lough swilly - fahan and buncrana. ray or bass??

i was thinking of heading up to fahan, buncrana or general direction to fish lough swilly and was looking for advice on how best to approach fishing for ray and/or bass. is this a good time of year to fish for any or both of these species in swilly?
Also...., what conditions, tides, times of day are best?
i would appreciate any advice as i have tried twice here to try and get my first ray but have failed on both occasions. (the big guy beside on the pier didnt fail tho.. )
Anyone?

To be honest mate wrong time of year for the rays up here more of a summer species.... but for the bass u cud try any of the surf beaches in doneagal or even benone and downhill in the north are worth a shot.... if it was me id fish large lug and rag baits on a pennell pulley rig usually does the job at around 30 to 40 yards in the surf.

Your chances of catching bass in the swilly are pretty much non existent I'm afraid. As for the ray, here's a post from a previous discussion on the matter:

at the fahan end of the swilly the thornbacks start to disappear around the start to the middle of october, they start to reappear from mid march onwards.

Usually use mack on a pulley rig to target the rays though, haven't found tides or conditions to play a part now myself, in the swilly anyway.

The guys ate spot on, spring summer and autum for ray in the swilly but I have been told there has been some caught over winter months and downhill is fishing well for bass

thanks for that guys. sound advice. thanks for takin the time, that has saved me a frustrating weekend.... not that the weather forecast (snow) looks the best for the weekend anyways. sunday might be lookin ok though at the moment - so bass on the coast somewhere else then maybe
cheers!