Lough Swilly trip July

[MattJ]

Hi all I have a week trip booked in Rathmullan on Lough Swilly in July. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I'm hoping to catch tope and do some general fishing around the Lough. I have been put there on a charter a few years ago and we caught plenty of coal fish and thornbacks. I'v been checking out the charts for likely looking spots but any guidance would be great. I'm in a longliner with a top speed of 10 knots so will take a while to get to the mouth of the Lough.

Matt

[JMCL1848]

Hi Matt,
I'm based on the other side of the lough in Buncrana. You'll be very close to some great tope fishing just 2 miles south from the pier at Rathmullan. There is an area known as Drum Gully which is just a few hundred yards off the west side of Inch Island. Anchoring there in around 30 foot of water produced tope for me last week. I've had thornback ray here before as well.
I used to own a longliner too and it definitely is a bit of a trek to the mouth of the Swilly but worthwhile if the weather holds out. There are plenty rock marks to the east of the lough between Dunree and Urris which is much more accessible than heading for Fanad Head or Dunaff. There is a decent pier at Dunree with a coffee shop above if you fancy a stop off.
Closer to Rathmullan at Macamish there is a Martello tower with some mixed ground just off the headland there which would be woth a go.
Hope the trip goes well.

Tight lines
Jason

[MattJ]

Thanks so much for the info Jason, that's plenty of info to keep me going for the week. How are the Mackerel out there, I'v been spending more time finding bait than tope fishing on the East coast.

[JMCL1848]

No Problem at all. Theres a few mackerel showing but they are few and far between. There are fish farms north of Rathmullan on the west side of the lough, I've heard that this is a good spot for them

[MattJ]

Cool thanks that give me a place to start.