Mark × species · Secondary target
Pollack at Bray Harbour.
Pollack is a regular secondary target at Bray Harbour near Bray. Best window on this ground: Year round. Free parking on Bray seafront; harbour fully accessible on foot.
Quick facts
- Mark type
- Pier
- Skill
- Beginner
- Catalogue rank
- Secondary target
Why fish Pollack 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.
Rocky kelp ground, harbour walls and pier pilings where current runs past structure, often tight to the wall or reef edges.
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, Pollack is worth targeting in Year round. Coast-wide, Pollack runs Year round (peaks May to August from piers and rocks).
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.
Moving water is essential, slack water kills pollack fishing. Last two hours of flood and first of ebb around pier and rock marks. Dusk and dawn consistently produce the biggest fish from harbour walls.
Fishable phases: low, first-flood, mid-flood, high, first-ebb, mid-ebb. Peak: mid-flood, high.
Tactics on this mark
Work soft plastics or metals through the water column around structure with sink-and-draw retrieves, or float-fish sandeel just above kelp on moving water.
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.
- Spinning and jigging with 10 to 20g heads
- Float fishing close to the wall with a live or dead sandeel
- Feathers for multiple fish in a shoal
- Light lure rod, pollack are an outstanding sport fish on balanced gear
- Two-hook flapper with size 6 hooks (LRF-style)
- Light spinning rod
- Mackerel feathers at HW
- Standard ledger for night codling
Baits and lures
Pollack baits and lures: Sandeel; Mackerel strip; Soft plastic shads; Metal jigs; Feathers.
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: 0.5 to 2 kg on Wicklow rock and pier marks. Specimen class: Pollack over 3 kg are realistic from deep rough ground.
Dark green or brown back, silvery-white flanks. Lower jaw protrudes noticeably beyond the upper jaw, the clearest identification feature. Lateral line curves strongly upward above the pectoral fin. Eyes large and golden.
Tip: Pollack almost always take a moving bait. Work your lure or bait at a medium retrieve and be ready for the take, pollack hit hard and immediately dive for the kelp. Keep pressure on at all times or they'll cut you off. From pier walls, drop a float-rigged sandeel straight down the wall face and let the current work it.
Irish shore context: record class around 9.53 kg.
Same-mark companions
Other ranked targets on the same mark include Codling, Dab, Flounder, Plaice, Mackerel, 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 Pollack species guide for coast-wide season bars and conservation detail.
Conservation
There is a statutory minimum conservation reference size of 30 cm for pollack in the Irish EEZ (SFPA MCRS list). Since 1 June 2026, the 2026 pollack bye-law (Pollack Fishing Conservation Bye-Law No. 1028 of 2026) limits recreational anglers to three pollack per day, then catch and release. Returning larger breeding fish is strongly advised.
Guide conservation label: Bag Limit Applies.
Confirm current bag limits and closures on the Pollack 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.