Mark × species · Primary target

Flounder at Bray Harbour.

Flounder is a primary target at Bray Harbour near Bray. Best window on this ground: year round. Free parking on Bray seafront; harbour fully accessible on foot.

Full mark guide Flounder species guide

Bray Harbour, Wicklow shore fishing mark

Mark type: Pier
Skill: Beginner
Catalogue rank: Primary target

Why fish Flounder at Bray Harbour

Dargle-mouth working harbour. LRF-style mixed-species pier; codling, dab, flounder and plaice with summer bass and mullet.

Working harbour at the mouth of the River Dargle, two breakwaters and a slipway.

The most accessible north-Wicklow venue for Dublin-based anglers.

Fishes more like a UK LRF (Light Rock Fishing) venue than a heavy beachcaster mark, small hooks, light leads, rag baits are the productive setup.

Codling, dabs, flounder and plaice are regular catches with bass appearing periodically in summer; shoals of mullet visit the inner harbour.

Estuaries, sandy beaches, muddy creeks and shallow inshore ground, especially around river mouths and drainage outflows.

Dargle mouth harbour, mixed LRF species, dab and flounder, summer bass and mullet in the channel.

Bray Harbour fishes like a UK LRF (Light Rock Fishing) venue, small hooks (size 6), light leads, rag baits are repeatedly the productive setup in SAI session reports.

Bites can be in seconds and baits stripped fast, go expecting numbers of small species, not bag-fillers.

Corkwing wrasse, shanny, small pollack, codling, whiting all on the same session is a typical SAI report from here.

Season and tide

At Bray Harbour, Flounder is worth targeting in year round. Coast-wide, Flounder runs Year round (peaks February to March and November to December on Wicklow beaches and estuaries).

Wider mark season: Codling: October to February, Dab: October to February, Flounder: year round, Plaice: spring to summer, Mackerel: June to September (HW spinning), Bass: April to November (peak autumn Sep to Nov; periodic summer appearances), Grey mullet: summer shoals in inner harbour, Pollack/Coalfish/Whiting: autumn to winter, Corkwing wrasse and Shanny: year round on light gear, Conger: occasional inner harbour

Tide guidance here: First two hours of the fill is the most-cited productive window. HW for mackerel spinning. Night sessions on the outer wall for codling and dabs.

Two hours either side of high water. The flooding tide pushes flounder onto feeding grounds. Slack water periods produce most bites. Night fishing in autumn and winter is particularly reliable.

Fishable phases: low, first-flood, mid-flood, high, first-ebb, mid-ebb. Peak: mid-flood, high.

Tactics on this mark

Fish short with running ledger or two-hook flapper rigs, slowly dragging baits across the bottom on flooding and high water to trigger takes in troughs and around estuary mouths.

Two-hook flapper with size 6 hooks (LRF-style); Light spinning rod; Mackerel feathers at HW; Standard ledger for night codling

Gear: pier wall. Facing NE.

Running ledger with a short 6 to 8 inch hooklink
Two-hook flapper for covering ground
Small size 2 to 4 Aberdeen hooks, flounder have small mouths
Slow retrieve to cover ground after casting
Two-hook flapper with size 6 hooks (LRF-style)
Light spinning rod
Mackerel feathers at HW
Standard ledger for night codling

Baits and lures

Flounder baits and lures: Ragworm; Lugworm; Harbour ragworm; Mussel; Small fish strips.

What this mark typically holds: Ragworm; Lugworm; Mackerel strip; Sandeel.

Ragworm; Lugworm; Mackerel strip; Sandeel

Access and ground

Free parking on Bray seafront; harbour fully accessible on foot. The southern end of Bray beach proper, where the Loughlinstown River enters the sea, holds wrasse and rockling on weed-covered rock and occasional specimen autumn bass. Access to the beach is via an underpass from the R119.

Parking: Free parking on Bray seafront.

Safety: Busy with public year-round; family suitable on the inner walls. Standard pier safety; live boat traffic.

Nearest tackle: Bray town has fishing tackle shops within walking distance of the seafront.

Nearest town: Bray. Skill level: Beginner.

Size and identification

Typical shore size: 200 to 400 g from Wicklow beaches and estuaries. Specimen class: Fish over 700 g are notable shore flounder.

Brown or grey-brown upper surface with orange-tipped spines along the lateral line. Eyes on the right side. Can develop reddish blotches, easily confused with plaice but lacks the vivid orange spots. The rough, prickly lateral line is the key identification feature.

Tip: Flounder are suckers for movement. Slowly dragging your bait across the bottom and pausing it triggers far more bites than static fishing. In estuaries, cast uptide and allow the bait to trundle downtide, the disturbance in the sand draws flounder in.

Irish shore context: record class around 2.71 kg.

Same-mark companions

Other ranked targets on the same mark include Codling, Dab, Plaice, Mackerel, Pollack, Coalfish. Open those pair pages or the full mark guide when you want a multi-species session.

Live ranked advice for Bray Harbour updates on the daily plan. Pair this page with the Flounder species guide for coast-wide season bars and conservation detail.

Conservation

No current restrictions but handle with wet hands and return small fish.

Guide conservation label: No Restrictions.

Confirm current bag limits and closures on the Flounder species guide and /learn/rules before retaining fish.

Other species at Bray Harbour

Full mark guide lists all 16 catalogue pair pages.

Next steps

Live ranked session advice for this mark sits on Today's plan. Rules and bag limits: learn / rules.

NEXT STEP

Open the full mark or species guide.

Pair pages assemble mark and species catalogue facts for this ground. Depth sessions live on today's plan.