Confusion about where I can fish legally

Shimbea The Space Trout

Hi there,

I'm fairly new to angling but I've been enjoying it a lot over the past few weeks.

I am not fishing for salmon or sea trout so I do not need a licence as far as I understand. But I do need to have a permit to fish certain areas of rivers which are privately owned. Is this correct?

My biggest problem so far is understanding where one can and cannot fish. I live in Cork city and am looking to do most of my fishing on the Lee. I was hoping somebody could tell me where there is free fishing on the river and where the water is owned by private fisheries. If I am fishing for brown trout or coarse fishing on the Lee and not after salmon do the clubs care?

I think that it's free fishing all the way up as far as the Lee fields by the county hall but I've heard mentions of other places like by the grotto on the Lee road that is free as well. I am very confused by the whole thing. Is the whole lot past county hall to the dam privately owned, or is it stretches here and there with free fishing in between? Where do I go to find this out?

Also what is the story with fishing on Iniscarra lake? I would like to try course fishing there and as I understand it that does not require any licence either but I assume it is private.

The reason I'm after free fishing is not because I'm too cheap to get permits but because I'm into this for a bit of fun, not necessarily to catch my dinner and will be releasing most if not all of what I catch. I think it would be nice to be able to enjoy the natural landscape of an evening at the drop of a hat without it turning into an expensive thing.

Thanks in advance

realrebel

there are loads of free rivers around cork like the bride, shournagh, dripsey and martin that you could fish freely all along the river
the water on the lee is controlled by 3 parties, the esb, cork salmon anglers and lee salmon anglers, they control nearly 90% of the river
you can get a trout permit from lee salmon anglers for €25 for the year and fish their water for trout which is great value
the free water goes up just past the grotto on the lee road but to be honest it isnt great for fishing
for the lakes up in inniscarra you will need a license to fish for pike,bream etc, i dont know about the trout fishing but you are not allowed to fish for salmon on the lakes but i dont think that applies to trout
but you better check with the fishery board first
what kind of fishing are you doing worming, spinning or fly?

stylie

You need a permit to fish the lakes above the dam. I think its 30e per year. You will be checked and fined with out it.
If you flyfish the Lee the salmon anglers will look the other way. In fact you can fly fish any of the lee tribs and not get hassled.

Park Royal

Walk into your local Inland Fisheries Office and get all the info there .....

maps , brochures, prices etc etc......