Waterville - any advice

Driving from Donegal to Kerry tomorrow nite/morning...a pleasant 8 hour jaunt...for a weeks hols. Going to sneak a rod or two along aswell. I'm staying in Waterville and if any of the forum members have any advice as to where I should try I'd be very appreciative. I'd love to have a go at a bass as they are incredibly rare in Donegal.

Pete

waterville holds great fishing, a real good bass spot is a place known as the smugglers(ask in waterville for directions), fish it the last hour of high tide a tide of over 3.4 metres is best. peeler is the best bait, freelined on a pennel rig or on a float. for bait call kevin at atlantic baits on087 6766986. he is a local guide and can give u some up to the minute info.if tides are small try the beach to the right of the smugglers mark, bait depends here between razorfish lug and sandeel. one other mark worth trying for bass is on the rocks directly down from the reenroe hotel, try plugging for bass here from 2 hours to full tide. if the sea is choppy try a blue chug bug on the beach mentioned above. as far as other species dont bother, they r there but this really is the best bass fishing in western europe and u wont b catching too many below size as the majority are nice fish. hope thats been a bit of a help.
Ps. bring all ur own tackle, loads of bait available down there but i got stuck there asking the local tackle shop for elastic thread for the crab and was told no didnt do em. i had to use regular thread all week. Be warned!!!!!
Liam

Liam,
Thanks a million for that, much appreciated. Can't wait to try for one of those silver fellas. If your ever up my way I'll return the favour.

Pete

It would be interesting to see how you got on.

I've fished for over 16 years and only ever got a single bass. I went to Kerry and got two in an hour! It only goes to show the importance of fishing in the right places! I took two of the beauties of the beach at Waterville, half way along where it becomes rocky and weedy. One was 3 1/2 and the other was slightly over 4lb. A surface popper was the successful hardware, got it from Veals who import them from Japan.
Tried under the derelict hotel also but had no luck, although high water had well passed.

Liam, they must have taken note of your plea for baiting elastic in the tackle shop because no sooner had I bought razorfish than they offered me the stuff!

I'm going to find it hard spinning for pollock and mackerel again after those bass!

Pete

good to hear, where u caught is the smugglers, a great spot. lets hope maybe a few more ppl might give a little info on where the bass are and when to catch em. cos at the end of the day if we catch 1 or 2 ( and put them back bar the odd one for the table) it wont harm the stocks in the area at all. heading down there for a week on fri, lets hope they r still biting!!!!
Liam