Duration: Sat 11ish to 3ish, Sun 12-5ish
Tide: Barely moved
Weather: Sat fine but a little windy, Sun.....rotten
Bait: Mack, squid, manky rag, manky lug
Rigs: a bit of everything
Results: Wrasse, Dogs, Coalies, Pouting, Mack, Whiting, RAY
Report:
Havent had much of a fishing fix just lately due to working too much (thats self-employment for ya
), and with having to cancel last weekends trip to Kerry for that reason, a last minute decision to head out west was made in search of my 1st ray of the year.Set off from Dublin at the crack of dawn, collecting Brian in Galway at 8.30am, arrived at the Clifden Bay mark in reasonable time, and were soon fishing a couple of rods each.
Very little action to be honest, bar a mad 20 minutes or so when the dogs seemed to pass us.
Brian tried the feathers for a short while and was rewarded with fresh mack for bait, I tried a float rig in close for wrasse or pollock, but it was just too windy, I changed this to a rotten bottom rig in close and was duly rewarded with a couple of wrasse.
The time had flown by, and it was soon time to pack up and head back to Galway for the horse racing.
Good craic at the races, and we both won a few quid, so decided to treat myself to a night at Flannerys, the Best Western Hotel. Had a few beers around the city before retiring for a good nights sleep to be ready for another good go at the ray tomorrow.
After a few phone calls sat night/sunday morning it was decided we would give a different mark a shot today, and after a long enough drive we were finally there.
Being short on bait, I tried the feathers myself for 3/4's of an hour hoping to get some fresh bait for the ray fishing, but they just didnt seem to be there.
Shortly after, 2 guys arrived telling us that there was a comp at the venue today, luckily they were the only ones to show up for it, so atleast we could continue fishing the mark. It was however decided to have a mini comp between the 4 of us.....in hindsight probably not the best decision as me and Brian were not really prepared bait-wise for a doggie bashing session (no sandeel
) , and perhaps we would have enjoyed it more both being able to fish 2 rods, and vary our fishing a bit more.Anyhow, the 2 other guys had a steady stream of dogs and whiting with the odd coalie mixed in, and very bizzarely we were all getting mack's on bait, some hitting the bait on the way in, which you'd understand, but some taking static baits fished on the bottom
I'd thought I'd finally got my ray as I'd got a few good knocks on 1/2 a mack fillet on a 5/0 pennel rig, and reeling in certainly felt a much better fish than a doggie, finally got it to the surface and could see a big round flash of white...definately a ray I thought, only to be confronted by 2 dogs curled up in a ball......to say I was disappointed would be an understatement
2nd to last cast in the comp, a few more small knocks, then a slack liner......must be my ray I thought, and I wasnt disappointed, a lovely thornie measuring 47cm across the wings, so I'd say around the 5lb mark
1st ray of the year, and only my 2nd ever, so I was well chuffed.
Then the long drive back to Dublin in pisssing rain, with no windscreen wipers working
Photo to follow
