THE MIGHTY RIVER DODDER FLOOD RELIEF WORKS

Captain Snow

Does anyone have any up to date information on the Dodder Flood Alleviation Scheme from back of Herbert park down to Ballsbridge.

I have fished The Mighty River Dodder from 1986 and see utter destruction of the fishing and Nature from Herbert park area right down to London bridge.

No more are there small flat fish down from Ballsbridge, you could use ragworm and catch half pound flattys.

The mullet are gone, huge shoals came as far as the cottages at Ballsbridge on a high tide. You could feed them bread or catch them on bread up to 6lb.

The famous Slab trout that lived in the tide from the dart station down to the Liffey have lost there deep water habitat. As at low tide now there only maybe at best a foot of water. All the Deep Dark mysterious pools are gone.

I haven,t seen any elvers or small eels in years coming up , but that is a different story.

What few holding pools for the salmon and sea Trout at low tide from the Liffey to Ballsbridge are gone.

The water fall at Ballsbridge (and above in places )was once a deep pool of water holding big trout , sea trout and salmon now is filled in......

Most of the ducks are gone. But you do see the swans.

There was a guy documenting the foxes lives in that area, the family of foxes are gone.

The Otters have disappeared as the water is to shallow and the 100,s of small trout and salmon parr which they fed on are gone. ( 10% still remain in my view ).

The seals cant swim up as far as Ballsbridge as the whole river is a shallow trickle at low tide.

Now i see them stripping the banks back to soil above Ballsbridge, one flood and all that soil is in the river. If they continue we will lose a lot of nesting habitat.

No longer do i see the Kingfisher it is gone too.

All I see now is the raising of the river bed and high walls. The Great River Dodder in parts of its lower reaches has been hidden from view by high grey granite walls.

What fishing is left is not what it use to be before they started this scheme. Often i could catch and release 20 to 30 trout on the fly in an evening from Herbert park all they way down to London bridge. Small fighting wild Brown Trout, you would think you had hooked a 5lb rainbow.

I hope over the years that all the above wild life returns.

I hope an Engineer reads this and as they continue there Flood Alleviation works on the river that they give greater consideration to the Mass abundance of wild life on the Dodder and don,t plough through it with high concrete walls and flat featureless river beds.

fisherking

Excellent post...
Agree fully

Captain Snow

Any one got any information on what flood defense there putting in at Lower Dodder road now. Construction is now underway.

jack01986

Captain Snow wrote: »

Any one got any information on what flood defense there putting in at Lower Dodder road now. Construction is now underway.

I was wondering about this as well. Its been going on for a while now and the whole river from there to the sea is constantly coloured now as a result.

Also the fishing has been ****e on the river this last week or two.