Country and BEST Western

[shamoo0804]

People: Me & Corbyeire (sat), + 2 others (sun)

Duration: Sat 11ish to 3ish, Sun 12-5ish

Tide: Barely moved

Weather: Sat fine but a little windy, Sun.....rotten

Bait: Mack, squid, manky rag, manky lug

Rigs: a bit of everything

Results: Wrasse, Dogs, Coalies, Pouting, Mack, Whiting, RAY




Report:

Havent had much of a fishing fix just lately due to working too much (thats self-employment for ya ), and with having to cancel last weekends trip to Kerry for that reason, a last minute decision to head out west was made in search of my 1st ray of the year.

Set off from Dublin at the crack of dawn, collecting Brian in Galway at 8.30am, arrived at the Clifden Bay mark in reasonable time, and were soon fishing a couple of rods each.

Very little action to be honest, bar a mad 20 minutes or so when the dogs seemed to pass us.

Brian tried the feathers for a short while and was rewarded with fresh mack for bait, I tried a float rig in close for wrasse or pollock, but it was just too windy, I changed this to a rotten bottom rig in close and was duly rewarded with a couple of wrasse.

The time had flown by, and it was soon time to pack up and head back to Galway for the horse racing.

Good craic at the races, and we both won a few quid, so decided to treat myself to a night at Flannerys, the Best Western Hotel. Had a few beers around the city before retiring for a good nights sleep to be ready for another good go at the ray tomorrow.


After a few phone calls sat night/sunday morning it was decided we would give a different mark a shot today, and after a long enough drive we were finally there.

Being short on bait, I tried the feathers myself for 3/4's of an hour hoping to get some fresh bait for the ray fishing, but they just didnt seem to be there.

Shortly after, 2 guys arrived telling us that there was a comp at the venue today, luckily they were the only ones to show up for it, so atleast we could continue fishing the mark. It was however decided to have a mini comp between the 4 of us.....in hindsight probably not the best decision as me and Brian were not really prepared bait-wise for a doggie bashing session (no sandeel ) , and perhaps we would have enjoyed it more both being able to fish 2 rods, and vary our fishing a bit more.

Anyhow, the 2 other guys had a steady stream of dogs and whiting with the odd coalie mixed in, and very bizzarely we were all getting mack's on bait, some hitting the bait on the way in, which you'd understand, but some taking static baits fished on the bottom

I'd thought I'd finally got my ray as I'd got a few good knocks on 1/2 a mack fillet on a 5/0 pennel rig, and reeling in certainly felt a much better fish than a doggie, finally got it to the surface and could see a big round flash of white...definately a ray I thought, only to be confronted by 2 dogs curled up in a ball......to say I was disappointed would be an understatement

2nd to last cast in the comp, a few more small knocks, then a slack liner......must be my ray I thought, and I wasnt disappointed, a lovely thornie measuring 47cm across the wings, so I'd say around the 5lb mark

1st ray of the year, and only my 2nd ever, so I was well chuffed.

Then the long drive back to Dublin in pisssing rain, with no windscreen wipers working

Photo to follow

Last edited by shamoo0804 on Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:48 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Nice one on the Ray Mark glad you got the target species next time your over i'll try and stay away from Women and cases of red wine so i'll be able to join you Make sure you've sandeel with ya next time

Make sure you've sandeel with ya next time

I'll not be getting fleeced for a tenner next time , for old boys they cant half cast

next time your over i'll try and stay away from Women and cases of red wine so i'll be able to join you

Yeh right, I'l believe it when I see it, temptation can be a bad, bad man

With the results we got, you probably made the right choice anyway

nice one on the ray shampoo sounds like the weather didnt do yus any favours, summer yea right!!

you forgot the grey gurnard you got and all!

the boys were pulling in some nice whiting - 38cm - wish they were like that all the time

got my first coalies of the year - but other than that forgetable

day before grand to try a new mark at least

fair play mark for sticking it out and getting your ray

Ah yeh, sorry Brian....forgot my grey gurnard with all the excitement

nice one on the ray shampoo sounds like the weather didnt do yus any favours, summer yea right!!

Yeh roger, was great to get the ray, forgot how f**kin ugly d'em things are, scared the bejaysus out o' me holding him thank god for the more experienced anglers around me

summer.....................have we had it yet .............I'm still waiting

Pic attached

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nice one mark congrads on the thornie really weird looking fish, with funny wee faces

Lovely ray Mark, watch out for those Connemara Hustlers .I worked in Clifden yrs ago, was bored silly every night,no papers till 9pm , rte 1 only ,,,if only id been into fishing then,,,and all those lovely rays beside me

well done nice ray,i would say you are right about the weight,around the 5 lb,if it was the mark on the south of clifden bay,i fished it on Sunday and no ray showed,probably because of all the rain last week,its better on low tide but the water was very brown,still you got the target species,nice one

Lovely ray Mark, watch out for those Connemara Hustlers .I worked in Clifden yrs ago, was bored silly every night,no papers till 9pm , rte 1 only ,,,if only id been into fishing then,,,and all those lovely rays beside me

the Connemara Hustlers got worse since they got the extra channels more educated now

gerry we fished the mark on the northside of the bay on saturday - and it was over low water - well the tides were so small it seemed like lw for 4 hours

will def try it again - awful handy to get to!

Gerry, as Brian said, we fished your mark on the saturday, no ray, but your right about the colour in the water.....it was real mucky.

We fished a little further north on sunday, water was crystal clear....thats were I got the ray.

Dont know does the water clarity/salinity make much difference to the ray.....I'm no expert

have caught them in soup aswell as crystal clear...

Gerry, as Brian said, we fished your mark on the saturday, no ray, but your right about the colour in the water.....it was real mucky.

We fished a little further north on sunday, water was crystal clear....thats were I got the ray.

Dont know does the water clarity/salinity make much difference to the ray.....I'm no expert

the water clarity wont make too much difference to the ray but the salinity will.i think the last day there was too much fresh water at the mark because of all the rain it made the days before,we even had a flash flood late Friday evening,with only 1.5m of a difference between high and low tide there was not enough salt water to push the fresh water back in the bay
this weekend the mark should be good because of the high tides and little rain

if you are heading down this side again let me know and i will tell you if you should avoid the mark or not

gerry we fished the mark on the northside of the bay on saturday - and it was over low water - well the tides were so small it seemed like lw for 4 hours

will def try it again - awful handy to get to!

its the handiest ray mark i know,nice short walk for carrying gear too,and plenty of ray if the water is right,pity the tide was so slow moving that day,hope you have better luck the next time Brian