Sandy Beaches Along the east coast

[chenz116]

Hi im dublin based and recently started fishing. So far i have tried greystones and caught LSD while one of my mates has caught nothing. So now he wants to try a sandy beach to see if his luck changes.

I have been told clogga strand is a good spot to try.

Just wondered if anyone had fished it recently and could give us tips or could recommend another sandy beach along the east coast.

Any help would be great as were still novices.

[samo]

I have fished Clogga a few times but never really had any real great results. you could try Clones Strand from Smoothies but you will need crab for bait.

[shamoo0804]

Greystones should throw up a good bit more than just doggies - where, what time of day and what tide did you fish, also give us an idea of what rigs you used, baits, hook sizes etc?

You should expect to catch flounder, dabs and plaice, coalies, codling, whiting, bass, rockling and a few more species, but its all dependant on how you are fishing.

A few things to consider :

1) Hook size - size 1 to 4 best
2) Bait used - mack, sandeel, rag, lug, crab and mussel will do, dont be afraid to try a cocktail of 2 or more baits together
3) Bait size - generally a bait of around 3-6 inches would cover most fish
4) Distance fishing at - 5 yards out to 100 yards should give plenty of different fish
5) Rigs used - 3 hook flapper upto 60 yards, a clipped down rig for for further out
6) Time of day - dusk into darkness generally best
7) Tide - incoming tide generally best

This general rule of thumb can be used for most of the beaches from Louth down to Wexford, the wicklow and wexford beaches are fishing quite well at the moment.

Wicklow pier offers a great chance to catch many different fish, fish right down the side of the pier with small hooks, or cast anywhere from 10 to 100 yards - lots of fish around this area.

Heres a handy site to show you some of the more common rigs used for beach fishing

http://www.gemini-tackle.co.uk/rigs.html

Rigs can be shop bought ready made up, or you can make your own. Most just starting of angling would get a few shop bought rigs, then copy them, making your own allows more flexibilty in rig building as you are able to use the bits and pieces you wish, ie different hooks, different lines, different lengths etc.

Hope this helps to point you in the right direction.

[chenz116]

We have fished both times so far from 1pm to 7pm.

hook size 4 with rag and mack. standard rig weight and 1 hook

next time were hoping to fish from 7pm to 3 or 4 am.

[samo]

good advice Shamoo but if you are going to fish clones or one of the other beaches in that area i would up the size of your hook to 2/0 or even 3/0 the last thing you want is to have a nice bass or smoothie on a size 4 it will just straighten out and you will loose the fish.

you will need to be fishing big baits in any ways to improve your chances of catching something decent. no point in traveling all the way down to mess around catching tiddlers.

[shamoo0804]

By the sounds of it you'd be happy just to catch a variety of fish at the moment and build up some angling knowhow, the bigger fish can come once you have some experience and confidence.

So try fishing with a 3 hook rig, which will greatly increase your chance of catching a few fish, rag and mack are fine, if using mack cut a 3-6 inch strip about 1/2 inch wide, this will then in theory look like a small fish, the belly or silver part of the mack is best - dont be afraid to fish in very close, 5 - 40 yards can be where a large majortiy of the fish are.

As samo said, if targetting bigger fish like bass and smoothies up the hook size and use a bigger bait, try using pennel pully rig, this will greatly increase your chances - works for me anyway.

Some excellent videos here regarding bait presentation, rigs etc

http://www.gofishing.co.uk/Top-navigation/Sea-Fishing/

[chenz116]

dont be afraid to fish in very close, 5 - 40 yards can be where a large majortiy of the fish are.

would you really fish that close ? at the moment im trying to cast out as far as i can.

[shamoo0804]

Absolutely, many a good bass has been got just in the suds and plenty of flounder too.

Next time your out try fishing in very close, try 2/3 yards out just in the breaking wave, then 10 yards out, then 15 etc - this will help you locate where the fish are.

Obviously different beaches have different features under the water, such as sand bars, gullies etc which will hold more fish, but you'll get bass and flounder in close on most of the east coast beaches, then coalies and codling in the colder months.

I usually fish 2 rods, one in close and one further out, unless I'm specifically targetting just ray or smoothies etc, which tends to mean I'm fishing 2 rods at distance (70 yards +), smoothies can be caught in closer however, but I've had most luck at that distance. Ray tend to be a good distance out.

Just get out there and experiment, thats the easiest way to learn

[chenz116]

great stuff ill try that at the weekend.

think were gona give greystones another try hopefully get a new spot and some new luck

[shamoo0804]

If fishing greystones, try right at the bottom of the south beach at the back of the golf driving range. Follow the road past the driving range down towards the golf course, you will see a small parking area and a hole in the fence, walk down that following the stream and fish by the stream itself, Ive had better results here than anywhere else on that beach.

Good luck, and dont forget to put up a report once you've fished, be interesting to see if you have better results.

[chenz116]

thanks again

hopefully i'll have a few pictures of my sucess !

[jonjon]

i was out there the other night and had great night caught everything from whiting, polock, and a few flounder i had to try out my new rod lol this lovely wife bought me Am headin out again tonight i find with the way tide is ya should head out round 7 or 8 tonight. ive fished all along that strip and found best place for me is on the rocks just across from the school were a river runs into the sea thats were ive had most my fish caught in greystones. ill be out tonight but am hiting wiclow off the rocks at black church ive heard the macks are in so fingers crossed . well good luck tonight chenz tight lines to ya