dingle peninsula

[bradley]

People:5

Duration:7 days

Tide:various

Weather:mostly westerly windy rain on/off

Bait:mackerel,sandeel,lug&crab

Rigs:various

Results:27 species between us including painted,sting and thornback rays,ballan,corkwing,cuckoo and goldsinny wrasse,sea trout,plaice,turbot,conger,pollack etc


Report:A good weeks fishing despite adverse weather.Caught my first stingray at Castlegregory 19LB,my friend had one at Derrymore 12LB.Lots of painted ray at Castlegregory with odd small Bass and the usual plethora of Dogs.Brandon beaches fished terrible.Inch fished well for a variety of flatfish although nothing big,one sea trout here 1lb8oz and lost a bigger one,my friend had a 2lb8oz at ventry on a failed cast whilst picking out a birds nest!.Plenty of Conger action in Dingle harbour to 27lb with a good variety of smaller species to be had ,we even had two near double figure thornbacks from the marina whilst fishing for congers!.Slea head fished well one day for Pollack up to 5lb Wrasse fishing very slow,the next day at the same spot nothing at all?.Dunmore head did not fish well although we fished it in a fairly strong nw wind and the ammount of pots didnt help.This was also a problem at Slea head I watched as a trawler dropped a line of 24 pots over a distance of 600yds only 50yds out in front of where we were fishing.Good session at Trabeg one Turbot and Dab at 1Lb and lots of Flounders.The estuary is full of Sea Trout and Salmon which were jumping regularly needless to say we didnt catch any!

[Adam S.]

Found dunmore to be a bit of a challenge too, see my post below, it only fished well for us early morning and from dusk into darkness . When we fished it during the day it was slow going (even for wrasse)


Adam

[bradley]

Hi Adam,we fished Dunmore head 6-9pm and only had 1 pollock,1 wrasse and 4 mackerel,conditions seemed ideal , obviously the fish thought otherwise!.I see you had some great Wrasse,we have struggled to catch good sized Wrasse over the last couple of years,where exactly did you catch them?

[RobertMcClean]

When you say you got Thornies in the marina where exactly where you fishing into to, I take it you were fishing for Congers at the hot water outflow and casting into the marina, what stage of the tide did you get the thornies/congers there?

[bradley]

We were fishing on the breakwater about half way up casting into the middle of the channel towards the moored boats , both Thornbacks were caught early evening on a flooding tide as were most of the Congers.All fell to fresh mackerel.

[Adam S.]

Hi all

I think there are congers all over the marina, both sides (where the commercial boats are and where the yachts are) we have caught them in all the spots we have fished there.

the thornies come and go if thats what you want i would advise fishing back out in the bay rather than the marina for numbers and quality ( use a big bait like a big makerel cone or a good strip of fillet to help with the crabs and target the bigger fish). I have found the three hours up to high water and an hour and a half down to fish best.

bradley, we got a few nice wrasse at dunmore and at slea head on crab but they were in among a lot of small fish. got a better stamp around brandon creek. but the ricks can be a bit dodgy

Adam

[Adam S.]

The rocks can be dodgy too , never mind the ricks :lol:

[RobertMcClean]

Adam, where abouts in Brandon creek were you fishing? Did you fish the pier or go over the front and down the rocks, its fairly dodgy around there for climbing around!!

[Adam S]

Hi Robert

Yes it is extremely dodgy to say the least, but the rocks do fish very well. I would only attempt them in very calm dry weather, with a long rope and never ever by myself. Im not advising anybody to try fishing there as it is dangerous and some big rollers can come in due to the creek acting as a funnel. a number of people have been washed off the rocks here. only a mark for light loads of gear ( which i would pass down with a rope ) and fit people who are good climbers. a local to point the way would be advisable

Another ( and safer) option would be the rocks to the left of the pier as they can be explored a bit more easily, its a bit of a trek through the fields to get to them, but the wrasse here are good quality.

Adam

[RobertMcClean]

Hi Adam,

Yeah I have been down there a lot but never actually fished it, its probably one spot of the peninsula that we have not fished by shore. We got out to the front of it in March by boat and had some great Pollock Coalie and Wrasse bashing, it looks great and the features on the fishfinder were very interesting to say the least. Did you every fish inside the Creek, where its shallow, looks like a model for Congers and Mullet?

[Adam S.]

Hi

yeah have been out in a boat around there myself and there are some lovely reefs and drops about that hold a lot of pollock, some of them within casting distance of the shore.

I have fished insie the creek a few times but have never seen any mullet. have had pollock to 8lbs there on float fished sandeel. on the bottom we have never had much luck there for conger, nor have any of the english lads that i know that have fished there ( but you can get them from he outer rocks alright) . all we have had of note on the bottom baits are some really big rockling

[Liamo]

Lads,

The whole marina in Dingle is full of congers as Adam S pointed out. The rocks at the back of Garveys supermarket are full of big fish as well.

There are plenty of congers within the creek at Brandon, there are two marks on the eastern shore, head up over the pier, one about half ways out and another almost at the mouth. They are seriously lethal to get down to though and the congers I've had there have never been particularly big. There is also a rock mark outside on the headland facing seawards. Not as dangerous to get down to but a nice long steep climb.

Coalies to 4lbs can be taken here too, you can often see them cruising around the pier. The locals refer to them as black pollack. The only successfull way I've ever had of catching one is livebaiting with small live blennies, thnik they might be too well fed....dunno

Be warned this place is f*$king lethal. The last time I was at Brandon Creek we were charter fishing with Sean O'Connor from Ballydavid, our day got cut short as we spent it searching for a guy that got washed in off the rocks here (outside at the headland mark). This story doesn't have a happy ending, you really get your eyes open when you see this happening in reality man, sickening.

Liam

[John D]

Hello Bradley,

I have just read your post. What do the trawlers target so close in with pots ?

Liamo,

I like your signature. That's deep man, very deep.

John D

[bradley]

Hi John D

I think that they are after eddible crabs,saw a trawler off load their catch in Dingle harbour one evening they had 6-8 boxes of them.

[Liamo]

Thanks John!

Found it on the internet somewhere, though it was pretty "deep" meself man!!!

[Irish_Shamrock]

I don't get it man! :?

[John D]

Hello Irish_Shamrock,

Is it Liamo's signature you don't get ?

John D

[Guest]

Jesus lads get back to the fishing and relax with the Greek Methodology, lets discuss F**king "Pot Boys", people are talking about getting washed off rocks etc, what about the pots which are everywhere around Tralee bay, Brandon etc, we nearly lost our lives last year because a surface rope attached to a pot tangled in our prop and started pulling the boat down due to the tide and sheer weight of the pots attached to it, i had to jump off and cut the rope, otherwise we could have sunk!!!!, I have to say its the most brainless profession of our lifetime!!, and for the imbeciles who leave ropes unsubmerged they should be brought out and put in the same predicament as we were, If I see ropes on the surface again its out with the Knife!!!