Trout Fishing on the River Liffey
- Details
- Published on Thursday, 23 December 2010 09:05
- Written by Paul Kay
The River Liffey flows from the Wicklow Mountains at Liffey Head Bog for about 120 kms passing through Kildare and entering the Irish Sea in Dublin. The particular stretch that I fish is at Straffan, just by the road-bridge downstream from the K Club. The level throughout the summer is generally quite low, periods of rain raise it slightly, as does water control by the ESB, but occasionally there are floods. Last year I think it rained for about 3 weeks non-stop and the river was unfishable in many places.
Dublin Trout Anglers have the rights to fish this particular stretch of water and there are other anglers there occasionally when I fish it, but sometimes, usually first thing in the morning or at dusk, you have the river to yourself.
The noise of the water rushing over the weir drowns any sounds of passing traffic and the little pools and eddies swirling by as you wade through the river all hold fish, small but perfectly formed little brown trout. They’re free rising, feeding from the surface, and the hatches of insects, especially around June and July, are quite prolonged, lasting a good few hours.
A small dry fly is the first thing to try, matching as close as possible to whatever is in the air or drifting by in the currents, especially in the faster water which is generally quite shallow, maybe only a few inches deep in some places. You tend to get a lot of nips by the really small fish, the length of a finger maybe, but they don’t usually hook. It’s great sport because when you get a bite by one fish, it’s usually in a shoal so you know where there’s one, there are usually many more. The deeper pools and holes are also worth a look, even changing to weighted flies or lures, just a few casts can often tempt bigger resident fish to bite. I’ve heard stories of brown trout into double figures although I find some of them hard to believe. I’ve caught trout up to about 3lbs from here and as always, all are returned. I always use a floating line, a weight 6 and a tippet of 5lb monofilament. Weed sometimes can be a bit of a pain in the summertime especially using flies that are intended to be fished deep and slow. When the flora by the river is in full bloom in summer, you need to watch your backcasts too. At the end of the season, the trees and bushes on the riverbank look like Christmas trees with all the multicoloured flies hanging in them.
There’s plenty of wildlife to see too. I was fishing from a little island just downstream from the bridge, crouching low as to not disturb any fish lying in the currents by the wooded bank when an otter joined me on the tiny island, only a couple of feet away from me but not knowing I was there. When it realised I was, it was gone in a flash into the river and disappeared into the undergrowth on the bank.
There are usually herons hunting in the fast water on the weir too, searching for fish and freshwater crayfish, which can be found throughout the Liffey river system. You can get quite close to the herons and they can be a good marker as to where there are fish lying. This stretch of the river is very healthy looking and supports many forms of life and is a pleasure to fish but the season passes quickly so I’ll head down to the river again soon, ever searching for that double-figure prize that is there, somewhere in the water by the rushes or in the deep, dark pools under the weir.
Paul Kay is a keen photographer, travel writer, sailor, diver and rock climber. Most importantly of all Paul fishes for Salmon and Trout inScotland, England and Ireland where he lives with his wife Alison and their son Charlie.