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The Bann mouth at Castlerock

Estuary · Brackish water · in The Causeway and Antrim coast

The single outflow of Lough Neagh reaching the Atlantic between long training walls, over sand, with a strong ebb and a migratory run passing through it.

Safety: moving water and currents — can cause serious injury or death. 2 more points apply here.

What each one does, and what reduces it ↓

FishingHQ describes what this place is, not whether you may fish it. Access, permits and who to ask.

What you can catch here

Documented at this place, grouped by how you would be fishing, with how strongly the sources support each one. This is what has been written down, not a forecast, and being listed is never permission to fish.

From the shore · 4

What these strengths mean
Established quarry
Fishing sources describe this as a normal local target here, not merely as caught.
Seasonal
Well supported, and concentrated in part of the year rather than spread through it.
Places, accounts and sources are counted separately
A fish documented once at each of six marks is still documented once at each of six marks. Breadth is reported as a place count and never raises the strength, and sources are deduplicated across places so one publisher covering a whole coast counts as one. A fishery account is a source describing the fishing; a recorded catch is a report of a specific catch. They are counted apart because they are not the same evidence.

Also associated with this ground

Recorded as present here without a documented method or strength behind them.

Atlantic salmon

Recorded here, but not a species to target

These are recorded here and are not quarry. Each is either assessed as Critically Endangered or protected by statute in this jurisdiction, and taking one may be prohibited outright — elsewhere every rod-caught fish must be returned. Read the species page and check the current rules with the authority before fishing.

European eel

Fish documented nearby, not here

Nothing below has been documented at The Bann mouth at Castlerock itself. Each one has been documented at a named place on the same ground, and the places are listed with it. Treat this as what the water around here holds rather than as a catch list for this mark.

Widely documented on this ground

Documented at three or more neighbouring places, fished a way this place is also fished. That is a pattern about the ground rather than about any one mark, and it is the closest this site comes to saying you will probably meet a fish somewhere nothing has been written about.

From the shore

  • Pollack — documented at Portrush and Ramore Head; Rathlin Island and the Sound; Portballintrae (+5 more)
  • Saithe — documented at Portballintrae; Ballycastle; Cushendun and Torr Head (+5 more)
  • Ballan wrasse — documented at Portrush and Ramore Head; Ballintoy; Rathlin Island and the Sound (+4 more)
  • Atlantic cod — documented at Portrush and Ramore Head; Carnlough; Waterfoot and Red Bay (+2 more)
  • Small-spotted catshark — documented at Portstewart Strand; Ballycastle; Cushendun and Torr Head (+2 more)
  • Bull huss — documented at Ballycastle; Cushendun and Torr Head; Carnlough (+1 more)
  • Conger eel — documented at Portrush and Ramore Head; Rathlin Island and the Sound; Dunseverick
  • Dab — documented at Ballycastle; Glenarm; Ballintoy
  • Atlantic mackerel — documented at Portrush and Ramore Head; Rathlin Island and the Sound; Portballintrae (+6 more)
  • Whiting — documented at Portstewart Strand; Glenarm; Waterfoot and Red Bay
  • Turbot — documented at Ballycastle; Ballintoy; White Park Bay

Also documented at neighbouring places

One or two accounts each, on the ground around here. Enough to know the fish is caught in these waters; not enough to say anything about this place.

From the shore

How people fish it

Practised here: Sea fishing.

Methods the sources name for this ground. Each one is explained in full on its own page.

  • Ledgering

    Fishing a bait on the bottom held by a weight, with no float — the simplest way to fish at distance, in depth, or in wind.

  • Spinning

    Casting an artificial lure and retrieving it so that it moves like something alive — the most direct form of lure fishing.

  • Kayak fishing

    A platform rather than a technique: quiet, shallow-draught access to water no other craft reaches, bought at the price of exposure, and a discipline where the decision not to launch is part of the skill.

The ground and the water

The ground
The single outflow of Lough Neagh reaching the Atlantic between long training walls, over sand, with a strong ebb and a migratory run passing through it.

Safety

Moving water and currents — Can cause serious injury or death

Tidal streams past the headlands and through the sounds run faster than a kayak can paddle or a small outboard can push against, producing overfalls and standing waves. A craft that enters the acceleration goes where the water goes, and the mistake is made on the approach.

What reduces it: Treat the tidal stream atlas as the primary document and the wind forecast as secondary. Know when the stream turns at the specific place, do not attempt a sound on springs, plan the return as carefully as the outward passage, and give visible overfalls a wide margin.

Worse when:

  • On spring tides, when the streams run hardest and the overfalls are largest.
  • With wind against the stream, which stands the race into steep breaking water.

Cliffs and rock platforms — Can cause serious injury or death

Basalt ledges put an angler over deep water with vertical kelp-covered rock behind. Swell arrives in sets, including Atlantic ground swell independent of local wind, and a person swept off has no shallow margin and nothing to climb.

What reduces it: Watch a mark through several full set cycles from above the wet line before committing, choose a platform with a way up behind it, wear a buoyancy aid on the rocks, and do not fish exposed rock alone.

Cold water shock — Can cause serious injury or death

The water here is cold in every month. Immersion produces an involuntary gasp and loss of breathing control within seconds, which decides the outcome rather than any swimming afterwards.

What reduces it: Wear a buoyancy aid rather than carry one, carry a means of calling for help on the person, dress for the water rather than the day, and tell somebody the mark and the return time.

Rules and access

FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Sea angling access in Northern Ireland is governed by landowner permission, harbour and council byelaws, and fisheries and conservation measures, all of which change. Check the current position with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, the harbour or council, and the landowner before going. This water is tidal and transitional, so the freshwater regime may also apply above the tidal limit: FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Angling in Northern Ireland generally requires both a rod licence from the relevant fisheries body and a separate permit for the water, and the two are issued by different bodies. Rules, seasons and permit arrangements change. Check with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, the Loughs Agency where relevant, and the permit issuer before going.

Who holds the answer:

  • The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, for sea fisheries and marine conservation in Northern Ireland.
  • The harbour authority or council, for access to the structure or the shore.
  • The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, for rod licensing and fisheries regulation.
  • The Loughs Agency, in the Foyle and Carlingford catchments.
  • The club, association or owner that issues the permit for the water.
  • The Northern Ireland department responsible for agriculture, environment and rural affairs, which administers sea fisheries measures and marine conservation here.
  • The Loughs Agency, the cross-border body administering the Foyle and Carlingford systems, whose licensing arrangements differ from the rest of Northern Ireland.
  • The Northern Ireland Environment Agency and the site management bodies, where a coastal, geological or World Heritage designation affects access or activity.
  • The National Trust or other landowner, where access to the shore crosses land in their ownership.
  • The harbour authority at each port, for access to and fishing from harbour structures.

Nearby fishing

Other publicly documented places within about 40 km, by distance. Positions are approximate public geography and are never exact marks.

The Bann mouth at CastlerockPortstewart StrandBenone Strand and MagilliganPortrush and Ramore HeadThe Roe estuaryPortballintraeThe River BushDunseverickWhite Park Bay
The Bann mouth at Castlerock and the publicly documented places around it. Approximate positions, not marks. On a narrow screen the plot is wider than the screen and scrolls sideways inside its frame. Positions are approximate by design — they are capped at about a hundred metres and describe where a named public place is, not where fish are and not a mark. Everything plotted here is also listed below.

Sources for this place

  • JNCC species and habitat conservation advice — Joint Nature Conservation Committee (Conservation authority)Relied on for: Description, designation and habitat characterisation of the named coastal and marine features of the United Kingdom, and the species characteristically associated with them.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Cefas science, advice and data on marine and freshwater environments — Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: Marine environmental science for UK shelf seas: sediment characterisation, estuarine process, shellfish bed distribution, tidal range and the monitoring that describes them.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • British Sea Fishing: Northern Ireland shore marks — British Sea Fishing (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: The mark-by-mark Northern Ireland shore guide: species, bait, hook size, method, season and ground at each named mark from the Roe to Carlingford.States this directlyPassage read and verified

How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy. Last reviewed 2026-08-16.

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