Newbie

Hello Darth

Barmouth is an excellent venue to fish, however as always its where to fish. The problem you have with the entrance from the shore is the strength of the tide, sometimes its impossible to hold your rig on the bottom even with the notorious gemini's sinkers. Slack water is probably the best however in my experience this is when the fish tend to sleep.
My advice would be to ditch the entrance and use the bridge. I feel this bridge is overlooked by many anglers, and although i dont often give out marks this is one that is a definate mark. The best time to fish is the very large tides, and i would say the last three hours of flood to the first three hours of ebb. It all depend how far towards fairbourne you travel across the bridge, as the depth decreases towards fairbourne. A drop net is recommended to avoid upset.
Alot of people tend to fish once you get over the iron part of the bridge, which allows you access to the main channel, however this is far from the best spot.
Having a walk along the bridge when the tide is out will let you see the gulleys in the sand. You will also notice that the bottom after the channel is clean sand with no snags.
On the flood you will fish facing inland and then when the tide turns you will have to bring you line out of the water as you lead will be under the bridge.
Casting is not an issue at this venue as its similar to being on a boat. With the tide going out fishing becomes tricky as the bridge has trains running over it during the day, and i do not advise going onto the track during the day. If my memory is correct the last train is 10pm however be sure to check this out. Once the last train goes, although im unsure of the legality the locals and those in the know just climb over the track and fish from there.

The rewards, the one that will ***** everyones ears up is BASS, and in good numbers alot of schoolies but the odd treasure. Other regulars are Flounder and the blank stopper (doggy), however occaisionally i have had, whiting, codling, Plaice, Gare fish and once mackeral but at different times of the year lol,

The Bait to use till around june or untill the sandeel show in numbers is peeler crab, then onwards Sandeel with live being the best. Although i have had success with lug and rag. When sandeel eel are abundant its easy to get live ones from the water filled gullies near the bridge, and peeler are also found in a very near location to the bridge, but you will have to suss that out yourself.
This area is a BASS nursery area so if you need to take them with you make sure they are of legal size. Interestingly boat anglers in the estuary are not allowed to use live sandeel, but from the bridge you can.
Good luck and tight lines

yer the camp site is still there, its gonna be rammed when the suns out though.

depends how big the tides are to get cut off, normally bigger than 26ft their scale and you're stuck for a couple of hours.

as for fishing, the beaches are better at low, especailly the main beach, harbour and back estuary is better at high tide.

if the water is clear you will have to cast a long way to find good fish, but take some ragworm and cast close in for flounder and dabs.

night is defiatetly best if you can stay.

for barmouth, not fished the bridge but the guy in the tackle shop always recommends it, they do get some serious bass from time to time.
the north beach, park up and walk to where the rocks are cast from there.

if you fancy it the mullet are aropund in force now.
hope this helps you.

With regards to rigs on the bridge i use a simple one hook flowing trace , weight depends on tide, but i dont use grippers. you could try two hook flowing trace, but i prefer to have plenty of snood length to allow the sandeel to work properly.
There is a charge before i think 6pm and its around 50p to access the bridge. With regards to fishing the track side, there are no signs stating that you cant and the locals always do after the last train, but i must say it is a bit of an obstacle course. I think the bridge is almost a mile long but it never seems to get busy with anglers.

With regards to shell island i always stay there have done for the last 25 years, the beach is alright but not as good sport as the Bridge. There is alot of Myth with regards to what fish have been caught, but you do get good sport there, it is where my first BASS some 25 years ago was caught, weighing a mere 2lb 8oz but i will never forget it.
With regards to the small fee for access to Shell Islands beaches its £6.00 for a day pass, and you wont get in if you dont pay it thats if the site is not closed due to being full.
One of the genuine problems at Shell Island is its own success as one of the biggest camp sites in Europe. The drawback is during the day the beach is packed with holiday makers in and out of the water in all weather, plus at night it tends to get pretty busy with anglers.
Some of these Anglers even bring their dog along for a splash in the sea and some just want to drink themselves silly. As i say i love the island and if you can get the peice and quiet, its fishing is excellent and even better when you get onto the St Patricks causeway which starts at Shell Island and goes out for 13 miles.
I was only fishing of it, on a mates boat last weekend and we were having all sorts of fun with the pack Tope which are closer inshore as you would imagine at present. I look forward to june and july as i reckon, st patricks causeway is one of the best places for Black Bream in North Wales.

Camping at shell island is roughly £6.50 per night per adult, i dont know the exact price as i take the family and just pay it, But its around the mark, check out the website which is its name with a www and a .co.uk, You will also find on this site tide tables which tell you if the causeway is closed and open due to the high tide, its not as often as you think. From experience and advice from others the small beaches inbetween the rocks and often from the main each fish better at low water.

Its been pretty interesting over the years, i prefer the two small beaches on the actual reef at low water, bathers arnt allowed to swim there, so this allows daylight fishing, surf is the best fishing, on low water, with only casting out to the 3rd wave. It may sound daft but if they are about thats where ive always had most success. Ive had success with the bass on black lug, blow lug, rag and crab. Dogfish are present but not in the crazy numbers you get around trefor. The other odd speicies i have had recently and in numbers are snotties (silver eel), and they are ruddy awfull things, i absolutley hate the way they snot your hand, line and anything it comes in contact with.
One species i thought was more attributed to morecambe is plaice, however in the past two years i have had success with them on the bridge and at shell island, for someone who has always been besotted with bass, my attention now is turning to plaice, as i think the sight of them bright orange spots staring back at you is fantastic. Its probably a novalty that will wear of, but dabs flounder and plaice are all on the menu also.
The strange thing about the reef is that you will search forever for any type of crab, never mind the possible pealer, even in the estuary they are scarce. However you can dig blow lug at the start of the causeway, there are also cockles to collect, however recent years have been very poor.
Obtaining good quality bait is a bit of a pain especially on a bank holiday weekend. There are two fishing shops in barmouth, the one on the left as you head through the town towards barmouth has a better range and price (live rag if your quick). The other sells frozen pealer crab but they are french and in my opinion rubbish. Shell island also has frozen bait available but its expensive.
So i would consider collecting some from your usual outlets.
Please Please dont be a noddy angler and fish at low water in the estuary, like so many do, take your shoes and socks of and have a walk in the water to see what is there, you will see hundreds of very tiny flatties, (its a bit weird when you stand on a flattie) occasionally some very small mullet, and thats all, i walk upto the river everytime i go cos its interesting what you see buzzing around in the water,but certainly very little that you would like on your hook. It also give me an idea an of when the sandeal are around, and its possible with the usual hard work to collect them by hand here.You get loadsa holiday makers with determined looks on their faces fishing there, i really feel so sorry for them, but on the other hand im not fighting for a place on the beach.
There are bass on the beach when they are in season, but dont tell anyone if you catch one, they like to post catches in the camp shop, but it creates a frenzy of anglers all trying to scare the bass of on what was once your quiet beach. Most people who goto shell island fall in love with it, you cant pin point the exact attraction but it caters for all.
The tides when you are there arnt the best, the week after they are alot bigger, which tends to bring in the bass.