Waters

River Dodder (Dublin city)

Baseline tactics

Co. Dublin · River · wild

Yellow warninguntil Fri 02:00

Rain warning for Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, Cork, Waterford

Spells of heavy rain with a possibility of thunderstorms. Potential impacts: • Localised flooding • Outdoor events impacted • Difficult travelling conditions

Met Éireann

Yellow warninguntil Sun 21:00

Blight advisory for Ireland

A potato blight advisory is in effect. For details, please see the Farming commentary under the Forecast tab.

Met Éireann

Weather check

Issued 17:58
NESW
Moderate north-easterly9 km/h · gusting 18 km/hBlowing from the north-east · fishing waveGusty — hard casting.
SKYWINDAIRRAINENEgusts to 28peak 14 km/h18 °C17 °C1.1 mm at 13:00060912151821now
Today — conditions every three hours
TimeSkyWindAirRain
04:00cloudENE 7 km/h17 °Cdry
06:00cloudENE 7 km/h17 °Cdry
08:00cloudE 9 km/h18 °Cdry
10:00rainESE 11 km/h17 °C0.4 mm
12:00rainENE 14 km/h17 °C0.4 mm
14:00rainE 10 km/h17 °C0.4 mm
16:00cloudENE 8 km/h18 °Cdry
18:00cloudNE 9 km/h17 °C0.2 mm
20:00cloudNE 10 km/h17 °Cdry

Times are UTC · wind in km/h · sun and rain read left to right across the day.

Air
17–18°
Wind
14 km/h
Rain
3.4 mm

Water

measured

Warm 16 °C

Fish the cool ends of the day. Barbless, quick, wet hands.

Measured at Anglesea Road · OPW

Fishing wave on the forecast.

Today · River Dodder (Dublin city)

Best window today is dawn, around 06:17.

Water · Warm (16–19°C)
Daylight↑ 05:0319:47 ↓00:0006:0012:0018:0024:00050100FishabilityDawnMornMiddayEveDusknow

Fishability is the engine's own hourly score. Why these conditions matter.

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This week

Dawn
Morn
Midday
Eve
Dusk
Today
Tmrw
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ExcellentGoodFairPoor★ best of the day

Check season dates with the fishery (link below).

Depth character (estimated)
Mixed depths · to ~2 m
Water clarity (estimated)
Clear
Exposure (estimated)
Moderate
Species

Getting there

Bank access: GoodExtensive linear parks and a greenway run alongside long stretches (Bushy Park, Herbert Park, the Milltown-Rathfarnham linear park, the Dodder Greenway between Donnybrook and Ballsbridge) with footbridges and mostly off-road parking; a permit kiosk operates at Orwell Bridge, Ballsbridge. Caveat: high stone flood-defence walls built after historic flooding restrict direct bank/water access in some built-up reaches — access quality varies markedly along the 26 km course rather than being uniformly good.
No boats
  • Firhouse (Balrothery Weir) · TownFirhouse/Templeogue: near the top of the trout water and the Bohernabreena reservoirs. The river rises fast off the Dublin mountains after rain -- check levels before wading.
  • Bushy Park, Terenure · TownBushy Park, Terenure: off-road parking, footbridges into the Milltown-Rathfarnham trout stretch. Club permit needed -- confirm outlet/price at purchase.
  • Classon's Bridge, Milltown · BridgeWeir pool below Classon's Bridge (the Dropping Well) -- named as holding the river's better trout, occasional 3-4 lb fish. Club permit needed; confirm at purchase.
  • Clonskeagh Bridge · BridgeUpstream start of a special bye-law stretch running down to the Liffey at Ringsend, 1 June-30 Sept -- see IFI for the current rules; app links out, doesn't restate them.
  • Herbert Park, Ballsbridge · TownHerbert Park borders the river; head of the recommended Herbert Park-to-Beaver Row trout stretch. Orwell Bridge permit kiosk nearby -- confirm price/outlet at purchase.

Features

RifflesGlidesRunsPoolsWeir pools
Weed: UnknownNo source found addresses weed growth on the Dodder specifically. It is a fast-flowing, gravel-bedded spate river through mostly shaded/parkland corridor, so heavy weed growth would be atypical, but this is inference, not a sourced claim — do not assert a level.
Coarse fry present (Stone loach, Stickleback, Eel)

Local notes

A genuinely flashy spate river off the Dublin/Wicklow mountains (source on the northern slopes of Kippure), not a limestone river — expect it to rise and fall quickly after mountain rain (roughly a 20-24 hour rise to peak per flood-study material), with the Bohernabreena reservoirs at Glenasmole partially damping, not eliminating, that flashiness downstream. The trout water runs Old Bawn (Tallaght) down to Ballsbridge, with Herbert Park-to-Beaver Row and Milltown-to-Rathfarnham the two most accessible, most-recommended stretches (linear parks, footbridges, mostly off-road parking). Wild and stocked brown trout run small on average — fingerling to around 6 inches is typical — but occasional trout to 3-4 lb turn up in the deeper pools above and below weirs (e.g. the pool below the Classon's Bridge/Dropping Well weir at Milltown), and evening into dusk consistently outfishes the day, especially once park foot-traffic drops. Sea trout hold in the lower river down into the tidal reach below Ballsbridge and fish best late summer, under a separate, stricter IFI bye-law on the lower river (Clonskeagh Road Bridge down to the Liffey at Ringsend) — check the current terms on IFI's site before fishing it — treat this as a distinct fishery from the resident-brown-trout story upstream. Atlantic salmon have recolonised the tidal stretch each spring since the early 2000s, a genuine urban-recovery story, but this reads as an ecological headline rather than a developed salmon fishery: no source describes it as a viable target fishery.

Fishery rules & regulations