Dingle Harbour Co Kerry 1st and 2nd June

People:Me

Duration:5hrs

Tide:2 1/2 hours to top first day...2 1/2 over bottom second day

Weather:very gusty S/ SE

Bait:Mackerel /Sandeel

Rigs:Pulleys and Pulleys with rotten bottoms

Results:Zero

Catch and Release:: Yes/


Report:

Fished under Tower first day. Started fishing at around 15:20 HW at 17:36. Wind was very gusty from S/SE i think making it hard to get any great distance on casting (was trying to get baits out into main channel).Snagged up first cast so switched to pulley rigs incorporating rotten bottoms.As wind was gusting so severely I deciced to move slightly back from the "point" by the tower (about 40yds or so). This had me casting back towards the skellig hotel into alot calmer water.This surely would surrender a thornback to me.... I thought.

Trouble was .....the amount of crabs in the vicinity.. I was using big mackerel fillets (bound up sausage style) and double sandeel.They were not in the water five minutes when they were attacked by the crabs.But as I knew the forecast was bad for the following day I "had" to put the effort in so I fished two rods alternating baits. Not my day at all.

Next day.. new enthusiasm.
Decided to fish far side of bay (Reenbeg) towards low water this time as I had seen it produce in the past at that time..The rain was absolutely bucketing down and the wind was gusting severely. Southerly again I think because the bay was sheltered when I got to the mark. Although the wind was swirling uprooting my beach buddy many times, the water in the bay was flat calm.

It even "looked" fishy. Surely I'd get my ray today...Only fished one rod because of the weather etc. A simple overhead thump alternating mackerel and sandeel to about 80-90 yds got me fishing. I waited til about an hour into the flood without a touch and finally gave in. Everything seemed to be going wrong for me this weekend.Just wasnt to be. : :( :( :(

I retreated to the hotel bar after a shower and a change to dry clothes (as my old titan gear has had it) disappointed and disheartened. Jesus theres ray in dingle like there's flounder in my home harbour.What happened??

As far as I'm concerned I have never been so organised and prepared, had all my rigs made , pulleys, rotten bottoms, pennells etc but tend to favour pulleys for rays and tope etc.

Will I be back???? To be honest I dont know. :?: Alot of travelling BUT has to be the nicest place around. The fishing was absolutely dirt this time but the nightlife was great, the place was alive.

And to rub salt in the wounds lol I went to oceanworld. At least I "saw" a few thornies and a monster stinger....... : :shock:

Sorry to hear about the nightmare sessions :( ...Murphy's law, just when ye think everything looks perfect :evil:
I'd say that Ocean World was set up just to annoy visiting anglers about what they could catch (whats worse then a petting pool with ray in it,i have 2 pictures in my album taken there last week :shock: not suppose to take pictures which is why they are not great :oops: )

Sorry to hear that man... Had a similar sesion in Dingle last year.. Long old spin down.. Ah well the hounds are gere man that should cheer you up!! Heading for Tralee on the 15th so will rpob have a crack at the Bass on Brandon... Maybe a bit of rock fishing..

Yeah it was fairly disappointing alright. Just wondering if anyone from that area has any idea why it was poor??.

I may stick to toping and hounds for the next few weeks I think.
Had more sucess at that.

I suppose like all marks it can be hit and miss.The great thing about Kerry is that if 1 area is not fishing well you have literally hundreds of other marks close by.
I have never been convinced that the harbour is a great mark for ray and there are 4/5 better ray marks within 1/2-3/4 hour away from where you were.When you are next coming down pm me and I will try to let you know where is fishing well.
Myself and Seanp are mainly concentrating on Tope and seatrout at the moment with some great success.
Roll on 16 june and bass again.

Thanks Bigcol... could be a while before I'm down again.. May talk to my fishin buddy.

unlucky fella. tight lines on the next trip down. going to head down the direction this summer myself

ive had two blanks one this month and one in march not a sign of a ray fishing was much better last year even better tow years ago :?

That mark doesn't seem to be fishing at all recently. Was talking to a mate down there last month and word was going round that the red tide two years ago killed alot of the invert life in the harbour and the fishing hasn't been the same since

i dont know about that pete, i had plenty of ray from it to double figures last year, as did a few others i know. and we had wrasse.pollock etc too. i did some push netting and the invertebrate life looked healthy to me

sorry to hear about the blank century, i will be down there myself in mid - late july and will let you know how it goes. sounds like the conditions didnt help, but seems you did everything i would have done. except fish reenbeg, i dont rate it. maybe if you are down some time i can show you some exact spots

i have always found the harbour a good ray mark, col. have had some good thornie catches off it.

Thanks Adam, that would be great!!!

My mate was onto to me last night and he wants to head down in the next few weeks or so. All depends on accomodation now.Most hotels booked out pretty much.

What made it more frustrating for me was the fact I "knew" there had to be fish in the bay but the baits weren't being left long enough in the water for a fish to find them.

Yeah if your on for a bit of fishing anytime let me know, would be great.

yeah the crabs can be a real killer alright.

one thing i noticed in your post was that you cast from the point back towards the skellig. even with a long chuck that would have out you in pretty shallow water and not in the channel where i think most of the ray are. if you cast out straight form the point you will hit the channel, or casting out stright from the skellig you will hit it with a good chuck.

but casting from the point towards the skellig wont see you on it. i know the wind was against you.

at reenbeg the further right you go (towards the harbour entrance) the closer in the deeper water becomes.

but i will have a look when down and let you know

Your probably right Adam, it was just one of the local fishermen had mentioned it to me. When down there last month we got plenty of razors so it would appear that if sedentary creatures like that are still abundant then things must be alright.

Thanks Adam.

Yes in Reenbeg when I got to the beach I walked couple of hundred yards to the right and fished just before where the beach swings around inland to the right. This mark produced about 10 or 11 ray or so on our club comp a while back, so I figured I'd give it a go.

But how n ever not to be.

That tide around the point sure does rise fairly quickly dont you think?? Must have moved my tripod bout 5 times.Looked very fishy though.

yeah the tide pushes quick through the channel, its what the ray seem to like though