Brandon beaches

[Steve O'Hanlon]

Just returned from a weekend in Castlegregory.

Fished Friday/Saturday/Sunday morning, from about 6am-10am each day. The bass fishing was not very hectic, only landed three bass with the best being only 3lbs. Conditions weren't exactly ideal though, with the surf being vicious on Friday, and non-existant on Sunday!

The highlight was most definitely adding another new species to my list - a baby stinger of about 6lbs. Little bugger was lashing it's tail out at me the whole time I was trying to unhook it. Managed to swallow my fear and release it unharmed though. This was caught on Friday morning on Stradbally, and is quite a rare catch on this beach by all accounts.

Other species caught were flounder and dogfish.

Yet again my trip was nearly ruined by the extremely poor quality frozen sandeel I had brought from Dublin. I was having to smother them in bait elastic as the stomachs were ripping open at the slightest touch. I managed to dig some lug in Cloghan which saved the day on days 2 and 3.