Shannon estuary - 3rd June

[bigkev]

First trip of the season , with Puca now berthed in Kilrush, Co Clare for the summer
Launched in Carribean sunshine and made the 18 mile trip out to loop head, stopping to watch the dolphins for a while
The fishing was very poor. We covered a lot of ground looking for mackerel for tope bait which proved very elusive
After failing to come across more than a few solitary stragglers we ran back up the estuary and fished with a selection of mackerel and small whiting as tope baits.
Again, no runs

On the whole, very poor fishing with just whiting and a few pollack to 5 pounds to provide any sport.
On returning to the berth we chatted with another returning boat who had found mackerel and couldnt understand our fishlessness
Strange tides and bright sunshine probably killed the fishing, but it was a glorious day out

Kev

[RobertMcClean]

Not very promising for our upcoming planned trip is it Kev? Where did youend up getting the mackerel, only thing I might say is the slack tides never help the Shannon, the bigger the better I have found!

[bigkev]

Hey Rob
Apparently we should have have gone a mile north of the loop to find the mackerel tight in against the shoreline.
We drifted from the loop to a couple of miles west and failed to meet them in numbers
Really unusual conditions though! And not one doggie!
Tides look much better this coming weekend, larger and with low 11:18 and the high at 17:33
Just need the weather to cooperate now
It does seem as though the larger pollack are still on the offshore reefs rather than close in
Kev

[Donagh]

Thanks for the report Kev. I was going to take tomorrow afternoon to get fresh mackerel and try for tope from shore from beal that evening but have decided against it.

Donagh

[RobertMcClean]

Yeah the Dunlicky mark Kev? that's where they fish for mackeral from the cliffs. Usually plenty there alright but can be hairy going up there in bad swells. The weather initially was looking poor for the weekend but is starting to look much better now so hopefully we will travel if it stays that way. A big conger or two would always be on the cards if we could not get out around the Loop.

[Woody]

Just to let you know they were hauling mackeral in at Dunlickey at the w/end. I was there Sun morn after low tide and got 9 in less than an hour - just wanted a few for a barbeque - but a lot of guys had so many they couldn't carry what they had caught up to the car. It must have been chaotic later in the day.