Dun laoghaire Fishing

Hey there,

Just wondering if im able to fish off the back of the pier on the west pier of dun laoghaire?any laws preventing me fishing there?thanks. :?: :?

no you can fish away. the second elbow is probably the best use a spinner to get mackeral and there are plenty of conger in the rocks but make sure you have strong gear cause you will have to pull them out. bait fishing throws up dogs, whiting and dab i've seen a few flounder and plaice also being caught.

People also fish off the end of the West pier (that's the one on the north side), and from the back of the East. The terrain off the back of the East is as dirty as the West (however, the water is a lot cleaner due to the lack of sewage being pumped into the water locally on the West side - Salthill/Seapoint is disgusting).

As far as I know, the only legal restriction *inside* the piers is on the Marina to the north of the ferry terminal (thanks to the people of the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company - a semi-state body that's exempted from FOI requests, btw). In the summertime you used to be able to make a complete killing of mackerel using strips of mackerel or squid under a float - either from the Coal Quay or by the bandstand site on the East pier. Another favourite used to be mullet on fish chunks from the Coal Quay or on bread off the East pier where the L.E. Eithne used to tie up). Haven't seen anyone do that style of fishing in DL for a while. Has anyone?

There are still mullet to be had but they won't hang around the coal quay with the seals there.

You can get them by groundbaiting with mackerel from the east pier between the slip at the start and where the bandstand used to be.

They will also fall to bread at the start of the west pier to the car parks but it's best to prebait for a couple of days and fish at first light ( you don't have to pay for parking as a bonus !). Low water is best.

There are plenty of mackerel falling to float fished sandeel or mackerel on the East pier, great sport on 4lb line and a freshwater match rod.

Thanks - I must get down there with my float gear and squid and mackerel skelps again. I used to have great fun with my dad in the 70's playing mackerel on 4 LB line and flyrods with tiny fixedspool mitchels on the back. Yeah, heard about those seals. Many's the mullet I took too.

I wonder where all the old-timers from the Coal Quay went? George with the sheepskin from DIT, Pops from the old folks home in Sallynoggin who used to handline, Robin from the Irish Press, and that nutter Ben from CIE who just kept on fishing even after someone let the handbrake off his VW beetle and rolled it off the pier... Happy Days. Great Memories to pass on to my own son.