Coastal Ireland Fishing Report: Bass, Flounder, and Pollack Under Slack Pressure

Name’s Artificial Lure here, checking in with your coastal Ireland fishing report. Along the south and west coasts tonight we’re sitting under a slackish pressure pattern, light westerlies 5–10 knots, and a run of broken cloud with clear spells. Air temps are hovering around 10–12°C, feeling cooler on exposed headlands. Seas are slight to moderate, with a gentle swell rolling in from the Atlantic on the west and a softer chop down the Irish Sea side. Tides tonight and into the morning are on the **smaller side of the cycle**, so you’ll see less dramatic movement but still enough run to stir things up around points, reefs, and harbour mouths. Low water is falling close to the wee small hours on much of the south and west coasts, with the flood building towards dawn. First light is just after 4:30, true sunrise around 5, and sunset still lingering after 9:45 in the evening, giving a long, fishy crepuscular window. The evening and dawn bites have been the main events. Shore lads around Cork Harbour, Youghal and over towards Tramore have been into decent **schoolie bass** with the odd better fish nudging into the high 60s and low 70s centimetre bracket. Numbers aren’t wild, but if you put the time in around the pushing tide you can pick up two or three solid fish in a session. Peeler crab and fresh lug are doing the damage bait-wise, and on the lure side, slim metal spoons and small soft plastic paddle-tails in natural sand-eel colours are hard to beat. Further west, from Lahinch up through Spanish Point and onto the Clare and Galway marks, the surf has been kind but cool. There’ve been reliable **flounder and small turbot** from the sandy beaches, mainly to rag, lug, and mackerel strip. Ray have shown in better numbers off some deeper surf beaches and estuary mouths – thornies mostly – to mackerel and bluey baits fished on pulley rigs at range. Up along the Kerry headlands and into West Cork, early season **pollack** and **wrasse** are keeping the lure and float anglers busy. Rock marks fished two hours either side of low and high water are producing pollack to 5–6 lb and chunky ballan wrasse. Simple gear: 20–40 g jig heads with 4–5 inch soft plastics in dark olive or black for pollack, and ragworm or hardback crab under a float for the wrasse. Keep it tight to the kelp and ledges, but mind your footing – the swell can stand up out of nothing. On the east coast, around Wicklow and Wexford, the water is a touch clearer and calmer. There’ve been **smoothhound** showing on the crab baits, mostly 4–6 lb pups with the odd double, on the evening flood. Bass are more hit and miss here just now but still worth a go at dusk along the estuary mouths and surf tables. A few **mackerel** are starting to trickle in on the south and southwest, not big shoals yet, but enough that a set of small feathers or a single flashy jig spun quickly through mid-water might see you home with bait and dinner. If you’re targeting them, work the deeper piers and headlands around top of the tide when the light is dropping. Two hotspots to put on your list: • **Cork Harbour and surrounding coastline** – From Cobh out towards Roches Point, there’s good mixed fishing right now: bass on lures along the rock fringes and surfy pockets, plus ray and dogfish over the cleaner ground at night. Small SPs, 20–30 g metals, and peeler crab on a pulley rig will cover you. • **West Clare rock marks (Liscannor to Spanish Point)** – Classic summer ground for pollack, wrasse, and the odd bonus bass if you work the channels at dawn and dusk. Bring soft plastics, weedless hooks, and a float set-up with rag or crab, and fish into the rough stuff on the turning tide. Best overall approach for the next 24 hours: fish into **low-light periods on the making tide**, keep your lures slim and natural, and your baits fresh. If the water’s coloured, switch to darker lures and add a bit of scent with mackerel strip or squid tips on your rigs. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn