Beach fishing for flounder and bass

Dusty87 · 02-07-2009 10:46am #1

Hi guys. I havn posted here in a while due to a lack of fish in local rivers and canal which made me stop fishing altogether for a while. But whilst down in lahinch recently there was a lot of places for beach fishing flounder and bass. I know i need a bigger setup etc as i used to watch a man beach fish years ago. Just wondering what the equipment i would need? Is in ragworm used for bait?? Id like to try this in the future. Is there a season for them etc? Any info would be great. Excuse the ignorance as i mainly am a course fisher. Thanks

Zzippy · 02-07-2009 11:06am

Dusty87 wrote: »

Hi guys. I havn posted here in a while due to a lack of fish in local rivers and canal which made me stop fishing altogether for a while. But whilst down in lahinch recently there was a lot of places for beach fishing flounder and bass. I know i need a bigger setup etc as i used to watch a man beach fish years ago. Just wondering what the equipment i would need? Is in ragworm used for bait?? Id like to try this in the future. Is there a season for them etc? Any info would be great. Excuse the ignorance as i mainly am a course fisher. Thanks

We don't have too many bass here but plenty of flounder so I do a lot of fishing for them. If the surf isn't too big a decent spinning rod is often sufficient, and more fun than a beachcaster. If you're fishing surf beaches you'll need something bigger to cope with the surf, a 12 foot light beachcaster would be fine. I have a Greys BZE and its perfect for this kind of fishing, pretty light but can handle a good surf.
You can buy traces, but better and cheaper to tie your own, its very simple. Check out www.sea-angling-ireland.org for tips on how to do this, and for loads more info that you're looking for.
Lugworm is a great bait for flounder, and takes bass too. I usually tip off a lugworm bait with a strip of mackerel, that seems to get me more fish. You can fish all year round for flounder, but they migrate offshore between January and April to spawn, so there are fewer about then. Bass are generally caught between March and November, but there is a closed season also between May15th and June 15th (inclusive) when you cannot fish for them.
Loads more info on that site, and plenty of members on the forum who will gladly give you tips.

KAZ0077 · 10-07-2009 2:25pm

You'll get plenty of bass on man y of teh east coast, North Wexford and South Wicklow beaches.
Waterford can have some of the best bass fishing in the country.
All these places will fish well for Flounder also as Bass and Flounder can be caught on many of the same venues and baits and conditions but need different tactics.

enda1 · 10-07-2009 2:28pm

Just remember Bass are protected. Limited to 2 per fisherman, I think min 30cm and there is a breeding month when you cant fish them. You should check cause I don't know the exact rules.

KAZ0077 · 10-07-2009 2:31pm

The closed season on Bass is 15th May to 15th June inclusive. The minimum size is 40cm from snout to tail and you can only take 2 bass in any 24 hour period.

Diageio_Man · 14-07-2009 1:28am

there's been some nice bass caught of morriscastle strand in kilmuckridge wexford in the last couple of days although no luck for me yet. you could give it a try.