New to fishing the salt!

Hello,

I have just registered with this site, which seems to be the most comprehensive site in Ireland.

I am from the US but have been in country for over three years now. I've been fishing for as long as I can remember and am a proficient angler. I have had great success catching pollack to just over nine pounds with a fly rod, and the odd bass as well.

However, I am new to fishing the salt with bait and lures for that matter. I live in Ennis, Co. Clare and would greatly appreciate any and all help.
What kind of help am I looking for you ask? Well, I like catching fish that I can bring home for dinner (that is not to say that I kill eveything that I catch).

What is the fishing like at pier in liscannor, and any tips?

Where would I want to start flounder fishing, and any tips?

Any regulars will soon see that I'll be a repeat customer, so when I start getting things figured out I'll be more than happy to post good reports.

ok at the risk of having my head kicked in for shamelessly promoting angling on the west coast of clare(i swear to god, i'm not working for the tourist board!!) but head towards kilrush and carrigaholt piers, they are only about 30 minutes drive from ennis, and are fishing pretty well at the moment for dogfish, and the occasional thornback ray is showing up too! both piers would give you a good grounding on typical irish shore angling, and you can take a couple of dogfish for the table if you like. there's no shortage of fishing in the area, over the summer you will be able to fish for pretty much every species that swims in irish waters! the pollack in the area are on the small side at the moment, but conditions have been on the cold side for the past number of weeks, hopefully this big south by south westerly that's blowing at ther moment should wake things up a bit. there are a few other lads on the message board from around clare too so i'm sure you'll hear from them over the next few days too. if you want any more info on kilkee or kilrush pm me.

patrick

p.s those pollack must have put up a savage scrap. nice fish man

Spent a few evenings at Easter a couple of years ago (stayed a short walk away) fishing Liscannor Pier, took a few good sized dogfish on ledgered makerel baits. Nothing else apart from that but it was mid april so still a little early.

There is great fishing in your area whether it be beach pier rocks etc there is good fishing in the west coast and the beaches are good in darkness and daylight but when its getting dark it seems to be better.
Spanish point beach and the quilty beaches have great potential and the surface ot these beaches are barley scratched as when fishing them I usually use two rods one out into the deeper water way past the first breaker or last whatever way you look at it and one in close.

I caught plenty of species from the beaches at night mostly dogs and flats along with the odd bass huss and ray.

There is definately tope to be caught as I hooked one one morning at around 5 am in Leahinch during the summer and he must have been 40-60 lbs got him in close after about 20 mins and the knot in the shock leader went when I tightened the drag.

If you want more information Private message me and I will put you in the right direction.

And some of us meet up now and again to fish in the Shannon estuary and on the beaches and rocks out west.

Doolin up the coast from liscanor is a class spot. Big pollack. Fish on the rocks just north of the pier, follow the large crack in the rocks. Mind the large swell. Spinning a red or green rubber worm/sandeel slowly with a little weight works well. The water is quite deep so it fishes well even at low tide.