Greystones and Newcastle, Co Wicklow

Fished Greystones north beach from 8.15am - 10am, not even a nibble.

Decided to move on, so headed to Newcastle beach, and fished from 10.30 - 3pm. First cast produced a minitiature dab and whiting, followed by several more tiny whiting. However the day was brightened by the capture of a nice codling of 1lb 10oz, my first of the year. Unfortunately I ran out of bait shortly afterwards so didn't get to try for another.

The bloke beside me caught a couple of nice flounder on mussel and mackeral cocktails also.

Going to give this place another try next week, it will probably fish much better in darkness. A word of warning though, if you are fishing here over high tide you will need to use heavy grip leads, there is a very strong lateral current which tends to wash your leads down the beach.

i was there that night. caught a few codlin,

edited by jd

Hi Lads

When you get to the railway crossing, do you fish just straight out or up north or down south? Are there any mini-marks, hotspots along the beach as it seems awfully featureless, notwithstanding that there is a decent depth of water at high tide.

I took a few pictures for a possible feature in Irish Angler and an update to this site's shore guide a week or so ago when I was down that direction - did Greystones as well.

It was blowing a fierce gale at the time so the rod stayed firmly in the car!

No expert on the place, but having fished it approx 10-15 times over the years, I would always head a few hundred yards north of the entrance. The water seems to be deeper here, and definitely produces more fish. Crabs were a real problem on my last few visits, they strip baits in minutes. Floating beads will help this.

Peeler is top bait, followed by rag or lug. I have found the beach is always best fished from high tide down, the flood has never produced as many fish for me. Best in darkness too.

Like a lot of the deeper east coast beaches, this place can see huge mackeral shoals at times during the summer. Plugging for bass on summers evenings can therefore produce occasional fish.

Dogfish are also a very common catch in summer, along with dabs and small whiting in winter, flounder, and occasional plaice in May/June. Codling show in winter and early spring, especially if the sea is rough. The tides here will sweep a standard sinker down the beach in minutes, so you need a minimum of 150g breakaways to fish the bigger tides, although 175g might be the better option.