Guide last updated 12 June 2026Live score checked today
You can catch Flounder, Dab and Codling here. Bring lugworm or ragworm, and fish a two-hook flapper.
A long, flat shingle and sand beach stretching south from Kilcoole. One of the most reliable beginner marks on the Wicklow coast and part of the 11-mile shingle belt that has hosted World and European Surf Casting Championships. The beach shelves gently and produces flounder, dabs, codling, coalfish and the occasional bass, particularly after autumn storms. The freshwater outflow at the northern end can concentrate fish in settled conditions.
This mark today
GoodLive right now
Primary target
Flounder
Safety
See hazards belowTarget list and season windows
What to bring, and the rig that matches conditions
Calm enough on Kilcoole Beach for the flapper: two baits, two chances, no tangles if you keep snoods short. A light grip lead still casts clean on calm sand.
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Fine wire hooks for small baits on flapper snoods. Size 1/0 suits whiting and dab.
Check price on Amazon.ie2 to 4oz bombs for pier and calm-beach flapper fishing when grip leads are not needed.
Check price on Amazon.ie15 lb mono for flapper snoods. Cheap bulk spool; snoods are consumables on winter pier sessions.
Check price on Amazon.ieRecommendations follow the same Wicklow-first editorial standards as the rest of the site.
Pack next
Today's conditions at Kilcoole Beach suit a two-hook flapper rig. A twin-snood rig with hooks that flare out from the mainline on the drop. Two baits at different positions in the water column for mixed bags of whiting, dab, and dogfish.
On the ground
Baits
Methods
Access
Park at Kilcoole train station. Cross the railway at the designated level crossing, wait for trains and follow the signs. Walk south along the shingle for 5 minutes to reach good ground.
Parking
Free parking at Kilcoole train station. Do not block the station entrance.
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Species, tactics, tides, and today's plan for this mark
Flat shingle beach, forgiving for first sessions, reliable flatfish and winter codling when it is calm.
From the shore
Kilcoole sits inside the 11-mile shingle belt that hosted the 1996 World Surf Casting Championship and the 1997 European Shore Angling Championships, match anglers know this ground intimately. Two non-obvious patterns from local sources contradict common beginner advice: (1) the falling tide is the documented productive window for the whole shingle belt, not the flooding tide; (2) calm warm conditions bring plaice as close as 30 yards from shore, anglers who default to long casts in flat seas miss them entirely. Codling is a regular catch here per the Eastern Regional Fisheries Board, not an occasional one. The Kilcoole stream outflow at the northern end is the singular structural concentration point on an otherwise uniform beach. Mussel beds offshore have been historically dredged, which has visibly reduced quality vs. older guides, but the species mix is still reliable for a beginner-friendly winter session.
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Start shore fishing in Ireland with one rod, one rig and a safe beach mark. Honest gear, bait and tide advice for your first sessions on the Wicklow coast.
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Winter flounder on Irish beaches, October to March. Estuary mouths, short casts, ragworm ledger rigs and the flood tides that put flatfish at your feet.
Read guide →Seasonal · 8 min read
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Wicklow beaches keep producing all winter: whiting, flounder, dab and codling. The marks that fish in a blow, the rigs to use and the gear that keeps you out.
Read guide →Where to top up
Greystones Fishing Shop (approx. 5km north) is the nearest tackle supplier. Wicklow town has additional options about 15km south.
Eric
Based in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, fishing the Irish coast since 2018
Check today's plan for tides, conditions, and gear.