Species profile
Turbot fishing in Ireland
Turbot as an occasional Wicklow shore catch: when coloured water helps, which baits to try, and why they stay a bonus species here.
Quick answer
Turbot as an occasional Wicklow shore catch: when coloured water helps, which baits to try, and why they stay a bonus species here.
In season
Typical size
Conservation
Occasional east-coast shore fish; not a Wicklow staple
Season on the coast
Peak and catchable months on the Wicklow shore.
Catchable May to Sep
- Peak
- Catchable
- Off season
- This month
Where they live
Clean sand and mixed ground where turbot hunt sandeel and small flatfish. On this coast they are an occasional harbour and beach bonus, not a dedicated target.
What to use
Live or dead sandeel · Mackerel strip · Small flatfish strip
How to fish them
Fish sandeel on a running ledger or pulley when the water is coloured after an easterly. Treat turbot as a bonus on general summer sand sessions rather than building the day around them.
Optional detail
Kit, marks and more
Bait sourcing, starter gear, Wicklow and Dublin marks, related guides. Expand when you need the shopping list or mark directory.
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Get your bait
The bait that works here comes off the shore, not out of a box.
Sandeel is raked or netted out of clean sand, and it fishes best the day you get it.
Work clean low-water sand on a spring tide from late spring through summer, when the eels are in close.
How to get and rig fresh sandeel →Kit that keeps collected bait fishable
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Bait elastic thread
Binds soft collected bait to the hook so it survives the cast.
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Vented bait box
Keeps crab and worm alive and separated on the way home and back out.
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Insulated cool bag
Collected bait dies in a warm car. Cold and dark buys you a day or two.
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Chest waders
Low-water crab and worm ground means wet feet and cold gullies.
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Bait scissors
Cuts crab, worm and fish bait cleanly without mangling it.
Suggested gear
Starter searches matched to tactics above
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12ft beachcaster rod
Covers the gutters and troughs flatfish sit in on a flooding tide.
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Two-hook flapper rigs
The standard flatfish rig for beaches and estuary mouths.
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Aberdeen hooks, 1/0 fine wire
Long shank and fine wire for the small mouths flatfish have.
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Bait elastic thread
Holds a soft bait together through the cast and the drag back.
Wicklow marks
Premier Wicklow bass beach. Specimen bass in storm conditions; smoothhound and rays in summer.
Sheltered marina pier, ideal for families and beginners. Good wrasse, pollack, mackerel and an established autumn squid fishery.
Accessible competition-grade town beach with reliable winter codling and close-in plaice in calm weather.
Related guides and tools
Marks, tactics, bait, gear, and the daily plan for this species
Read next
Shore Fishing for Beginners: Ireland Start Guide
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.
Bass Fishing Wicklow: Best Marks, Baits and Tides
Where to catch bass on the Wicklow coast: the beaches and rock marks that produce, the baits and lures that work, and the tides to fish them on.
Winter Flounder Ireland: Beach Marks and Rigs
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.
Irish Shore Fishing editorial
Written and checked on the Wicklow coast.
Target turbot on the daily plan
Ranked marks, species windows, and gear for the Wicklow shore.