day trip to kerry 20/6/10

People:myself and herself

Duration:all day

Tide:mostly on the drop

Weather:sun screen factor 60

Bait:mack & sandeel

Rigs:various

Results: goby's and ray's.. oh and a mackerel




Report:
plans for the day fell through (as they do) so a txt to herself at 8am to see what her plans were.. no plans so after she got an extra hour in bed i got a call sayin on way with spinning rod.. after arrival there was a bit of deliberation on where to go.. waterford bass were dismissed but a mention of kerry saw a twinkle in her eyes, so off to a mark i know fairly well we headed in search of bars of silver and big flat things also known as ray...
now here's a tip for those that have a mark on the sat nav, but havent been there in a few years... expect to go down a few roads that even the road itself didnt know existed.. but good to see the progress on the limerick bypass is underway, and the M18 is a nice road too..
finally got to the mark just before high tide so rods were set up and out they went and then a crowd of young lads decided to jump in the water beside us, regardless of the sign saying NO DIVING if the wall into the water..
i managed to get a goby here, then it seemed the whole family appeared including the extended family and friends to just annoy me..
so a quick throw very thing in the car and move a couple of hundred yards.
this time i changed bait from mackerel to sand eel, and cast out and was fishing the spinning rod close to the bottom with strip of mackerel which seemed to get loads of action, but few results
, then tap tap.. a small goby on the end of the hook. so quick cast out again and this time a whiting what didnt even measure it was so small...after another few hours another goby type critter appeared for me..
just as low tide was in view i heard a familiar sound of ratchet click twice!!
oh fish though.. and a fighter at that..
as i brought it in i knew it was a ray and aa good sized oe at that, what i wasnt expecting was a 10lbs+ undulate ray to surface.. tip#2, make sure you have a heavy snood.. just in case..managed to get the ray below me in the water but ihad a feeling that if i lifted the fish the 10lbs snood would give.. and to the crowds disappointment it went*** ping *** not only a good fish but it would have been my first undulate.. and i have caught nearly every other species of ray here too over the years.. so on with heavier snoods and out with whole sandeel again.. all this time i could see bars of silver swimming up and down past my bait..then the ratchet on her drag went mental as line spooled out from her reel, after a couple of second panic and me sayin tighten the drag, she was into a good fish, it gave such a fight that even i wast sure what it was, ten a mackerel.. and no small mack at that, but a good sized one surfaced.woo hoo, fresh bait is what i thought as she was thinking woohoo...a new species.. fish was landed and i brought in the rig that went out (only the one rod fishing for proper fish) 2 whole sandeel went out again and back to catching crabs, by this stage as the tide was nearly about to turn.. then i noticed a slight tweekt in the tipi of the rod, i
this fish had a bit more weight to it and when it surfaced i knew i was into a good fish, after hand lining the shock leader in i knew nit only my first but PB in ray as well, an undulate of 17lbs 15oz was landed (25lbs snood was required) after a quick photo shoot the ray was released by a new method as i wasnt about to drop it 30 ft below,
pics will be posted tomorrow,, still celebrating a good 2 hours after it was time to head back home too.. a quick stop in tralee for dinner and them home bound

(edit: just went through and corrected my spelling mistakes, new laptop and a few pints in celebration can lead to some very strange spelling)

Nice to add an undulate to the list. Excellent fish at almost 18lb!! Well done.

excellent fish steve.

cracker of a catch there steve, you must be buzzing after that one

Well done on the PB ray steve. Excellent fish.

That,s some ray congrat,s Steve ,
only one ounce of the Irish record.
cheers.

eye candy

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

thats some ray well done

Excellent stuff ladies and gents - sounds like it was a great road trip.
Fantastic ray Steve and a new PB as well, you must be made up. The good old County of Kerry didn't disappoint or let you down which is great. No wonder it's called the 'Kingdom of Kerry' with all that great fishing on offer down there. I can't wait to go back down myself for some more mullet and bass
I might even try the same mark you and herself fished There can be good mullet in that area if you know where to look which I am sure you do. I haven't been there in a while but it's a very good spot Knowing where you where fishing I can now understand how you lost your first ray, it can be a nightmare getting anything up from there, even with heavier line on. I know, I've lost good fish there myself in the past.
It's a shame you's didn't get any bass, it can be good for them there on occasions but sure, there is always next time and I am pretty sure there will be a next time after you's done so well this time.
Did you see any spider crabs lurking about, there's usually loads of them in that area and they can be quite a nuisance as well eating your bait

Did you see any spider crabs lurking about, there's usually loads of them in that area and they can be quite a nuisance as well eating your bait

yip, caught one of them too...

Did you see any spider crabs lurking about, there's usually loads of them in that area and they can be quite a nuisance as well eating your bait

yip, caught one of them too...

Thought so. Oh you've gotta love them.......NOT!

nice one yorkie congrats on personal best shame about the legs and shorts

shame about the legs and shorts

specimen's they are not i'm gonna be in trouble for that one but I couldn't resist

shame about the legs and shorts

specimen's they are not i'm gonna be in trouble for that one but I couldn't resist

ah it was a bad photo angle to see my legs.. yrs of cycling has em toned well...

Beautifull Ray well done

shame about the legs and shorts

specimen's they are not i'm gonna be in trouble for that one but I couldn't resist

ah it was a bad photo angle to see my legs.. yrs of cycling has em toned well...

AAAARGH!! THE MENTAL IMAGE nice fishing by the way!

Sweet as.... sweet as fish of a lifetime congrats

Sweet as.... sweet as fish of a lifetime congrats

Mr. Toner must be chatting to them fish gods, we've both been getting some good fish lately..

Sweet as.... sweet as fish of a lifetime congrats

Mr. Toner must be chatting to them fish gods, we've both been getting some good fish lately..

Funny you should say that I was actually thinking the same thing the other day....

Sweet Ray man well done