How Good is Wreck Fishing???

Hi, for awaile now ive always wanted to go wreck fishing and where my local fishing spot is theres a wreck near by and this weekend me and a mate are going to try out fishing there, although dangerous enough to get to, i always hear that , thats where the big fish hang out, but really whats my chances of hooking a big one and any advise plz! tnx.

I think a note of caution is in order here. If you are not familiar with boats and the sea in general and in particular a new fishing area, chanceing your arm of a weekend is a good way to get drowned.

I don't know where in the world you are, but ask yourself this question before approaching any wreck: How did it get to be a wreck?

Many wrecks around the Irish coast came about as a result of war activity - mines, torpedos etc and are in deep and open water often well offshore, no place for a boating novice.

Wrecks lying inshore quite often found a rock or reef system they didn't know about beforehand for whatever reason - incomplete charting, navigational errors and occasionally being pushed there by wind or tide while not under command for whatever reason - engine failure etc. Not really the sort of place for a boating novice to cut their teeth either.

I'd really recommend that if you are not experienced and completely familiar with the area of this wreck, that you get someone experienced to take you out at least once first. They should be able to point out the danger signs in terms of weather, swell direction, depths and so on.

They'll also know to avoid the trappings of static fishing gear - headlines etc which often appear around wrecks - commercial fishermen like to drape them with gill nets or a fleet of pots - as you say, wrecks often hold a better stamp of fish and more of them.

Wreck fishing has it's own array of rods, reels and terminal tackle and techniques. Again, going out on a proper charter boat to do a bit of deep sea or wreck fishing is advisable - learn from the experts first.

If you post up your general location and the whereabouts of the wreck, I'm sure somone on here might have some advice about the advisability of trying the wreck, how it has fished before and what the optimum gear to try is.

My personal advice: Lifejacket, Caution, Information. And a string of baited Hokkais....you can't go wrong with those....

Nice advise sandman, but the wreck isnt out at sea its in a cove beside a cliff at Ardmore, and we are not fishing on a boat we usally fish off the cliffs there and have been fishing there since we were kids, the way down the cliffs is a bit dangerous to anyone who doesnt know the area but weve been going down there for years (not to fish) and that wont be a problim.
So has anyone ever tried fishing at that wreck in Ardmore, and what bait should i use? tnx.

All round good advice from Sandman there, and a fascinating twist you've brought to the sport of angling:

How do you fish a wreck from the shore???

Never heard of it being done myself, but off the top of my head, I'd treat it as a snaggy, rough ground mark. Someone more experienced than me might be able to advise on rigs etc for that.

By the way, anyone know how many Ardmores there are in Ireland? :shock:

im pretty sure i know the place ur talkin about. Its in cork is it? Where sometimes u can see some of the wreck at low water by the cliffs there. looks a tough job to get to and difficult to fish if its the one im thinkin of but u brought up an interesting topic there. would probably be worth a try. good luck.

I would say go for simple rigs with rotten bottoms, cheap leads( perhaps not leads at all), ugly old rigs that never got rinsed, not shiny new out of the box, be prepared to lose tackle and not get to Pi**ed off ! How far out is it? Can you cast a Spinner/German sprat that far, if so take a spinning outfit along too. Maybe you could float fish over the wreck at high tide..but floats are not my area of expertise..

The fact it’s a wreck (probably risky to access from sea) and the cliffs (its hard to access from land) might make it a great fish holding area!

let us know how you get on! if its in cork i might give it ago myself...

Armore is located near youghal-Cork , i couldnt go to the wreck at the weekend as the weather was way to bad, but we are gona try this weekend providing the weather, and we'll prob be trying bait and spinning as the wreck is very close to the shore, weve got sandeel squid and crab we are geared up and ready to get the big one, plz dont rain :cry:

Can you get a few pics of the wreck, preferably from a height and at low water if possible? This we have to see.....

Is this the wreck of the crane ship Samson, blown ashore in December 1987 while being towed from Liverpool to Malta?

sorry to drag this back up but just wondering if you got the chance to fish the wreck? I was the guest above by the way.