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Wexford Harbour and the Slobs

Estuary · Brackish water · in The Wexford coast

A wide shallow estuary at the mouth of the Slaney, largely drying at low water, with reclaimed polder land — the Slobs — behind the north and south shores and a shifting bar across the entrance.

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.

This place is in or beside a protected area. Being listed here does not show a fish may be targeted or kept at this spot, and the protected area does not by itself close it: the zoning decides. Rules and access.

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 · 3

What these strengths mean
Regular local target
Fishing sources describe this as a normal local target here, not merely as caught.
How breadth is counted
A fish documented at six marks is shown as six marks: breadth never raises the strength on its own. A fishery account describes the fishing; a recorded catch reports one specific catch. How evidence is weighed.

Recorded here, but not a species to target

These are recorded here, but they are not fish to take. 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 Wexford Harbour and the Slobs 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

  • Small-spotted catshark — documented at Carne and the Rosslare shore; Morriscastle Strand; Ballinamona (+5 more)
  • Bull huss — documented at Morriscastle Strand; Curracloe Beach; Hook Head
  • Pollack — documented at Hook Head; Carnsore Point; The Coombe, Tacumshin
  • Thornback ray — documented at Morriscastle Strand; Ballinamona; The Coombe, Tacumshin (+2 more)
  • Dab — documented at Rosslare Strand; Morriscastle Strand; Ballinamona (+1 more)
  • Starry smooth-hound — documented at Morriscastle Strand; Ballinamona; Curracloe Beach (+1 more)
  • Atlantic cod — documented at Curracloe Beach; The Coombe, Tacumshin; Morriscastle Strand
  • Atlantic mackerel — documented at Hook Head; Kilmore Quay; The Coombe, Tacumshin
  • Ballan wrasse — documented at Hook Head; Carnsore Point; The Coombe, Tacumshin

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

  • Conger eel — documented at Hook Head; Carnsore Point
  • Saithe — documented at The Coombe, Tacumshin; Carnsore Point
  • Whiting — documented at The Coombe, Tacumshin; Carne and the Rosslare shore
  • Black seabream — documented at Kilmore Quay
  • Brown trout — documented at The Coombe, Tacumshin
  • Common stingray — documented at Morriscastle Strand
  • Corkwing wrasse — documented at Carnsore Point
  • Spurdog — documented at Morriscastle Strand

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.

Kayak fishing is the exception: it is listed for this ground and no kayak source has been read for it. Take it as somewhere a kayak might be used, not as something a source reports.

  • Spinning

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

Baits and lures for these fish

The baits and lures each of the fish above is commonly taken on, from that fish’s own page. This is what works for the fish, not a report of what people use on this particular water — local knowledge and the conditions on the day still decide.

Baits

Lures

How to catch them: Flounder fishing · Bass fishing · Grey mullet fishing

The ground and the water

The ground
A wide shallow estuary at the mouth of the Slaney, largely drying at low water, with reclaimed polder land — the Slobs — behind the north and south shores and a shifting bar across the entrance.
Tide and flow
Most of the harbour dries or nearly dries, and the channels shift, so the usable ground and the safe route both change.

Safety

Moving water and currents — Can cause serious injury or death

Narrow sounds, estuary mouths, harbour entrances and channel edges run hard on the tide, and the water moving through them is a whole bay emptying and filling through a gap. Somebody who enters that water is carried, not swum, and shingle and sandbanks shift under the current.

What reduces it: Treat the state of the tide as part of the mark rather than as a timing detail. Do not wade a channel edge. Stay off shifting banks on a making tide.

Cold water shock — Can cause serious injury or death

The water is cold enough to trigger the involuntary gasp and hyperventilation of cold water shock for most of the year, which incapacitates a swimmer in the first minute regardless of how well they swim, and it does not stop being cold in a warm summer week.

What reduces it: Wear a buoyancy aid so the first minute does not have to be survived by swimming. Fish with somebody. Know where you would get out before you need to.

Tides and being cut off — Can cause serious injury or death

General safety for this kind of ground, not a finding about this place.

The flood fills the ground behind an angler before it covers the ground in front, so the water arrives between them and the shore while the position they are standing on is still dry.

What reduces it: Read the tide table before going rather than after arriving, set a leaving time from the tide rather than from the fishing, and identify the exit and how long it takes while the ground is still uncovered.

Rules and access

FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Sea angling in Ireland is not generally licensed, but access rights, landowner permission, harbour and local authority rules, conservation designations and national fisheries measures all apply and all change. Check the current position with Inland Fisheries Ireland, the harbour or local authority 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. Irish freshwater angling requires permission from whoever holds the fishing rights, and salmon and sea trout additionally require a state licence and a tagging arrangement. Seasons, permits and conservation measures apply and change. Check with Inland Fisheries Ireland and with the fishery owner or club before going.

Particular to this water: This ground lies in or beside a marine protected area whose zoning constrains fishing, diving, anchoring and collection independently of any licence, with rules that differ between zones and boundaries that are not visible from the water.

Who holds the answer:

  • Inland Fisheries Ireland, which administers angling and fisheries protection.
  • The harbour or local authority, for access to structures and the shore.
  • Inland Fisheries Ireland, for licensing, seasons and fisheries protection.
  • The fishery owner, club or association that controls the water.
  • Inland Fisheries Ireland, for freshwater fisheries, for salmon and sea trout licensing and tagging, and for the sea angling conservation measures it administers.
  • The government department responsible for the marine, and the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, for sea fisheries measures, minimum sizes, bag limits and protected species.
  • The National Parks and Wildlife Service, where a designation constrains access, disturbance or collection.
  • The Food Safety Authority of Ireland and the shellfish classification and biotoxin monitoring programme, before anything filter-feeding is taken.
  • The harbour authority, local authority, club or landowner controlling the specific structure or shore, whose permission is theirs to give and is not stated here.
  • The Irish Coast Guard and the RNLI, for safety guidance on this coast.

Nearby fishing

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

Wexford Harbour and the SlobsCurracloe BeachRosslare StrandBallinamonaCarne and the Rosslare shoreThe Coombe, TacumshinCarnsore PointKilmore QuayMorriscastle Strand
Wexford Harbour and the Slobs 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

  • EMODnet — the European Marine Observation and Data Network — The European Commission, assembled from the national hydrographic offices, geological surveys and marine institutes of the member states (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Charted bathymetry, seabed substrate and seabed habitat for European sea areas, assembled from the national hydrographic and geological surveys, at the resolution the product publishes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • The European Environment Agency's assessments of Europe's waters, seas and coasts — European Environment Agency, Copenhagen (Conservation authority)Relied on for: Assessment of Europe's coasts and regional seas, including the condition of coastal water bodies, the pressures recorded on them and the coverage of designated sites.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • ICES Advice on fishing opportunities, catch and effort — International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Ecoregion description, stock distribution, nursery function and the hydrography of the north-east Atlantic and Baltic sea areas assessed.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Recorded distribution, depth range and habitat association of the species named for this ground.States this directlyPassage read and verified
  • Sea Angling in Ireland: the shore marks of Wexford — Sea Angling Ireland (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: A practitioner shore directory describing this mark's ground, species, methods, baits and the character of the access.States this directlyPassage read and verified

How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy. Last reviewed 2026-08-18.

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