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Passage East, Co. Waterford.  Known for the car ferry, this set of marks has several advantages over standard seashore marks.  The first mark is pictured above; the other off on the main pier in the harbour.

It is a sand and mud bottom and relatively snag free.  Hook size needs to drop to 2s or even 4s for the Dabs, casting directly onto/near the mussel beds from the beach beside the "washing lines".  A Dab over 300 grams is a good fish for this mark.  There are several deep gullies on this "beach" and it shelves very steeply as you reach the point marked by the rock pier.  Wading is not recommended unless you have surveyed the mark at low water.  That sign is accurate.  Ragworm can be dug at low water on the mussel beds on the sand - use a fork and dig deep!  Alternatively lugworm can be dug on the Wexford side at Duncannon (use the ferry, and head for the southern end of the beach) or try the tackle shops in Waterford City.  Black lug are dug there.

Freshwater Eels are known to target the sandeel in the summer in amazing quantities.  Mackerel can run this far up the estuary in the summer and Codling will do the same in the winter, feeding in daylight thanks to the permanently muddy water.  In summer you can be plagued with shoals of Dogfish, especially on an ebb tide.

On a flooding tide in winter, Whiting and Codling shoals are common.  The Codling can run to over 2 kilos, but the Whiting rarely exceed 500 grams.  Unfortunately the local seal population has exploded and they are ever present in the main channel.  Since tboth fish shoal the action can be frenetic; - it pays to have a second (and even a third!) trace baited up and ready as there can be manic minutes interspersed with quiet half hours.  This is a relatively shallow beach and the further from the main channel the longer the distance cast required, ranging from twenty metre lobs at the pier to "over the horizon" stuff, but you can target the gullies and mussel beds closer in effectively. 

There is a fearsome current in the channel - 175 gram grip leads willl not work - better to use a standard bomb and let it bounce and trundle along with the tide.  Watch leads may work better on the flatfish.  This is bottom fishing.  Put a few beads on the bottom hook in a three hook flapper or used slipped down rigs for distance.  Wrasse and Gurnard have been taken from the channel albiet irregularly and this was up near the ferry terminal.  Thre harbour itself is not a peaceful place to fish as the ferry runs every twenty minutes or less most days but it does give access to very deep water, with the option of the odd Plaice, Flounder and Conger.  Twaite Shad run the river in large numbers but but these are usually tackled at St Mullins using small spinners.

If you walk all the way down the beach in the picture to the far sunlit point there is a spur of rocks.  This can offer Bass at dawn and dusk, especially to live sandeels and possibly spun lures.  Check with the fisheries board as I have been told that a total ban on taking Bass has been imposed, regardless of dates or fish size.

Probabilities: Flounder, Dabs; (summer) Freshwater Eel, Mackerel, Sea Trout; (winter) Whiting, Codling

Possibilities: Dogfish, Plaice, Conger (small), Bass

Rare Exceptions: Red Gurnard, Wrasse, Twaite Shad