coming up at the moment on the dodder ( the most ive ever seen in the 26 odd years i,ve fished the dodder) and there only making it as far as smurfits water fall, then they kill themselves trying to jump that stupid water fall. WHAT A COMPLETE WASTE.:mad:

If theres any one out there who can get on to the council? and tell them to repair all the damaged water falls and put in a simple fish ladder to stop this endless slaughter.

Last year i saw a salmon at least 15 pound just float back down from beaver road. It looked battered. Killed itself trying to get up river to spawn.

ITs no secret anymore that there is salmon and seatrout running up the dodder, its the worst kept secret amoungst anglers who fish the dodder.

Those of us who fish the dodder and are lucky enough to catch a seatrout while fishing for our native local browns, please put them back. Give the sea trout a chance.

I,d also like to ask the people who treble the shaols of mullet that come up the dodder as far as the dart station at lansdowne and along where the new flood walls where put in all along the new walk way down through ringsends, CLEAR OFF.

There are people who fly fish and using fake bread and there are people who fish for mullet with bait. Stay out off are way. What you are doing is called POACHING.

And i would also like to ask whos idea was it to fill in the water fall at ballsbridge. Was it a lazy decision to raise the river bed so you would not have to go as deep with the foundation of the new side walls.
Who ever done this its one of the biggest botch jobs ive ever seen. You didnt even repair the rest of the bank 20 feet up river where its collapsed in.

Well done

Anger Angler.

Have a nice day.

natdog

Kippure wrote: »

Just to put this out there. There is a lot of seatrout coming up at the moment on the dodder ( the most ive ever seen in the 26 odd years i,ve fished the dodder) and there only making it as far as smurfits water fall, then they kill themselves trying to jump that stupid water fall. WHAT A COMPLETE WASTE.:mad:
If theres any one out there who can get on to the council? and tell them to repair all the damaged water falls and put in a simple fish ladder to stop this endless slaughter.
Last year i saw a salmon at least 15 pound just float back down from beaver road. It looked battered. Killed itself trying to get up river to spawn.
ITs no secret anymore that there is salmon and seatrout running up the dodder, its the worst kept secret amoungst anglers who fish the dodder.
Those of us who fish the dodder and are lucky enough to catch a seatrout while fishing for our native local browns, please put them back. Give the sea trout a chance.
I,d also like to ask the people who treble the shaols of mullet that come up the dodder as far as the dart station at lansdowne and along where the new flood walls where put in all along the new walk way down through ringsends, CLEAR OFF.
There are people who fly fish and using fake bread and there are people who fish for mullet with bait. Stay out off are way. What you are doing is called POACHING.
And i would also like to ask whos idea was it to fill in the water fall at ballsbridge. Was it a lazy decision to raise the river bed so you would not have to go as deep with the foundation of the new side walls.
Who ever done this its one of the biggest botch jobs ive ever seen. You didnt even repair the rest of the bank 20 feet up river where its collapsed in.

Well done kippure why not tell the whole world. I agree its not a great secret but I dont think you needed to advertise it and as regards the lads treble hooking do you really think they give a **** what you say.

The fish dont go beyond smurfits fall they lay below it and as you said stocks are good so its not really causing them a problem the salmon floating back down had more than likely completed its lifecycle.

As far as I know the waterfall at Ballsbridge had to be done for flood protection it was i the dodder anglers report this year.

Sorry if I sound like im having a go at you but when your talking about rivers you need to be more careful who you tell.

Kippure

natdog wrote: »

Well done kippure why not tell the whole world. I agree its not a great secret but I dont think you needed to advertise it and as regards the lads treble hooking do you really think they give a **** what you say.

The fish dont go beyond smurfits fall they lay below it and as you said stocks are good so its not really causing them a problem the salmon floating back down had more than likely completed its lifecycle.

As far as I know the waterfall at Ballsbridge had to be done for flood protection it was i the dodder anglers report this year.

Sorry if I sound like im having a go at you but when your talking about rivers you need to be more careful who you tell.

No worries mate, but when you see the slaughter of seatrout it piss,s me right off.

As for the secret of the dodder, it hasnt been for years. All i hear when im fishing from other anglers, half of which aint got a fishing permit is "ah ill only take one" when you hear that from many anglers it shows one can become 5 or more.

For the salmon on the dodder, there are plenty, again its no secret, its a nod and wink culture down there. Ive seen lads treble salmon and off they go.

There should be a strong Garda and fishery protection officers down there from smufits all the way down to the liffey(ie patrol once a week for example). And if there are lads fishing for salmon/seatrout they should have the licence, and for trout the Dodder permit. And for mullet?

As for the state of some of the water falls, there in ruin. What even dooder trout could pass up them, We,d have to have a good auld flood.

Give all the fish in the dooder a chance to roam free, PUT IN FISH LADDERS.
Especaily at smurfits.

coolwings

Would you go down with a party using pickaxes and iron bars to break the sill of the weir so a concentration of flow would allow a partial escapement?

Kippure

coolwings wrote: »

Would you go down with a party using pickaxes and iron bars to break the sill of the weir so a concentration of flow would allow a partial escapement?

No i wouldnt do that.

jack01986

Is there much chance of anything being done by the Club? I was looking at all the obstacles along the river for migratory fish and thinking some sort of fish pass or ladder along those stretches would make the river substantially better for the migratory fish. Would there be some people out there who wouldn't want to imprve the fishing as they would have to pay for a salmon/sea-trout licence.

dodderangler

the garda have better things t do than worry bout fish come on we all know that as for the bailiffs they dont seem to give two f**ks about the river its gone to the dogs very few nice places left that hasn got a tesco trolley in it or a moped or loaded wit cans of dutch.
they dont care bout the river which they should considering the rise of salmon and sea trout in past few years on the dodder
surely someone could start up a petition and get signed to get the river proper secured because its gettin ridiculous now everyone is groundbaiting and killing fish all the time its ridiculous sometimes i wonder why bother paying for the licence anymore theres one serious good day every year and its paddys day thats brutal

slowburner

Kippure wrote: »

No worries mate, but when you see the slaughter of seatrout it piss,s me right off.

As for the secret of the dodder, it hasnt been for years. All i hear when im fishing from other anglers, half of which aint got a fishing permit is "ah ill only take one" when you hear that from many anglers it shows one can become 5 or more.

For the salmon on the dodder, there are plenty, again its no secret, its a nod and wink culture down there. Ive seen lads treble salmon and off they go.

There should be a strong Garda and fishery protection officers down there from smufits all the way down to the liffey(ie patrol once a week for example). And if there are lads fishing for salmon/seatrout they should have the licence, and for trout the Dodder permit. And for mullet?

As for the state of some of the water falls, there in ruin. What even dooder trout could pass up them, We,d have to have a good auld flood.

Give all the fish in the dooder a chance to roam free, PUT IN FISH LADDERS.
Especaily at smurfits.

This is the second instance of posters here mentioning illegal 'fishing' on the Dodder.
The fisheries' board or the Gardai won't do anything about it if they don't know about it.
Anglers can be the eyes and ears of fisheries protection - if they do something about it.
Have you contacted either the Gardai or the fisheries protection service when you have witnessed the illegal activity.
Whinging about it on an internet chat forum isn't going to help.

slowburner

coolwings wrote: »

Would you go down with a party using pickaxes and iron bars to break the sill of the weir so a concentration of flow would allow a partial escapement?

Are you seriously advocating that people should willfully cause damage to a weir?
What you have posted could be viewed as an incitement to cause damage to private property.
You could be held responsible if amateurs attempted to ease the passage of migratory fish by altering a weir.
The consequences could be devastating. Even minor damage to a weir could eventually cause major faults and even collapse of the structure itself.

coolwings

jack01986 wrote: »

Is there much chance of anything being done by the Club? I was looking at all the obstacles along the river for migratory fish and thinking some sort of fish pass or ladder along those stretches would make the river substantially better for the migratory fish. Would there be some people out there who wouldn't want to imprve the fishing as they would have to pay for a salmon/sea-trout licence.

I have been through this, and discussed it with the people who decide these matters. It is on my long list of voluntary projects I will have a go at when I get time.

If the money were raised privately, it could be done cheaply by contractor.
If the OPW get involved the cost would be higher, and the time delay for funds would go out 10 years.
That remedial work only requires private funding and comittment by a project leader.

As someone who has done work like that I assure you at 5000-15000 euros/weir and voluntary work with an intelligent designer would sort out each weir. Using professional labour and existing professional staff it would be 5-10 x that per weir.
Using donated plant it would cost a lot less than that. There are many construction workers out there looking for some pay and a job.

It is instructive to look up what was done at the Kilkenny weir fish pass over the past few years by OPW with a massive budget and carte blanche and no cop on. Put in control of such a project OPW will almost certainly get it wrong in some significant way due to lack of consultation with people who understand migratory fish and their requirements.
The requirements are simply, avoidance of poaching via blocked fish passes, and water level fluctuation in fish passes, because they will almost certainly choose to use an already existing fish pass design of which many are pretty woeful.
All migratory fish require is cover, and a gradient with boulders of varying sizes mixed along the bottom to slow the water down just above the reverbed in the gradient. They also require a deep approach to the entrance to the gradient, with a substantial flow through it.

In Kilkenny they built a lovely weir a few years ago, and put the fish pass on top of a gravel shallow lying below the weir that had adequate depth for minnows, the main flow was not through the fish pass, the fish could not/would not approach the downstream end, and of course had no choice but to attempt jump the weir itself, which was impassable. It was disgraceful, and it was a recent project, not in the dim past.

The location and spacing of the impassable weirs on the lower reaches of the Dodder is such that, with each extra weir sill broken, starting at the sea, the area of extra spawning water opened up by that stage of the project, doubles the spawning area available before.
These are Beaver Row, Clonskeagh Mill, Dartry, Dropping Well, Orwell, Rathfarnham. The first two or three on that list are what stops the Dodder being like a quality Welsh seatrout river.
Beaver Row is the sticking point, because it is the first problem to be dealt with, and it also substantial.

The limited spawning area is the significant limiting factor controlling these fish's numbers, so we can be fairly sure that the increase will be in proportion to the amount of limiting factor removed.
So with each weir broken by inserting a pass, (or better, creating a set of natural rapids in it's place, or through it's middle) the number of migratory fish will double after a period entirely by natural regeneration, in other words by themselves.

The reticence of the DAA club is, they say, due to poaching and license complications, which are real. But no doubt they also fear landowners restricting access as an issue that would arise in time.

Just something to mull over. Maybe start fund raising and getting parties willing to sign up to sponsor a section in their location.
If the funds were sourced, and the low costs formalised to fix them in some way, getting that project to go ahead would be an easy thing.
The nature of the equation: benefits to the families of of south Dublin and some long term self sustaining added tourism in the capital would grease the wheels politically.

slowburner

jack01986 wrote: »

Is there much chance of anything being done by the Club? I was looking at all the obstacles along the river for migratory fish and thinking some sort of fish pass or ladder along those stretches would make the river substantially better for the migratory fish. Would there be some people out there who wouldn't want to imprve the fishing as they would have to pay for a salmon/sea-trout licence.

If a river is a recognised salmon and sea trout river, rates become payable. This may explain the reticence.

jack01986

Thanks for that reply coolwings it was very informative. I would like to get involved in something like that in the near future. I think it has some serious potential to become a great river. I wouldnt be afraid of a bit of hard work to help things along. I think I might fire off some emails to a few people see if they have any interest or advice might call on some college contacts.;)

Kippure

slowburner wrote: »

This is the second instance of posters here mentioning illegal 'fishing' on the Dodder.
The fisheries' board or the Gardai won't do anything about it if they don't know about it.
Anglers can be the eyes and ears of fisheries protection - if they do something about it.
Have you contacted either the Gardai or the fisheries protection service when you have witnessed the illegal activity.Whinging about it on an internet chat forum isn't going to help.

Yes i have contacted the gardai by phone, even when concerts were on down in the RDS face to face. And they did go down and sort it out.

I aint a WHINGER.

slowburner

I am delighted that you contacted the relevant authorities. You are certainly not a whinger then. A whinger is someone who bleats on about a problem without actually doing something about it:)

coolwings

If you value your fishing, you have to ruin these guys day every opportunity and every way you find. Never miss a chance.
Because they're destroying your fishing every opportunity they get. They never give the fish a chance.