Where to go fishing in Co. Wicklow and Dublin?

daigo75

Hi all,
I'm a novice at angling in Ireland, and I'd like to ask the experts here some recommendations about good places to go fishing, possibly in Co. Wicklow or Dublin. Since fishing can be quite varied, I'll explain my "parameters":

• I like natural places, not artificial fishing lakes.
• I don't do fly fishing.
• I like to eat what I catch and, therefore, I'm not interested in "strictly catch and release". One of my favourites is the Perch, very tasty! I still remember when I got about two dozens of them in Germany...

So far I understood that regulations/permissions/licensing vary from place to place and also from fish to fish. Is there a website with a map of locations with their regulations/fees?

Thanks in advance for the answers.

shanemurphyboy

Might aswell not fish mate seems like you have no interest in putting them back. Most people dont tollerate it, strictly C&R. But its good to see that you asked about the rules and regs. Personaly I wont be telling you where to fish as I want fish stocks to rise not deteriorate and I think alot of other anglers will do the same... I could be wrong thou.

experimenter

shanemurphyboy wrote: »

Might aswell not fish mate seems like you have no interest in putting them back. Most people dont tollerate it, strictly C&R. But its good to see that you asked about the rules and regs. Personaly I wont be telling you where to fish as I want fish stocks to rise not deteriorate and I think alot of other anglers will do the same... I could be wrong thou.

DITTO

fisherking

Parameters?
Demands more like
Try a fish shop...

daigo75 wrote: »

Hi all,
I'm a novice at angling in Ireland, and I'd like to ask the experts here some recommendations about good places to go fishing, possibly in Co. Wicklow or Dublin. Since fishing can be quite varied, I'll explain my "parameters":

• I like natural places, not artificial fishing lakes.
• I don't do fly fishing.
• I like to eat what I catch and, therefore, I'm not interested in "strictly catch and release". One of my favourites is the Perch, very tasty! I still remember when I got about two dozens of them in Germany...

So far I understood that regulations/permissions/licensing vary from place to place and also from fish to fish. Is there a website with a map of locations with their regulations/fees?

Thanks in advance for the answers.

daigo75

fisherking wrote: »

Parameters?
Demands more like
Try a fish shop...

They don't look much like "demands" to me, as I would know were to find all the above in many Countries in Europe, I'm just new to it in Ireland and, therefore, I was asking if I could find them here. Also, please keep in mind that not everybody considers fishing "just a sport"; I actually know more people who go fishing as a hobby and keep their catches than ones who just go for C&R.

Now, if everybody is trying to say that "we only tolerate C&R and fishing in Ireland must be only considered a sport", then the thread can be closed and I'll give up the idea altogether, no need to come out with "smart" comments such as "try a fish shop".

fenris

As you are new to Ireland you may not be aware that there is a big issue with people taking every fish regardless of size and effectively cleaning out lakes and rivers in a manner that means that that future fish stocks are decimated.

While that may be common practice in other places, it is not encouraged in Ireland and is actively legislated against in many cases.

Local anglers will get very annoyed with you if you take everything regardless of size or regulation, that is just how it is in Ireland and it is part of the reason that Ireland has good fishing compared to other places and hopefully it will stay like that.

We are normally a quiet people but when we get annoyed, we get very annoyed!

daigo75

fenris wrote: »

As you are new to Ireland you may not be aware that there is a big issue with people taking every fish regardless of size and effectively cleaning out lakes and rivers in a manner that means that that future fish stocks are decimated.

Effectively, I was not aware it was such a big issue.

fenris wrote:

While that may be common practice in other places, it is not encouraged in Ireland and is actively legislated against in many cases.

I think there's a misunderstanding here: I never said it's a common practice to "take every fish regardless of the size". Everywhere I've been I got clear regulations about minimum sizes (although not maximum ones, which I found here), and the fines for not releasing small catches were huge.

fenris wrote:

Local anglers will get very annoyed with you if you take everything regardless of size or regulation, that is just how it is in Ireland and it is part of the reason that Ireland has good fishing compared to other places and hopefully it will stay like that.

As I wrote, I never said I was looking to "take everything". I'm also a skilled mushroom "hunter", but it doesn't mean that I raze forests to collect anything I put my eyes on.

fenris wrote:

We are normally a quiet people but when we get annoyed, we get very annoyed!

This could be said of anyone, but I still can't see why I should have annoyed anybody by asking about regulations. If I wanted to go poaching, I could have just looked at previous posts, where people reported presence of good fishes.

This said, I can clearly see that it's pointless to keep this thread open, therefore I'd like to ask a moderator to close it.

Quiggers59

The quality of all fishing has significantly fallen in the last few years,and sadly one can see a connection between foreign nationals who take all they catch and this decline. As a UK citizen I to can be classed as non national so no lectures please,it's there plain to see.So even though we are fellow fisherman the responses that do not wish to give you fishing venues are not unhelpful,rude or flippant.Either take up the good practice of catch and release or find a new hobby.I hear golfs a good hobby.

tin79

See here for relevant legislation

http://www.fishinginireland.info/regulations.htm

From a personal point of view - please return your fish if at all possible

slowburner

'Ireland of the Welcomes' - how are yah.

tin79

slowburner wrote: »

'Ireland of the Welcomes' - how are yah.

You didnt exactly offer a wealth of adivce yourself there did you?

Care to post details of some of your own spots on a public forum? No? Thought not.

experimenter

I am getting tired of forums that just take information, this is a classic example, and as a result I'm happy to keep my tips and tricks to myself..

colferma

Came across this thread looking for answers to a similar question myself. Dunno where the vitriol came from. The man asked a simple question and, from the replies he has given, you'd imagine he's not an idiot nor a "foreign national" hell bent on destroying our natural resources. He's just looking for a place to cast a rod and get a fish sustainable enough and big enough for the dinner. Not too sinister.

If preserving the fish stocks is your biggest concern, it might be better to take an active part in the fishfight.net campaign, or to go picketing outside Leinster House to get the discard ban in full swing, instead of rounding on an innocent question.

If the OP wants to PM me I can give him a link to a (welcoming) fishing group based in Dublin that I came across looking during a search for info.

slowburner

Likewise, I would be more than happy to help the OP by private message.

patwicklow

Wooden bridge in Avoca co Wicklow is a good spot for the fishing and the shop there sells fishing permits

buzzardflute

patwicklow wrote: »

Wooden bridge in Avoca co Wicklow is a good spot for the fishing and the shop there sells fishing permits

As far as i know that river is closed for salmon and seatrout is catch and release fishing with barbless single hooks,all that would leave is the odd tiny brown trout that he could take home,hardly worth the effort?

I think the only way you get some nice fish around the eastside of dublin and wicklow is in put and take fisheries or the sea.

patwicklow

buzzardflute wrote: »

As far as i know that river is closed for salmon and seatrout is catch and release fishing with barbless single hooks,all that would leave is the odd tiny brown trout that he could take home,hardly worth the effort?

I think the only way you get some nice fish around the eastside of dublin and wicklow is in put and take fisheries or the sea.

Theres rainbow and brown trout there

buzzardflute

patwicklow wrote: »

Theres rainbow and brown trout there

There's only rainbow trout in it when they are deemed unsellable by the farm's and dumped into the river,they hardly make good eating now?

Evac101

buzzardflute wrote: »

There's only rainbow trout in it when they are deemed unsellable by the farm's and dumped into the river,they hardly make good eating now?

Going back a few years now but there seemed to be a large head of rainbows which had overwintered and gone feral there - local anglers had said (not sure how accurate this is) that they were escaping during the winter floods and then consuming the brown trout, sea trout and salmon parr in the river (the Aughrim that is). As such we were encouraged to fish and return all brown trout and remove all rainbows. Like I said, that is a number of years ago, perhaps the situation has changed/become clearer in regard to the provenance of those rainbows since and perhaps the local club has changed it's stance regarding visiting anglers.

slowburner

Evac101 wrote: »

Going back a few years now but there seemed to be a large head of rainbows which had overwintered and gone feral there - local anglers had said (not sure how accurate this is) that they were escaping during the winter floods and then consuming the brown trout, sea trout and salmon parr in the river (the Aughrim that is). As such we were encouraged to fish and return all brown trout and remove all rainbows. Like I said, that is a number of years ago, perhaps the situation has changed/become clearer in regard to the provenance of those rainbows since and perhaps the local club has changed it's stance regarding visiting anglers.

If they were surviving in the Aughrim river, that would be a first. Farmed rainbows won't stay in a river for very long - they head out to sea, never to be heard of again. It wouldn't do the native genetic stock any good but boy, would it be fun to have a run of steelhead!
The chances are that the big rainbows that were in the river were escaped brood stock from the fish farm. They can survive for a while, but their size is just too big for the feeding in the river - so off they go in search of richer feeding.
Escapees are rarer nowadays - unless there is a severe flood.

patwicklow

buzzardflute wrote: »

There's only rainbow trout in it when they are deemed unsellable by the farm's and dumped into the river,they hardly make good eating now?

Well iv always caught both been fishing around there since i was a boy and my grand father before me you have to know the places to fish.

copeyhagen

colferma wrote: »

Came across this thread looking for answers to a similar question myself. Dunno where the vitriol came from. The man asked a simple question and, from the replies he has given, you'd imagine he's not an idiot nor a "foreign national" hell bent on destroying our natural resources. He's just looking for a place to cast a rod and get a fish sustainable enough and big enough for the dinner. Not too sinister.
.

how do you know that hes not really planning on cleaning every canal and river out of stock? just judging by his post on a forum.

personally im not willing to take the chance of sharing spots to somebody who openly claims to eat perch.

no offence to OP

Lenn Brennan

daigo75 wrote: »

Hi all,
I'm a novice at angling in Ireland, and I'd like to ask the experts here some recommendations about good places to go fishing, possibly in Co. Wicklow or Dublin. Since fishing can be quite varied, I'll explain my "parameters":

• I like natural places, not artificial fishing lakes.
• I don't do fly fishing.
• I like to eat what I catch and, therefore, I'm not interested in "strictly catch and release".
  
  You should get some friends together and charter a boat, that's if you want to try the sea.
  
  Kilmore quay in April will produce some serious cod and pollack, great eating on them.
  
  I'll pm you a great skipper's name if you like