Poor fishing in Kerry thus far

Hi

I decided yesterday I would put up a post and ask if others are seeing poor fishing this season thus far. I have done at least 15 (maybe more) fishing sessions this and clocked up a number of hours and the results have been poor in comparison to last year, 2 Bass/2 Dogfish is this years total. I mostly fish Inch/Castlemain harbour/Kinnard.

I know it is still early in the season and October is usually good, but there have been some perfect days and others are reporting the same thing. Some good reports comming out of Dingle, but its always better in Dingle .

I am a big fan of sand ell, but have been mixing it up with lug, razor & crab, all with the same results.

Thanks

Weather permitting hoping to head down that way next week so with a bit of luck it'll pick up!! Any advice on bait and rigs for fishing these type of beaches. I normaly plug for bass but theres a few of us heading down that just have beachcasters. It will be one rod each so I'm wondering is there a rig that you can target bass with but also pick up flatties? (sorry for taking thread off topic! )

Weather permitting hoping to head down that way next week so with a bit of luck it'll pick up!! Any advice on bait and rigs for fishing these type of beaches. I normaly plug for Bass but theres a few of us heading down that just have beachcasters. It will be one rod each so I'm wondering is there a rig that you can target Bass with but also pick up flatties? (sorry for taking thread off topic! )

Try a 2 hook flapper or 1up 1down with size 2 hooks and lug, crab, razor, maddies, rag, sand eel or even mack .just make sure the baits aren't too big and not masking the hook point

We found it difficult when we fished Waterville the last weekend of August.

Thanks Red. Good to know bass can be taken on smaller hooks too

Hi

If you can get your self one of those weights with the spikes on it the beaches are rough and the more the line travels the more sea weed it gets. Regarding bait, I have no clue this year, would of sworn blind on sand ell last year. My mates are trying everything from Crab to Mackeral as well and they are not getting much luck either.

Have a look at Beenbane (beach) have heard good reports.

Enjoy yerself!

Lug has being the killer bait for me this summer, I will admit it is slower than other years but I have caught alot of schoolie bass, flounder, all on lug, Im not a big fan of sand eel, unless your using it in barrow, or if you targeting rays, dogs. The amount of wrasse and pollock around is unreal off rock marks in Kerry. Once again the wrasse love the worm and its a great bait along with the hard back crab. Try lug I think it will improve your hit rate

Thanks lads, rented 'the third breaker' by Bob Moss from the library. Great load of information on this area. I don't remember him saying much about what state of tide is best for these beaches though. Would either a couple of hours either side of high tide be best would you say? Interesting about the lug.

Don't think I'll get down this w.end after all as some of the lads want to go walking and the weathers not looking great for that.

Hope things pick up for you Inchbassfan

Well, I will try lug so and report back.

I read Bob Moss's 2 books. Now I have never done this however he says at low tide start Ballyquin/Brandon at low water. If Inch, "The best time to fish inch is with a good surf, at anystage during the flood tide and for a couple of hours hours into the ebb" (p55 "A guide to shore angling"). Bob if you are reading this you know where I live, to serve the copyright infringement cease & desist!.

Much appreciated best of luck with the lug

Hi All, I have fished the peninsular pretty much every year since 1989, in the last few years I have had two or even three trips accross. The fishing this year has been exceptionally poor I fished a week in June and August , last year was only marginally better. The Mackerel are almost non existant this year I have fished for them at Kells , Dingle , Slea head , Brandon ( usually a nail on mark ) and Fenit and have sometimes blanked at best had two or three . Had next year already booked but unless the fishing has improved it may be my last trip for the foreseable future. The ray fishing is particularly poor and to be honest fishing for Rays is my main reason for going as we dont really get them at home , if they are not there in there usual numbers that will be it for me. There are plenty of Wrasse form the rocks and lots of small Pollack but apart from that it is a real struggle to catch. Another negative point is the cost of getting accross to Ireland and the cost of food and drink over there , its cheaper to eat out in Central London!!!

Hi

Slight improvment, I got a small bass last night after about 2 hrs off Inch. He was no more than 2 pounds and looked depressed so he went back in. Bait: well rotten peeler crab, took it out of the freezer last weekend, was going to go night fishing but ended up in the pub instead. Rotten peeler, well it had a black substance which I got on my myself which meant I was sleeping alone last night.

Brad: regarding poor fishing, I hear what you are saying a stunning lack of Mackeral this year off Kerry especially Brandon. The only Mackeral I have heard off is from Kells. Never went fishing for Ray so cant comment.

To remedy the above I have bought a small boat, 15ft 1970's etc... need to get a very very good life jacket!

Brad: regarding Ireland and being expensive, who are you telling, try paying tax in this country. But enough moaning, I love the place. Restaurants are expensive especially in Kerry. That is changing slowly, however I suggest you look at the smaller places for food where you will get good value, towns like Killorglin, Caherciveen and Valentia Is. If you go to Dingle/Killarney you need to know the places to get value for money.

We found it difficult when we fished Waterville the last weekend of August.

We were fishing that weekend???????

I decided yesterday I would put up a post and ask if others are seeing poor fishing this season thus far. I have done at least 15 (maybe more) fishing sessions this and clocked up a number of hours and the results have been poor in comparison to last year.

Any idea what your inshore water temps are like this year? They're definitely down round here in the north west, by about 2C according to the sensor on the boat. All the usual inshore species are well down, and there's been a poor show of sea trout in spots that were crowded with them last year.

Hi

Heard a few people talking about water temp being lower.

http://www.surf-forecast.com/breaks/Bra ... _1/seatemp (Not sure how reliable this is, however it suggues 1.2c deviation)

All ireland temperature.
http://www.met.ie/marine/marine_climatology.asp

Went out last night as well (did catch a cold) nothing happening.

I was in the Castlegregory/Cloghane area for two weeks recently. I take the same two weeks every year plus a few weekend visits. I didn't think the fishing could be as poor as last year but it was worse. The bass are almost non existant in Brandon Bay with only flounder available on lug and the very odd bass on sandeel or lug. Fishing around Ballyquinn, brandon, cloghane etc was very poor both from beach and rock marks. Small pollock and garfish available but not in any great numbers. Mackerel are being caught from Brandon pier assuming that you get calm weather and fish at high tide and at dawn/dusk. I caught plenty on sabiki's but others were struggling on the larger more traditional feathers. Sea trout are available in the estuary (licence please!). I questioned one potter in the harbour as to why fishing was poor and he suggested the estuary - I said "as long as you have a licence that's fine" but he said there was no need for a licence and that his friend (an angler) had caught 40 odd trout in a week recently and that he'd be fed on them for the winter. If you know the rules.....

I reported several nets in the area last year and blatant trawling on Fermoyle. Unfortunately nothing has changed this year. It's unfortunate as tourism in the area is right down yet this behaviour is still commonplace and locals seem to turn a blind eye to it. It's not like they try to hide it either - two scumbags doing donuts on fermoyle beach for 20 minutes before driving up to the black rock to pull their net in broad daylight. My grà for Kerry is starting to dwindle which is a shame as fishing plays a major part in my decision to visit this area on several occasions each year. Yes, conditions play their part in fishing and conditions were not always ideal this year or last year. But spending thousands on accomodation, food & drink and fishing gear, then seeing this carry on, does make me question why I shouldn't spend my hard earned money elsewhere.

I fished Inch beach last night ,the condictions were good but I only caught one small bass .There was some patches of weed about so you had to move along the beach every now and again.
Inch at the moment is very hit and miss OK, I was there last week and had six bass the biggest was about 6 pound but all the rest were between 1 or 2 pound.

Mark

@ Brad And Steve I personally think your comments need to be highlighted very valid points both of you made regarding tourism. On a side note I wish the both of yous had better times, but its input like this we need to kick things into gear. On expense Couldnt agree with you more.... in fact the exTD pleeded with local people to stop calling Ireland Rip-Off Ireland Whilst he booked his holidays in some far off land and was building a house without planning permission Cost really need to be brought down!!