Paddy's Thornie Issue

Was up at the crack of dawn yesterday to go on a bass mission , once I got there though the wind and the strong tide were working against me so I pulled the plug and went out to Old Head doggie bashing for a few hours , got 3 of them ( or was it the same one 3 times ).
That wasn't enough for me though and when Paddylav said he'd come out in the evening I jumped at the chance .
Met up with Paddy who was just there ahead of me and could only fish one rod coz one of his reels had gone belly up . Got set up myself with the 2 rods just as Paddy was getting a knock on the rod , we weren't sure was it a fish coz there was a bit of weed in the vicinity , so Paddy was pleased to see 2 small ray breaking the surface , catching them was the easy part for him though , honestly I nearly had to beat him to get him to hold them up for a picture . I decided to bring in my rod that was out at distance with a sandeel on a pulley , felt a bit of weight on and thought it was weed myself right to the end until it broke the surface a couple of yards out , then came a heart stopping moment , Paddy went down to get a hold of it . I thought to myself " If you f*** this up you're going in after it " . He rose to the occasion (with a squeal ) though , nice thornie about the 5lb mark .
Credit where credits due though , I was fishing 2 rods and Paddy only one rod and he was bringing in the fish , he had 3 doggies and 6 whiting when I was getting nothing.
Got a few whiting myself and one of them came back dead and badly mauled , a big bite taken from round the gill area , I had the same thing happen last year in the same venue .
Eventually I connected with another ray , taken at distance , a beautifully marked one at that . We left about 9ish , a good 4 hour session behind us and looking forward to seeing more ray

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

well done brave heart nice photos of the fish and the back ground

Nice going gents great to see a couple of decent raymonds coming in... on the mauled whiting myself and Vinny had some nice ray there using fresh whiting fillets as bait worth a chuck next time

Nice going gents great to see a couple of decent raymonds coming in... on the mauled whiting myself and Vinny had some nice ray there using fresh whiting fillets as bait worth a chuck next time

Will give it a go the next time , always overlooked them as potential bait

Got a few whiting myself and one of them came back dead and badly mauled , a big bite taken from round the gill area , I had the same thing happen last year in the same venue .

Seals do the same thing down in Kinsale. Lots of pups around this year eating all my fcuking fish!

Perhaps they are the culprits in your case too?

nice session there,good to see the rays showing up all around the coast at the minute,lets hope its a good sign for the future.

Great day out i have to say, my thornies were killer ones and yours were little girls thats why i was carefull !!!hhhhaaaaahhhhhaaaa my arms are still sore from pullin all those fish in while you were scratching!!