Lucan Fishing

Alan Willsbrook

Hi,
I am looking to get some information on fishing in the Lucan/ Leixlip area. I have read some of the previous threads but am looking for some further information. I am looking to do pike/course fishing in a quiet area along the Liffey. I recently discovered some nice spots between Lucan and Hermitage Golf course but it appears that i need a permit/membership. I have also heard that between Lucan and Leixlip is free to fish? Hopefully someone could PM me with some insider information :-)
Cheers

kildare lad

you'd be doin well to find a quiet spot around there. from just above castletown in celbridge to lucan is free. go between the reservoir and castletown itd be quiet around there. you should get roach alright. theres the odd pike too . But the foreigners have ruined that river, eastern europeans know they can take 4 fish a day and they do, plus some more. I live 5 mins from there and wouldnt waste my time fishing it. Especially with the nice weather, every muncher will be out fishing. ye u can still catch but theres a lot better places to fish without watchin munchers throwing fish into a bucket.

Mod: Banned. Clear breach of charter and the note stickied at the top of the forum

Bikerguy

Chief i would not get into foreins business that ruined wild life or accusing anyone of poaching...means taking more fish then allowed. Specialy stating eastern Europe....i am working and living here for over 13 years..i left my country and i found Irish people very welcoming and i am not planing to go anywhere.I fish a lot... 2-3 times a week and i obey rules and irish fishing refulations. I would appreciate if you would not throw all foreins into one bag....

For the OP i used to fish o the small cannal that you go over on m50 i believe its in Lucan....and if you walk up the stream you can catch decent perch or even pike.... i do catch and release only.. but i never walked away with less then 10 bites or so.... its a cannal but upstream its quieter... its nice there.

For big fish you better of going to cavan or monaghan as most Dubliners do anyway.

Best of luck and enjoy the weather.

thefisherbuy

I don't think Kildare lad was pointing the finger at all "Eastern Europeans" at killing fish.. I herd of some Irish people killing too.. not saying that all Europeans kill.. I have met some very nice lads from there just my two cence

As for the fish I don't think there would be much of a point going to the canals as there isn't much fish in them, maybe if you get out of the beaten track. Also as biker said Cavan is best for pike, a lot of decent lakes around their.

Alan Willsbrook

Thanks for the replys. I will check out some of the places mentioned above. I might join one of the Dublin Angling club's as id like to fish on the Liffey near Strawberry beds/Hermitage. Would it be worth travelling to Straffan for pike/coarse or anywhere else within a similar distance of Lucan?

lol5605

There are plenty of fish in the canal. People have this misconception that they are empty because they are too lazy to put any work into their fishing. Just go for a very long walk along it and you will find the fish, you have to remember that the canals are very large waters I don't think people grasp that. I pulled 70lb+ of bream out of the Royal Canal 2 weeks ago.

Bikerguy

Alan Willsbrook wrote: »

Thanks for the replys. I will check out some of the places mentioned above. I might join one of the Dublin Angling club's as id like to fish on the Liffey near Strawberry beds/Hermitage. Would it be worth travelling to Straffan for pike/coarse or anywhere else within a similar distance of Lucan?

Try the canal in lucan...and go for 25 min walk..thank me later...spinning full of perch...

Second if you are in need of biger fish buy yourself day pass for Blessington and just go from the harbour and walk around spinning....i always got good few jacks.... its a nice place and not far.

Bikerguy

lol5605 wrote: »

There are plenty of fish in the canal. People have this misconception that they are empty because they are too lazy to put any work into their fishing. Just go for a very long walk along it and you will find the fish, you have to remember that the canals are very large waters I don't think people grasp that. I pulled 70lb+ of bream out of the Royal Canal 2 weeks ago.

Agree there... people getting little lazy... everyone wanna fish quickly...people would like to cast out of the comfort of car from carpark... haha... little walk can bring ya amazing results.

lol5605

Bikerguy wrote: »

Agree there... people getting little lazy... everyone wanna fish quickly...people would like to cast out of the comfort of car from carpark... haha... little walk can bring ya amazing results.

Very true, I don't recall ever seeing anyone fishing within miles of where I normally go and I would be out at least 2/3 times a week during the warmer months.

thefisherbuy

You have to get out of the beaten track to find results.. stay away from roads etc there should be fish there.

Bio Mech

The liffey from Leixlip down to the waterworks in Lucan is club controlled now. From Catherines park down I think its mostly free as the leases from the salmon clubs have lapsed. Nice place to explore but I wouldnt expect a huge head of pike or coarse fish in it.

The further down you go the lower quality the water gets. Dont forget you have to abide by the Salmon bye laws, so no worms, no treble hooks, no barbed hooks.

I would agree with the above that said get out and get off the beaten track. I personally like to find out the popular spots from talking other anglers, find the places with easy access, close to bridges and car parks, with obvious signs of other anglers being there. Then I go as far away from there as possible.

twin_beacon

The canals are making a great fight back over the last few years. I went for an hour session at my local stretch last night. At one stage, I could 5 tench with my polaroids, if only they were feeding! I'll be back with my rake and have a proper session for them soon enough!

Waterways Ireland are supposed to have stopped cutting the weeds in the canals during the summer. They used to cut them around late may - june, either in the middle of, or soon after spawning time for coarse fish. If the weed cutting does stop, then in a few years there should be a very healthy population of coarse fish in the canals.

Bio Mech

twin_beacon wrote: »

The canals are making a great fight back over the last few years. I went for an hour session at my local stretch last night. At one stage, I could 5 tench with my polaroids, if only they were feeding! I'll be back with my rake and have a proper session for them soon enough!

Waterways Ireland are supposed to have stopped cutting the weeds in the canals during the summer. They used to cut them around late may - june, either in the middle of, or soon after spawning time for coarse fish. If the weed cutting does stop, then in a few years there should be a very healthy population of coarse fish in the canals.

Even if they just cut the centre track and left the margins alone. They did more damage to the fish stock on the canals than you could in a lifetime of keeping 4 fish a day. Canal is fully catch and release anyway but you get my drift. I remember seeing tench spawning on my local canal. Three days later the the waterways boats were out. The next day all the weed they spawned in was high and dry. Infuriating.

I said it to the guys on the boat, they didnt care. They told me to call "the office".

thefisherbuy

Yes a very true.. here's a good video of them doing it so you can understand what they were doing. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6_S6Fb4jcPE

Alan Willsbrook

Thanks to all of you for the info. I'm going to check out the canal this weekend and see how I get on. Cheers

lol5605

twin_beacon wrote: »

The canals are making a great fight back over the last few years. I went for an hour session at my local stretch last night. At one stage, I could 5 tench with my polaroids, if only they were feeding! I'll be back with my rake and have a proper session for them soon enough!

Waterways Ireland are supposed to have stopped cutting the weeds in the canals during the summer. They used to cut them around late may - june, either in the middle of, or soon after spawning time for coarse fish. If the weed cutting does stop, then in a few years there should be a very healthy population of coarse fish in the canals.

I hope that is true, I was up at my spot Monday evening and the bream where spawning, I was sat there for more than a hour watching them digging and slapping each other. I was fishing for about 2 hours right next to them and only managed one nice Rudd.

twin_beacon

The weeds in my local stretch weren't cut in the summer anyway. Hopefully this continues. As mentioned in an earlier post, id have no problem with cutting a channel down the middle, but not clearing the while canal of weeds.

uch

lol5605 wrote: »

There are plenty of fish in the canal. People have this misconception that they are empty because they are too lazy to put any work into their fishing. Just go for a very long walk along it and you will find the fish, you have to remember that the canals are very large waters I don't think people grasp that. I pulled 70lb+ of bream out of the Royal Canal 2 weeks ago.

+1 on this, last year I fished the canals three times, twicw I had 50lb+ mixed bags, there are plenty of fish, you just need to understand when they feed and what they want

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

This old 'the river/lake/canal has been cleaned of fish' tripe is just an excuse from people who don't know where or how to fish. There are plenty of stocks of most fish if you go about it properly. And, I must add, that every angler I have met (apart from a few fair weather anglers after mackerel) are very respectful of our stocks and regulations.

Bio Mech

I agree on the first part Srameen. If it wasn't for that excuse it would be something else. Otters. Mink. Anything that suits.

Having said that, as a former water keeper for a water close to Dublin I know from personal experience that there are many problem anglers in the Dublin area at least. Plenty with no respect for ecology or law.

Rod anglers are never going to do as much damage as poor management, disease or pollution in most waters but they don't help either.

I know a few small waters though with a small head of large fish that have been badly affected. Before the coarse fish bye laws came in I came across one guy with six bream to 4lbs, two pike both around 10lbs and a dozen or so hydride in a black bag in his car. Rod caught.

He also had a number of smolts so we got him on that.

It can happen and it has happened. Small minority maybe. Personal experience for me. Not hearsay. I think it's overstated, as you said it's a easy one to point the finger at and it less insidious than euthrophication, but it is there. Lessening now but still around.

kildare lad

Pedro Embarrassed Matchbox wrote: »

This old 'the river/lake/canal has been cleaned of fish' tripe is just an excuse from people who don't know where or how to fish. There are plenty of stocks of most fish if you go about it properly. And, I must add, that every angler I have met (apart from a few fair weather anglers after mackerel) are very respectful of our stocks and regulations.[/QUOTE
I mainly fish canals and here my two cents, most stretchs have fish in the them even ones that have been netted. but there is less big pike, and tench in some place for example. In maynooth harbour for example,i only managed one tench last summer out of 5 or 6 sessions. So if someone asked me whats maynooth like id tell them it was cleaned out of tench.
Its not that i cant catch them cos ive had plenty on other stretchs last summer. But when u used to catch 30 lb of tench in a session to catching one, i would call that cleaned out
Go to tinkers hill at the back of lucan, royal canal on any hot day during the summer and you will meet people breaking the law. Go to the stretch over kilcock harbour during the summer and you might even meet people cooking there catch an a bbq like i did last summer. Ive got on to the IFI a few weeks ago when i witnessed 3 people livebaiting with 5 rods in maynooth. Id love to know where you fish Pedro Embarrassed Matchbox if every angler you've meet is respectful to our laws.

kildare lad

Bio Mech wrote: »

I agree on the first part Srameen. If it wasn't for that excuse it would be something else. Otters. Mink. Anything that suits.

Having said that, as a former water keeper for a water close to Dublin I know from personal experience that there are many problem anglers in the Dublin area at least. Plenty with no respect for ecology or law.

Rod anglers are never going to do as much damage as poor management, disease or pollution in most waters but they don't help either.

I know a few small waters though with a small head of large fish that have been badly affected. Before the coarse fish bye laws came in I came across one guy with six bream to 4lbs, two pike both around 10lbs and a dozen or so hydride in a black bag in his car. Rod caught.

He also had a number of smolts so we got him on that.

It can happen and it has happened. Small minority maybe. Personal experience for me. Not hearsay. I think it's overstated, as you said it's a easy one to point the finger at and it less insidious than euthrophication, but it is there. Lessening now but still around.

Was that in chapelizard by any chance where you caught the fella with a bag of smolts. I know an ex water keeper who told me he caught a guy there a few years ago???

lol5605

kildare lad wrote: »

Pedro Embarrassed Matchbox wrote: »

This old 'the river/lake/canal has been cleaned of fish' tripe is just an excuse from people who don't know where or how to fish. There are plenty of stocks of most fish if you go about it properly. And, I must add, that every angler I have met (apart from a few fair weather anglers after mackerel) are very respectful of our stocks and regulations.[/QUOTE
I mainly fish canals and here my two cents, most stretchs have fish in the them even ones that have been netted. but there is less big pike, and tench in some place for example. In maynooth harbour for example,i only managed one tench last summer out of 5 or 6 sessions. So if someone asked me whats maynooth like id tell them it was cleaned out of tench.
Its not that i cant catch them cos ive had plenty on other stretchs last summer. But when u used to catch 30 lb of tench in a session to catching one, i would call that cleaned out
Go to tinkers hill at the back of lucan, royal canal on any hot day during the summer and you will meet people breaking the law. Go to the stretch over kilcock harbour during the summer and you might even meet people cooking there catch an a bbq like i did last summer. Ive got on to the IFI a few weeks ago when i witnessed 3 people livebaiting with 5 rods in maynooth. Id love to know where you fish Pedro Embarrassed Matchbox if every angler you've meet is respectful to our laws.

There are plenty of fish in Maynooth harbour, but for some reason the fishing is always very slow. I find it pretty hard to bag up there and I've been fishing there for almost 20 years. You have to go and explore the canal, it is a large water, you don't park and walk for 5 minutes if you want 30lb bags of tench.

kildare lad

ok my bad, im just a lazy angler. all the tench suddenly stopped hanging around the hotspot. i never said there wasnt fish in maynooth did i??? i said theres a lack of tench there and big pike. and there is. whens the last time you've got a bag of tench on the maynooth stretch? on a lot of stretches the tench are tiny. thats because the bigger ones have been poached. FACT. years ago you'd very rarely youd catch a tench under 2lb. now a 2lb tench is big on some stretches. I mainly fish canals and im out 3 r 4 times a weeks so i know what im talking about. BTW i had a great session last night and this morning on the canal with 7 tench up to 4.6lb. I just hope munchers dont find it. And destroy it like theyve done before. Some stretches are worth fishing and others arent. And Srameen you never answered my question?

Steve

kildare lad wrote: »

I just hope munchers dont find it. And destroy it like theyve done before.

'Munchers' is not a term that is particularly endearing, please be mindful of that lest you fall foul of boards.ie posting rules.