Mark × species · Occasional
Dab at Wicklow Head, Brides Head.
Dab is an occasional catch at Wicklow Head, Brides Head near Wicklow. Best window on this ground: Year round. Walk required from the car park on the R750 to reach the rock fishing below the golf course on Brides Head.
Quick facts
- Mark type
- Rock
- Skill
- Intermediate
- Catalogue rank
- Occasional
Why fish Dab at Wicklow Head, Brides Head
NE face of Wicklow Head below the golf course. Reliable spinning mark for mackerel and pollack; safer than the lighthouse rocks.
The northeast face of Wicklow Head, accessed on foot from the R750 car park down past the golf course.
The safer of the three Wicklow Head rock marks, solid spinning ground for mackerel and pollack with float fishing for wrasse and coalfish.
Worm and crab over sand patches between the rocks turn up dabs and plaice in July and August.
Short: NE face of Wicklow Head below the golf course.
Clean sandy ground close inshore, often mixed with flounder on Wicklow surf and shingle beaches.
Spinning mark below the golf course, reliable mackerel and pollack, safer than the lighthouse rocks.
Brides Head is the documented safer alternative to the Wicklow Head lighthouse rocks, same headland, fundamentally different risk profile.
The Eastern Regional Fisheries Board guide explicitly identifies this as a spinning mark below the golf course, with float fishing for the wrasse and coalfish.
The non-obvious tactical edge is the SAND PATCHES between the rocks, a worm or crab bait dropped onto these clean patches in July and August produces plaice and dabs that most anglers miss while focused on the rock species.
Season and tide
At Wicklow Head, Brides Head, Dab is worth targeting in Year round. Coast-wide, Dab runs Year round (peaks February to March and November to December autumn through spring on clean sand).
Wider mark season: Pollack: year-round (fishes best from the rocks April to November, peak Sep to Nov), Mackerel: June to September, Wrasse: May to September, Coalfish: October to February, Bass: April to November (peak autumn Sep to Nov; dawn/dusk lures), Plaice & Dab: July to August (worm/crab over sand patches)
Tide guidance here: Flooding tide for bass on across-current lures; dawn or dusk window. Most species accessible HW ± 2 hours.
Two hours either side of high water. Any time of day or night.
Fishable phases: first-flood, mid-flood, high, first-ebb. Peak: mid-flood, first-ebb.
Tactics on this mark
Fish short with two-hook flappers or simple ledgers, occasionally twitching baits along the sand to draw in inquisitive fish during the flood and around high water.
Spinning (mackerel/pollack); Float fishing (wrasse/coalfish); Lures across the current (bass); Worm/crab on running ledger over sand patches (flatfish)
Gear: rough rock. Facing NE.
- Running ledger or two-hook flapper
- Size 2 to 4 hooks, dab have small mouths
- Short hooklinks keep baits on the bottom
- Spinning (mackerel/pollack)
- Float fishing (wrasse/coalfish)
- Lures across the current (bass)
- Worm/crab on running ledger over sand patches (flatfish)
Baits and lures
Dab baits and lures: Ragworm; Lugworm; Harbour ragworm; Sandeel strip.
What this mark typically holds: Mackerel strip; Sandeel; Ragworm; Crab.
Mackerel strip; Sandeel; Ragworm; Crab
Access and ground
Walk required from the car park on the R750 to reach the rock fishing below the golf course on Brides Head. Rough but manageable terrain, sturdy boots essential.
Parking: R750 car park near Wicklow Head.
Safety: Walk-in from the R750 car park; rough cliff terrain. Less exposed than the lighthouse rocks but still requires care. Tide rip can be significant.
Nearest tackle: Wicklow town tackle shops, short drive north.
Nearest town: Wicklow. Skill level: Intermediate.
Size and identification
Typical shore size: 100 to 250 g from East Coast beaches. Specimen class: Fish over 400 g are very good shore dabs.
Small oval flatfish, light sandy-brown upper surface with a distinctive curved lateral line above the pectoral fin (the best identification feature). Rough to the touch on the upper surface. Eyes on the right side. Much smaller than plaice or flounder.
Tip: Dab respond well to a moving bait, occasionally retrieve a foot or two and pause. In match fishing, dab are a reliable points scorer and teams actively target them alongside whiting. On quiet sessions when the bigger species aren't showing, a single ragworm on a size 4 Aberdeen is rarely ignored.
Irish shore context: record class around 0.74 kg.
Same-mark companions
Other ranked targets on the same mark include Pollack, Mackerel, Wrasse, Coalfish. Open those pair pages or the full mark guide when you want a multi-species session.
Live ranked advice for Wicklow Head, Brides Head updates on the daily plan. Pair this page with the Dab species guide for coast-wide season bars and conservation detail.
Conservation
No current restrictions; keep only what you’ll eat fresh.
Guide conservation label: No Restrictions.
Confirm current bag limits and closures on the Dab species guide and /learn/rules before retaining fish.
Other species at Wicklow Head, Brides Head
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.