Fly Fishing on the Dodder

bigjohn17 wrote: »

What conditions and time of day are best?

Early and late - Watch for the hatches.

At the moment, the 90mins before dark and into darkness are best, along with dawn and the 1st hr into light. But watch the activity on your own stretch of water to be sure.

Weather plays a massive part, hot muggy weather can give rise to hatches of the anglers curse and you might as well go home or risk breaking your rod over someone.

After a drop of rain will be perfect after that hot spell. Expected tonight so tomorrow will be a massive fishing day for many!

There is no quick fix - gather all the info you can and still you will be learning this for the rest of your life. It's frustrating in the beginning, the trick I think is to simply take your time. Learn something new, practice it and then learn something else.

Learn to tie flies - it will speed up your entomology drastically.

Do the boring bits, on bad weather days get on the forums and read books and search patterns. Learn why patterns work.

Heres an article on fishing after floods, its new zealand based but still applies to all our rivers,

LIES

I'll post another on trout lies in normal water later.

ardinn wrote: »

Early and late - Watch for the hatches.

At the moment, the 90mins before dark and into darkness are best, along with dawn and the 1st hr into light. But watch the activity on your own stretch of water to be sure.

Weather plays a massive part, hot muggy weather can give rise to hatches of the anglers curse and you might as well go home or risk breaking your rod over someone.

After a drop of rain will be perfect after that hot spell. Expected tonight so tomorrow will be a massive fishing day for many!

There is no quick fix - gather all the info you can and still you will be learning this for the rest of your life. It's frustrating in the beginning, the trick I think is to simply take your time. Learn something new, practice it and then learn something else.

Learn to tie flies - it will speed up your entomology drastically.

Do the boring bits, on bad weather days get on the forums and read books and search patterns. Learn why patterns work.

Heres an article on fishing after floods, its new zealand based but still applies to all our rivers,

LIES

I'll post another on trout lies in normal water later.

"Anglers Curse" meaning Caenis?

I was out last night and these were hatching and the fish were rising every second and I was catching regularly (small ones). Why is this a bad thing?

bigjohn17 wrote: »

Have been using small size 16/18 dries - Griffiths gnat, CDC Dun, Grey Duster. These are the only patterns I really use as I can tie them myself easily and I've found they work and float well.

Might have to try tying that one you mentioned (elk hair caddis?)

Yep its an Elk Hair Caddis. Keep at it there are some nice fish in there I haven't had any 'big' fish from it this year but have had some nice ones around 1lb.

bigjohn17 wrote: »

"Anglers Curse" meaning Caenis?

I was out last night and these were hatching and the fish were rising every second and I was catching regularly (small ones). Why is this a bad thing?

Thats what they are called, sometimes they are so small its hard to match them - size 20 flies needed etc. Anytime I come across them I switch to wets - aint nobody got time for that

Is there a pic of the 50cm trout?

Some good fishing, maybe they'll turn up at some point. I wonder what section he was fishing...

so lads did yous have much luck on the river this year? i had excellent fishing in the early half of the season and then of course it got hard as the drought came in. still catching the odd trout so im happy enough

Doc Farrell wrote: »

hoping to fish around sunset tomorrow in a weir about 400 yards downstream of the dropping well, which me and coolwings helped rebuild back in may i think.

then off to lough ouler near glendalough on sunday to say hello to a great little lake at the top of a mountain. if it's cloudy i'll stay near the dodder.

I’m a beginner and live near bohernabreeba so while looking for info on the reservoirs and dodder I came across your post. I know it’s a few years ago now but did you have any luck up at Lough Ouler and what kind of flies/tactics would you use? I do a bit of hiking and the odd bit of camping up that way and always wondered....

Evac101 wrote: »

Ouler is a bit of a hike, one of those, 35 up, 20 minutes down sort of deals. It's very exposed to the weather which can be good or bad and the fish (in my experience) are quite small. This isn't to say that it's not fun, just that you're not going to see any trophy trout out of there.

Upper Lough Bray seems to hold a smaller population of trout, but larger in size, with the bigger fish getting up to 25-30cm but slim bodies and big mouths

I might find myself up there anyway but maybe it’s a bit late in the season this year. I’m going to try Bohernabreena later this week. Any pointers on what flies or nymphs to use etc?

Evac101 wrote: »

Any of the old style lough flies (Bibios, Kate McClaren, etc) work, as do dries most evenings. If you're not seeing much in surface activity I'd try small bait fish imitators like Butchers or Alexandria's.

Minky or a small fritz aswell

I went up to Bohernabreena this afternoon after going into southside and getting a permit. After about 5 casts I heard a splash and I lifted into a lovely little brownie that took a single heather fly I was fishing on the surface. After returning him , roughly three hours passed and I switched to a sinking line. Had no more luck until about an hour before dusk. I was fishing an Alexandra on the point and a hares ear on the dropper. Was about to give up when I felt that magic gravelly feeling of a much more substantial fish connecting. There was much more playing involved but eventually I got a roughly 2 pound rainbow onto the stoney bank I was fishing off. All in all I’m delighted with my first two fish on the fly. Thanks for the advice lads!

http://www.kenwhelan.info/news/

River Restoration Projects – Rivers Bandon and Dodder
I’m continuing to advise on river rehabilitation and connectivity projects connected with flood relief schemes on the rivers Bandon (Cork) and Dodder (Dublin). Recently I advised on the installation of a number of fish passes on tributaries of the River Bandon.

Would love to see these installed on every water fall along the Dodder.




Could you imagine the runs of sea trout and salmon right up towards Firhouse and beyond.

jack01986 wrote: »

Would love to see them installed, I recall speaking to someone in the Inland Fisheries in 2016 and they would be considering them for the Dodder once the flood defence works have been completed. It would be some resource to have if they can back in any numbers.

It would be great to see a separate contractor come in. Build them off site. Crane them in and get a head start helping the fish up river. Even Temporary Fish ladders / Passes would help.

Can anyone tell me, is the section of the Dodder from The Herbert Park Hotel to say Anglesey Bridge worth fishing for brownies or is it too tidal? Been parking up there for a couple of hours these days as the other half is in and out of Holles Street and with COVID im not permitted to go in. Might as well wet a line to kill a bit of time if it’s a runner

With the river not stocked it's a good time to practise catch and release lads.
Continue to release all fish and remember maggots are illegal on the river.
So dont be plowing them with maggots. Ruins the fishing for fly anglers too. And I seen lads fishing on firhouse waterfall other day and the mess they left of smokes and cans everywhere.