Arklow Area Surf fishing

[WicklowAngler]

Hello all,

This is my first post on this site, hope to make many more. My girlfriend and I will be visiting her parents and family in Arklow, Co. Wicklow for the last week of July, and first week of August. I will be heading to Brittas Bay and the Roadstone Jetty as those are the only places I tried when I was there back in September. We live in North Carolina, USA, I am not very knowledgeable of Irish fishing but we fish several times a week here in both salt and freshwater. I would appreciate any advice or tips that you guys would be willing to share with us on shore fishing in general, species doesn't matter. I currently have some gear in Arklow, a 7foot medium action Okuma fixed spool with 4.5kg line and some bits of tackle. I will be purchasing a 7 or 8 foot med/heavy or heavy action surf rod with a reel that can handle 10kg line comfortably and am mailing some tackle over as well. If there are other/better locations for shore fishing in the Arklow area I would love to know about them and any tips to go along. Also, we plan to drive over to the Galway/Connemara area and I will be bringing my gear with me. All input greatly appreciated.

Thanks in Advance,

Michael

[WicklowAngler]

Last time I was in Arklow I wanted to fish on the concrete pier/jetty leading into the harbour in Arklow but I didn't know if it was a safe place (big ships and big waves) for me to be or if the public is allowed on the pier. Are we allowed to fish this spot and has anyone here done it?

[tight lines]

hi michael if you buying a rod i would go for a 12 ft rod thats able to cast up to 6 oz weight this will give a much better range when it come to casting and fishing as for the line 10 kg is fine britts beach is good on a rising tide for flat fish and smooth hounds (hard fighting fish) also if there is a surf running then there is a good chance of a sea bass arklow beach is also good and will give you much the same fish but the best beach is ennereilly in my opinion it just after brittis heading south the most common rigs we use over here are 2/3 hook flappers with size 2-3/0 hooks all depending on what you after and the pennel pully if you dont know the rigs just goggle them as for bait rag & lug worm work well but peeler crab would be top bait if going after the smooth hounds also mackeral & sandeel are other bait you can try

[WicklowAngler]

Is their any chance of jigging up some mackeral around the harbour or piers/jetty for bait? I see you guys use "feather" rigs, here we call them sabiki rigs and ours are a bit smaller.

[tight lines]

yes you can try for mackreal there are a few geting caught but anywere that there is a jetty or pier chances are there will be lots of people trying the same thing and it can get messy

[WicklowAngler]

Yeah the piers get crowded here too, I prefer to fish them at night or in bad conditions to thin out the crowd.

[croppyboy]

man the easiest thing is to buy a mac from tescos and some rag/lug and hit the south beach full of small flatties and a fun pleasure day out

fintan