Portmarnock and malahide area - Cant find the fish

Ive tried high rock 3 times the past 2 weeks and velvet strand 3 other different times within the past 2 weeks. 2 times I fished at night including tonight and the rest fished during the day. Ive fished on all states of tide aswell. Bait has been mixed between peeler/rag/mussel.

Just cant seem to find the fish. What am I doing wrong? Only thing I can think of is maybe they are really far out because Im only casting about 50-60 metres (i think)

Any advice?

welcome to the site hatfry
i fished a few marks a week ago and was catching fish for fun - loads of fish!
only yesturday, 1 week later, did i try every mark along the shore but could not catch a fish! - they just werent there
so maybe the fish just arent in the area that you are trying right now either
try somewhere else, get onto a boat, or return a nother time... keep at it
my thoughts anyway..

The smoothounds probably move out into the bay when the shore crab moult slows down.
They are getting plenty of them on the boats just off the bailey lighthouse.

Thanks lads. Im newish to sea angling so im sure some casting practice would help. Is distance a big factor when fishing for general species? And would i have better luck on one of the isolated beaches in howth?