Thornies

i see people are beginning to catch thornies again just wondering if they are back in numbers yet or just the odd one here and there?

Yeah if you pick the right spot, tides etc they are there in numbers particularly the west/south west coast. Spring tides are always the secret for getting thornies in larger numbers!!

dare i ask where youve had ure sucess so far? goin to kilteery the weekend and just want to know if the fish are there before i go.

They should be moving in there by now, although this cold snap won't help. Kiltery always manages a few on a spirng tide too, so try wait a few weeks for the tides to get up around the 4.0m mark again and give it a go. We have got them in Dingle so far this year, but last year this time we got them in the Shannon and from Brandon in Kerry...

ok sound man i think ill give kilterry a go on sunday anyway noyhing to lose its always bveen good for em

none up north ,coast yet but the cold weather certainly would not help.if it gets a bit warmer i can see them moveing inshore along with the early plaice i hope cause the fishing is crap at the minute all over the north coast.

well they are in certain marks on the boat (mulroy bay) but none of much size. i know that a few marks in donegal have been tried for them in recent weeks from the shore but with no sucess.

where would you try round the north???

there are a few marks from the shore regularly fished for them and quite well known by most so no harm in saying lough swilly - fahan , portsalon , fanad head are some worth a try from say easter on.
if you manage to get any please release them again as numbers are thin enough on the ground. :wink:

dont suppose theres any reports of them been caught off the antrim coast anywhere?

mates hate the travelling to good spots even though i do all he bloody driving lol!!!

deffo would release them!! only ever keep a few mackrel for bait the rest is all sport :D

I'm gonna go fishin for them at greystones in mid april is there much chance there or would i better off goin further south to wexford or waterford?

I've had fair amount of good ray fishing from the Estuary from neap tides with sub 3 metre differentials during the summer but that said that really depends on the venue. Alot of the time neaps can give more comfortable fishing and longer periods of action. Though I do find some of my best fishing has occured between severe unfishable tide runs. As I can't generaly pick the time to fish I try to hit strong tidal venues such as the point on kilteery on neaps and venues with small tidal runs on springs like carrigaholt. The Estuary can be an interesting place to fish due to the tidal abnormalities like the worst run of the tide in glin is at low water and on the flood or ebb here the tide always run left to right. A venue that runs hard on a flood can be a pusy cat on the ebb and vice versa It also can be that the hot time in the tidal period can change from neap to spring.

The best ray fishing is usually had at dawn or dusk when these conicide with a hot period of the tide. I've often found a venue to go dead at night or the bait gets swallowed down by nusance fish such as bootlace conger.

Donagh

to be fair the only reports ive heard of from the shore on the antrim coast in recent years have been from glenarm and waterfoot, even at that its been the very very occasional very small blonde or cuckoo ray. IMHO not worth targeting, more of a by catch by chance

Donagh,
tanx for all that info there but the question i was asking was did you catch any so far this year?!

i think Bill Ryan said he had a few small ones at poulnasherry bay at ferry point a few weeks back, but word down in that area at the moment is that all is very quiet.

Patrick

Sorry can't help I haven't been out due to work and family commitments and I don't know anyone who has. I hope to get out more in the next few months and I've decided to make an effort and put reports up so you'll see them there if I do.

Donagh

[gearoid mc s.]

ya mite do the same myself would be nice to see a few more reports on the estuary marks as for thornies took day off work last saturday and also dug alot of lug in an effort to get the first one of the season, all of that effort resulting in getting very wet and only getting a few doggies :(

re:frodo baggins tanx for that but avent got the motoring abilities to get over to west clare(if thats were poulnasherry is) live in limerick like!

Last edited by gearoid mc s. on Fri Mar 31, 2006 1:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

In all fairness if the ray are there they are there they move around to different locations at different times of the year I wouldnt worry about tidal conditions etc I have fished the estuary for the last 16 years and fished the tide in out half way in half way out and caught them all over the estuary.

Its all luck in the estuary..................

you must have a pretty good spot to fish for them coz i find at times you have to be a little precise to get them

garoid

U going fishing this weekend to Kilteery. U should give under the lighthouse a go.