Local insider tactics.

The Wicklow coast faces east. An easterly wind, even a modest 15 to 20 km/h breeze, pushes colour and surf onto the beaches that makes bait fishing genuinely productive. After 24 hours of easterly, open beaches like Kilcoole, Greystones South and Brittas Bay fish completely differently to calm days. Fish move close in, long casting becomes unnecessary, and bass feed confidently in the white water. If the forecast shows an easterly building, plan your session for the day after it peaks, that's when conditions are at their best.

When the sea is flat and clear, the rules reverse completely. Fish are wary in still, colourless water and retreat to deeper ground. Bait fishing requires casts of 80 to 120 metres. Alternatively, switch to lures, soft plastics and surface lures consistently outperform bait in calm, clear conditions. Calm mornings and evenings in summer are prime surface lure sessions for bass.

On all Wicklow beaches, baits fished within 40 metres of the shore are the key to success in coloured water after an easterly blow. This is the single most consistently ignored piece of advice, anglers set up for a 100 metre cast and put their bait into clean water beyond the productive zone. In a decent surf, 20 to 30 metres is often far enough. Save the long casts for flat, calm days.

The tidal runs on Wicklow's shingle beaches are stronger than they look, particularly the south-running ebb at Greystones South and The Murrough. A plain bomb lead will roll and drag immediately. Use breakaway grip leads of 4 to 5oz as standard, go to 6oz on the ebb at Greystones South in a strong tide. If your lead isn't holding, go heavier before you go shorter.

Greystones South Beach earned its nickname 'The Hungry Acre' for a reason, it can be absolutely dead in apparently perfect conditions. The explanation is current: the south-running ebb tide is significantly stronger than the flood, and in neap conditions the water barely moves at all. The beach fishes best on a flooding tide with an easterly onshore wind. Night sessions from October to February for whiting and dabs are the most reliable.

The area known as the Breaches, where a drainage channel exits through the railway embankment, is one of the most productive sections of the entire Kilcoole shoreline. Freshwater mixing with saltwater attracts flatfish, particularly flounder, especially in autumn and winter. Bass follow the channel edge on flooding tides. The south end near the first river at Ballygannon is worth targeting for tope in October and November.

Brittas Bay is 5km of beach but the southern corner consistently produces the best bass, the right combination of gutter structure and current concentrates feeding fish. Target evening and night sessions after the crowds go, bass move onto the beach in numbers after dark. Easterly conditions and a flooding spring tide on an autumn evening is the classic Brittas setup.

The harbour entrance and the area around the outer wall consistently produces more fish than fishing in the middle of the harbour. Pollack and coalfish hold at the entrance where current pushes through, especially on the flooding tide. Night sessions from November onwards, bites consistently start when it gets fully dark.

The northern end of The Murrough near the first river at Ballygannon is consistently the most productive section. Tope have been taken here in October and November, one of the few reliable shore tope marks on the Wicklow coast. Bass follow the river channel on flooding tides in spring and autumn.

For bass and smoothhound on Wicklow beaches, peeler crab is the outstanding bait from spring through autumn. Fresh peeler dramatically outperforms frozen, the scent trail draws bass and smoothhound from distance. Present a whole small crab or large half crab secured with elastic thread. Most consistently available from tackle shops in April to May and September to October.

From October to March, ragworm is the most versatile and consistently productive bait for Wicklow shore fishing. Flounder, dab, whiting, dogfish and bass all take ragworm. A fresh, lively ragworm on a small hook (size 2 to 4) is the standard winter flatfish bait across all Wicklow beaches. Worm and mussel cocktails are deadly for whiting from October onwards.

Fresh or frozen sandeel is an underused bait on Wicklow beaches. Bass, smoothhound, pollack, plaice and flounder all take sandeel readily. For plaice in spring, a ragworm tipped with a sliver of sandeel on a size 1 hook above a small attractor spoon is the classic rig, the spoon creates vibration that draws flatfish from distance.

For maximising dogfish catches in Wicklow matches, 2/0 hooks baited with ragworm and tipped with a thumbnail-sized piece of mackerel are noticeably more effective than either bait alone. The scent of the mackerel added to the movement of the ragworm creates a combination that dogfish find very hard to resist. The same cocktail works for whiting and rockling.

Bright midday sun is the enemy of bass fishing on shallow Wicklow beaches. Bass are most active at dawn and dusk when light levels are low, this is when they feed most aggressively in shallow water and when surface lure fishing is most productive. A session starting an hour before sunrise on a calm June morning at Brittas Bay is worth ten sessions at noon.

From October to February, night fishing is the default approach for Wicklow shore fishing. Whiting, dogfish, flounder and dab all feed more actively after dark. At Greystones Harbour, bites consistently start when it gets fully dark. Bring a quality headtorch, a spare, and dress for cold, Wicklow in December is exposed.

Smoothhound arrive on the Wicklow coast in May and the formula is consistent: evening flood tide, fresh peeler crab, open sandy beach. Fish become most active from late afternoon through the first half of the night. Spring tides produce better fishing than neaps. Brittas Bay and Silver Strand are the standout marks.

Shore tope on the Wicklow coast are a rare but genuine autumn bonus. October and November on big spring tides are the window. Use fresh whole mackerel or herring on a 50lb wire trace. Let the fish run at least 30 metres before striking. Handle in the water and return immediately, tope are a threatened species.

Every other species on this coast has a tide state that triggers feeding. Squid are different, what draws them in is artificial light. The pier lights at Greystones Harbour concentrate whitebait on the surface, and squid follow. On a good autumn night you can watch them dart through the lit water. Position yourself directly beneath or as close as possible to a working pier light. The tide matters less than the light quality.

Squid fishing from Irish piers is almost exclusively a calm-weather activity. An easterly wind that would be perfect for beach bait fishing is death for squid, the surface chop breaks up the light cone, baitfish scatter, and squid retreat to deeper water. The conditions you want are the opposite of a good surf session: flat, still, cold, clear autumn nights. Check the forecast specifically for wind, even 10 knots makes a significant difference.

Most anglers new to eging focus on the dart, the upward rod flick that makes the egi dart and flash. The dart attracts the squid; the sink is what seals it. Squid grab the egi as it falls on a semi-slack line, often barely detectable as a subtle added weight or the line stopping before it should. After every dart sequence, drop the rod tip immediately and watch the line enter the water. Any hesitation in the sink is a squid.

Squid are highly depth-specific, some nights they're holding at 2 metres, other nights at 8 metres or deeper. Count the seconds after each cast before beginning your dart sequence: 5 seconds, then 10, then 15. When you get a take, note the count exactly and repeat it on the next cast. Once you find the depth, stay there. Varying sink time is the single most productive adjustment you can make mid-session.

European squid appear on the Wicklow coast in late September and the best of the fishing runs through October and into November. By December numbers thin considerably. Mid-October on a flooding spring tide at Greystones Harbour on a calm, clear night is the peak combination. Sessions of 6 to 10 squid are realistic; on exceptional nights significantly more. Cook them the same evening, fresh squid needs nothing more than a hot pan and butter.

Irish squid fishing is still new enough that definitive colour guidance is developing. From experience and reports from Greystones Harbour, pink and orange egi in sizes 2.5 to 3.0 have been the most consistent. In very clear, lit water, natural/translucent colours can outperform gaudy ones. In darker conditions or when squid are deeper, a luminous egi charged with a torch before each cast frequently produces when others don't.

Access to almost every beach mark between Greystones and Wicklow town involves crossing the Irish Rail Dublin to Rosslare mainline. Trains travel at speed and are quieter than you expect. Always stop, look both ways, close the gate, and never carry a carbon rod vertically near a crossing where overhead wires are present.

The Bray to Greystones cliff walk is currently closed and unsafe after repeated landslides. Wicklow County Council has warned that sections are at risk of collapse and that the public should not use the route. Bray Head Rocks is reached via that path, so do not attempt the rock marks until the walk reopens. Fish Bray Harbour or the Greystones marks instead.

After a prolonged easterly blow, floating weed makes fishing completely impractical. Lines tangle with weed on every cast. This usually improves within 24 to 48 hours after the wind drops. If you arrive at a beach and the surface is covered with floating weed, save your session and come back the following day.