All the SHANNON ESTUARY reports

Fished Foynes "beach" 12th may 04 hour and a half either side of low tide (8pm) onto clean ground in hope of rays with frozen mackerel as bait with out so much as a bite. Moved to Dirty ground for end of session with mackerel heads and in 5 minutes was playing a conger that was bending my rod in a U bend. Ended up losing it on a snag.

Donagh

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Last edited by Dave_B on Mon Jun 07, 2004 9:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

Fished Carrig Island west from the rocks from Low tide to High tide.
Bait used was Sandeel, Mackeral, Squid, Lugworm ( When we open the freezer that morning we notice that a fuse had blown and were greeted will a lovely smell )
We caught 3 dogs and 1 Bull Huss ( 7/8lbs )
2 dogs were caught on Sandeel, 1 was caught on Mackeral
Huss was also caught on Sandeel.

All fish were caught in about a 15 minute burst, other than that very quiet.

Fished the pier in glorious sunshine from low water 2 pm -high 8 pm. Hoping for ray , we lobbed large mackerel baits into the bay from the pier. However, the mackerel was frozen and when thawed was quite skanky. No bites except a solitary doggie.
In desperation , we rigged up a few whole mackerel baits on a conger trace and fished tight to the pier, but again with so much sunshine, didnt hold out much hope. Happily, the conger hadnt read the script where they only feed in darkness. We nobbled two conger, of around 8 pounds and one of fourteen. Great sport. We also missed a couple of definite runs.

Highlight of the day was the monkey in the boat who ran across our 3 lines when speeding away from the pier. I managed to save two rods as they catapulted from the pier but my own torpedoed off across the bay.Although the idiots did manage to fish my out fit out after untangling their props, my reel is now seriously ill and requires a complete strip job if its ever to revolve again
On the whole, a nice day out, but we will be returning for a serious conger trip at night in the near future
Keep ya posted
Bigkev

Try the old wreck near Carrigaholt its situated along the shoreline near the Irish college you will see a rusty structure sticking out of the water its an old ship wreck there is a hole there where you lob your whole mackerel into and I have seen fish upto 30lbs taken out of it .

Fished from 7pm until 12.30pm with high water at 7.30
Dave_B and I arrived at the pier armed with a couple of conger rods and a bag of frozen mackerel. Legering half mackerel up against the pier legs produced 5 runs, 4 hooked fish and two landed conger in the first hour.Fish of nine and fourteen pounds respectively. The couple of fish we lost were substantially larger, if unseen.
Then , as the tide ebbed, all went quiet until Dave nobbled a thornback of 6 pounds at midnight. Strangely, no conger bites at all after dark

PS Im really into this conger lark now, very tough and strong fish with a great fight

We fished foynes from 7pm to 12.30am.(High water approx 8pm )
Within the first hour we had landed to Conger (7lbs and 13lbs Mackeral) and lost another 2.
Everything went quiet from then until the last cast when we landed a Thornback ( 5lbs Squid ).
Bait used was Fozen Mackeral and Squid.

I cant help but notice youve made my fish smaller Dave
Kev

[Donagh]

Started out fishing for an hour on the old pier with only crabs to show switched to the ferry pier at around 8pm. Caught a small stap early on. Caught a conger around 8 pounds (guess) around around half nine. The bloke I was fishing with caught a real monster around 10pm but he bit through his trace before landing. Plenty of missed runs afer dark. High tide was around half nine and mackerel was the bait.

Donagh

Last edited by Donagh on Fri Jun 25, 2004 10:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

High tide 11pm- bait mackerel
Fished for conger in driving rain. Not a bite-amazed as last week had been so productive
Kev

Fished mackerel for conger. Again not a bite. Summary- 3 trips with one bright evening producing 6 runs and nowt else other two days
Except for Dave_B who has a habit of catching thornbacks where he really shouldnt
Daves last thorny - a microray the size of my palm, took squid and mackerel cocktail on a size 6/0 hook intended for conger
Kev
Next conger trip is a night trip to fenit

[Donagh]

Fished tarbert main pier from 9pm until 11:45 pm. Low tide after 11pm. Tide was very strong. Caught first conger (8lb) after 10pm. Had 3 runs after that with one well into double figures, one failed hook up and one that kept my tackle.

Donagh

Last edited by Donagh on Thu Jul 01, 2004 10:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

Fished half mackerel baits against the pier legs for conger. One fish took my bait and swam around my other line. Oh the excitement, I thought I had two fish simultaneously. In the ensuing confusion and tangle , I lost the bloody fish.
Then nothing until the death, when I nobbled a thornback of 5 pounds
This conger lark is very hit and miss. Im taking donaghs advice now and planning a trip to Tarbert.