Shannon Estuary - 23 June to 30 June (part 1)

Here is the story of two lads from Northampton who came on a holiday adventure to the Shannon with the target this year being a decent return of Thornback Ray. Would we succeed? Well read on......

June 23 - It was an early start to try and get a few fresh Mackerel for the day ahead, so off we went to Castle Point (Dunlickey) as we knew we would be assured of a quick return there. How wrong we were! After an hour and a half, we only had 3 to show for our efforts. Where were they? Nevertheless, that was sufficient for one tide given that Andy was suffering with an iffy tummy so it would be down to me to get things underway.

Met up with our mate Neil to fish over the low water at a well known mark and decided to fish directly into the tide run. As with the Mackerel, things were slow with just a few Dogs coming up. As the tide turned Neil I suggested move to some slacker water just a little further up so I naturally heeded his wise words as I was doing no good where I was. What an inspired piece of advice! No longer than 3mins had elapsed after the first cast when I got my first bite. Not a Dog this time but a fine Ray of about 5lb.



No long after that I had another smaller one of about 3lb, but that was it as the tide had now got too strong with too much weed. Not bad for the first day and for me at least, mission accomplished already!!!

June 24 - Another early morning visit to Castle Point to get some fresh bait, in what would become a regular feature. This time though they were there in abundance and I got what we needed for a few days inside an hour.

Andy was feeling better today so off we went to revisit the scene of yesterdays success, now knowing where the Rays were hiding out. This time we hit the jackpot. I had 5 up to 5lb and Andy got his scoreboard moving with this rare specimen.



Ok, so it didn't break any records, but it was a start and Andy eventually ended up with 4 on the day. I managed to do a bit of a trick and got a double shot of a Dog and a Ray on Pennel rig.



June 25 - Andy not feeling too good again so I had a couple of hours on my own scratching about at Carrigaholt Pier. Wish I hadn't bothered! Way too much activity with young lads whizzing about in an inflatable and one of the boats moored up with a pretty severe fuel leak. Water stank of diesel and any sensible fish wouldn't have been within a mile of the place so cut my losses and did a runner with nothing to show.

June 26 - Having re-stocked the supplies of fresh Mackerel at Castle Point, we met up with Neil again later in the day to have another go at the Rays. A much slower day today and I only got the one of about 3lb.



Neil on the otherhand was the star of the day landing a lovely Stingray of 12lb 4oz (read more in his post). Here is Andy (aka Mr Stingray) finally getting his hands on one.



June 27 - We discovered a new mark near to where we were staying and it looked promising so we decided to give it a go.



As with a lot of marks on the Shannon, although they may look nice, they don't always produce, which was the case this time. Oh well, at least it was a nice easy day.

June 28 - Another easy day on the cards as we tried a beach near Carrigaholt Pier with Neil. Wish we hadn't bothered! Neil and Andy had 1 Dog each while I had nothing and slipped over and badly sprained my ankle! Seeing as how I do all the driving, that's going to make life interesting!

June 29 - Having had 2 blank days myself, it was time to reassess the situation and get back into the swing of things. Thankfully my ankle was ok for driving (having iced it up yesterday), so we took a ride to Cappagh as this always seems to produce something unusual. Today was no exception as Andy landed a small Smoothound!



We thought nothing of it having caught loads before back home, but we understand this is quite something in this neck of the woods! I managed to land the best Ray of the holiday after initially getting it snagged on the bottom (yes it was snagged and not just burried), topping the scales at 9lb.



We then took a ride to our regular Ray haunt in the afternoon but things were still slow with only the one of about 4lb being landed.

June 30 - Filled up with fresh Mackerel in the early hours then off to Cappagh once more to see if we could replicate the events of the previous day. What a differrence a day makes as this time all we had were a few Dogfish! Oh well, I suppose that's what makes us go fishing again at the end of the day.

Having seen plenty of Bass moving where we go Ray fishing, we thought we would throw a few plugs out in the evening just on the off chance. Didn't really put much effort into this and the result spoke for itself. Ray were our target this year, not Bass, so this was just a bit of a laugh.

Part 2 - 1 July to 7 July to follow......

well done lads, smashing report

great stuff nice TOPE and great pics too ,nice to see you enjoyed yourselves

Great work lads amazing stuff hope to get into some rays soon

great report mate , that hound is actually a pup tope !

Thanks Boycie, I reckon I'm going to have to defer to your superior knowledge on this one as having looked up the differences it would definitely seems as though the tail pattern fits more closely to a Tope than it does a Smoothound. That's the trouble with pups, they all look very similar!

Shame it wasn't 40lb bigger then.

in future put your hand down its mouth and you will find out quick enough
nice fishing by the way

well done lads some lovely fish there

who do we know that put his finger into a topes mouth thinking it was a smut

well done lads,lovely stinger,great report

Well done lads,Great report and pictures.Some cracking fish there

Paddy

well done lads great fishing

Nice report,and well done on getting those rays,and the stingray a double bonus
good fishing lads.



KC

Well done guys great report and some very nice fish in there too

well done lads great report sounds like ye had fun an d nice stinger

great fishing lads,,very good report