Poulnasherry Bay, Shannon Estuary, Co. Clare

Well done the lads at Cappa! On the same day (17th. March) I fished Poulnasherry Bay at Ferry Point and the "only" fish I had was a 5 kg. Thornback Ray, a female which I returned alive. It was taken on 6 sandeel. The crabs were so busy the bait lasted about 5 mins. for every cast! Yesterday my brother and I fished behind Carrigaholt Pier. 4 strap congers and some big 3 B Rockling but no thornies. I'm in Clare for a few more days and hopefully will have better to report!
Photo of Thornback may appear in Gallery.
Unconfirmed reports of Garfish in Poulnasherry already????
Anyone confirm this?


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Ross aka Bill

nice fish to start season! tell me this, what sort of casting distance do you need here? is a ton far enough! also where is 'gallery' on website? good luck

Cracking fish that thorny,ross.
Did you get the conger by day or night at carrigaholt?
Must be due a trip there again.
Bugger, Im still at work and lovely out
Kev

Booner/Bigkev:
To answer your questions-
I'm an "overhead thumper" (years fishing for mackerel from a tight cliff ledge have left me with this affliction!) so if I hit 100yrds it's a miracle! At Ferry Point 70/80 yrds is enough to hit mid channel. The secret is to keep ahead of the crabs by frequent rebaiting.
I have taken Thornies on the Left of Ferry Point very close in.
The Gallery can be accessed on the Home Page - there is a link to it.
Photo not up yet.
Tried to insert it here but gave up! Someone help!

The conger were taken by night from the rocks behind Carrigaholt Pier - get to know the rocks by day ,before going by night here, as it gets a bit tricky.
Let me know when you are in the west again and maybe we can meet up?

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Ross

E-mail: ryangwpr@eircom.net

Hi Ross, email the pic to Kieran, I'm sure he'll look after it for you
JK

Fished Poulnasherry today 2 hrs up to HW at 3.30pm with frozen mackerel (no sandeel). Doggies (LSDs) now competing with the crabs for bait! No thornie(s)!
Stacked up this evening with sandeel from Michael Burke's Tackle Shop Kilkee and I'm heading back to Poulnasherry tonight with a vengenance!
Tune in tomorrow!

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Ross
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Nothing grows faster than a fish, from the time he bites until the time he gets away!
From - "Fisherman's Guide to Life"
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Well done on that thorny! I'm now a big fan of them. I can post the pics for you if you like or just join http://www.photobucket.com and upload the pics to there. You can then use the [IMG..... setting - just copy & paste.

Good luck tonight - hope the weather is kind to you.

Ian

Thanks jfkireland and IdPearl for advice on getting photo of Thornback Ray inserted. It is now in Gallery, thanks Kieran.
Well I gave Poulnasherry a miss last night, bitter S/E wind with driving rain.
Ended up on the Vino!
Sore head today but fished a full tide from LW to HW at 4pm at Poulnasherry. Wind had gone S/W and Temp. was well up.
Started at Ferry Point but heavy weed here forced me to move about 400 meters to the left. Thornies straight away! 5 in a row with one LSD all on sandeel. I was using a pulley rig as seaweed attached to rocks was floating in front of me and the ray were diving into it. In fact I had my first "swim" of the year to dislodge the best ray that weighed about 9 lbs. I had to strip down and brave the cold - forgot the chest waders!
But for the pulley rig I would have had a lot more swims!
I added another 4 ray before full tide.
THe ray ranged from a butterfly of 2 lbs., several 4 to 6 lbs. and the best 9 lbs. The were all returned alive. Good sandeel from Burkes coupled with an improvement in the weather made all the difference! Daytime made no difference and I have found this before with Poulnasherry as the water gets a bit coloured with the rising tide and maybe this helps?
Wind gone S/E and cold this evening so will hit the Vino again tonight.
Plan to fish near The Battery outside Carrigaholt beyond the Irish College tomorrow night and will report further. A brother found a sandy patch reachable from the rocks where cod have beeen found in Lobster Pots! It's true!

Ross
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Don't clean your fish before you catch them.
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Ross,

How did you place the 6 sandeel on the 4/0 hook? Is this a specific Thornie tactic?

Hi codswallop!

Thread one sandeel on hook like a worm and form a cocoon with the other sandeel around it with elasticated thread. Works in Poulnasherry!

In Doughmore I use long strips of fresh mackerel for Painted and Thornies. Single hook paternoster, 18 ins. snood , plain lead and let the tide take it out slowly last 2 hrs of ebb. Stop it every 10 yrds or so and then let it continue. You can get 200 yrds. this way! Neap tides best as Spring tides are very difficult here. Once the tide turns back the pull is lateral and it's like fishing a flowing river!
Small Turbot and good bass fall for this trick too!

Carrigaholt tonight! Will report further!

Back to Dublin tomorrow- GROAN!

Ross

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ALL THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO BAIT!
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Cheers Ross thanks, very interesting indeed. Good luck tonight. Im heading down to Wexford tomorrow just for the night, prob Cahore or Roney or somewhere around that area. Never fished the Shannon Estuary myself, I LIKE the sounds of it though.

Had to abandon plans to fish from rocks at The Battery outside Carrigaholt as the wind went strong southerly and the surf was surging up onto the rocks. Retreated to Carrigaholt Pier for shelter where the brother caught a 3 lb. Thornie on sandeel and I blanked.
Well that's the end of my Clare adventure for a few more weeks!
Back to Dublin tomorrow.

Over and out!

Ross