Dingle, Co Kerry, last 2 weeks August, bass and ray

People:me

Duration:2 weeks

Tide:all sorts

Weather:pretty good

Bait[/b]:king rag, frozen mackerel, sandeel squid and fresh mackerel

Rigs:1 and 2 hook paternoster and pulley pennel

Results:bass, small eyed, undulate and thornback ray


Arrived Saturday 13th August for a family break and hopefully a bit of fishing.
Weather for the 2 weeks was generally pretty good with mostly light winds. Springs for the first week with weaker tides through the second.

Session 1: Sunday 14th fished local beach in light SW over low water 2200-0200. One bass 3-4lb. King rag.




Session 2: Monday 15th lure fishing over LW at mid-day for an hour and bait fished nearby beach with sandeel for 2 hours of flood after ray but blanked.

Session 3: Tuesday 16th . With mild weather continuing and flat calm decided on an all nighter 0100-0700 up on Tralee bay in search of my first undulate. Fished all of flood. Result caught my first and second undulate ray. Only small at 2-3lbs each but still delighted. Also had lost 2 hooks with baits and eventually caught one of the culprits, spider crabs. Both ray took sandeel/squid wraps.





Session 4 Friday 19th Fished local mark in strong southerly up to gale force. Very similar to earlier in year when I had good bass. Fished 2 hours down and 1.5 up. Blanked. Moved to another beach and fished into darkness. Weed a problem and still a blank.

Session 5 Sunday 21st Weak tides. Fished beach in moderate surf from 2100-00.30. HW at 22.30. One 3 lb bass about an hour into ebb.



Session 6 Monday 22nd weak tides so hit a local rock mark in search of thornies. Fished 2 hours either side of low water. 10+ fish in the 3-6lb range. Flat calm.



Session 7 Tuesday 23rd Fished beach mark 20.00-01.00. HW about 00.30. Small surf, showery. Neap. Two rods one with king rag for bass and the other with a big single sandeel for ray. Hooked 3 small-eyed ray. Landed 2 and lost 1. Two landed weighed 8lb 2oz and 12lb 5oz, a new PB. Almost last cast a 5lb bass on the rag. Excellent nights fishing.







Session 8 Thursday 25th Only a couple of hours so headed back to the small-eyed mark but tides much less favourable. Same as before king rag for bass and single sandeel for ray. Fished 20.00-22.30. Last 2.00 of ebb and very early flood. No sign of ray but 2 bass both on ray baits just as the light went Goes to show if they are about they will take anything. These were just big headless sandeel whipped on.




Session 9 last one. Friday 26th. Early start on fenit at 0600m for a couple of fresh mackerel and then a mark up on Tralee bay. A new one which I had been looking at but never fished before. Arrived by seven and although low tide was meant to be about 0915 I think it was a bit later. Very weak tide as I would imagine it would be difficult to fish on bigger tides, but probably worth a try. Tide hadn’t really gone out far enough but could still get out to mark wading a bit and safe enough. Last couple of hours of ebb nothing and weed a problem. When the tide turned weed disappeared and immediately had bites. Missed the first then connected with a thornie 5-6lb and a dogfish. Fished through until 1030 which was only about an hour into flood. Always nice to christen a new mark with a decent fish.



All in all a really enjoyable couple of weeks. My first undulate and the PB small eyed being the highlights.




Report:

great report francis ,2 weeks in kerry big well done with your new pb ,some really nice
fish and sure sounded like a great holiday

Fantastic all round. Great work. Only a noob fishing wise. You recon night fishing is better for bass rather than dusk?
{edit] Specifically lures/plugs? (Must get my self a headlamp)

super fishing mate and some really nice bass and ray well done on your pb small eye

Seperate the men from the boys some serious fishing there!excellent results cracking pitures and nice one on the pbs!glad you were rewarded for the effort you put in!wow some ray you caught!

tightlines
fergal (dingle here i come)

great report francis ,2 weeks in kerry big well done with your new pb ,some really nice
fish and sure sounded like a great holiday

Thanks Gerry, back down end of September for a weeks fishing on my own. Kids and wife do get in the way

Fantastic all round. Great work. Only a noob fishing wise. You recon night fishing is better for Bass rather than dusk?
{edit] Specifically lures/plugs? (Must get my self a headlamp)

Thanks Rory, If there is a good surf i don't think it matters bait fiishing but with the flat calms i had most of the time night is better. I haven't done but lure fishing after dark but i have had good results at dusk. In darknes i would think a surface lure or one with a rattle might work well. But there are others on here who have more experience of this than me.

super fishing mate and some really nice Bass and ray well done on your pb small eye

Cheers mate

Seperate the men from the boys some serious fishing there!excellent results cracking pitures and nice one on the pbs!glad you were rewarded for the effort you put in!wow some ray you caught!
Thanks, always worth the trip to Dingle although this August was hectic. Never saw it so crowded. It will be quieter whn i am down next month.

tightlines
fergal (dingle here i come)

excelent fishing you put in a lot of time and effort and it came up trumps for u, well deserved and some fantastic fish well done

nice session mate well done.

Well done, sounds like a good few weeks. Not a better place to fish in the country!

Congrats on your new species and new PB's . Nice clear report and photos are excellent, hope to get down there sometime .Markings on the ray are beautiful

Thats what I call a holiday, great report and photos too,well done.

Excellent report, well done. Really wetted my appetite as heading over to Dingle next monday for 8 nights with a couple of mates. Two years since we've been and I can't wait.

Thanks for all the comments guys. It is a lovely part of the world and the fishing can be excellent. I hit it pretty lucky this time and i also know the area pretty well by now as i have been going down a couple of times a year for the last 5 years or so.Still the daylight sessions were poor but then I didn't get a chance to try for a big pollock or wrasse. Definitely will next month.

well done some nice fish great to see heading down tomorrow me and the lads hope to get a few our selfs

super

SERIOUS FISHING DONE THERE LADS

i hear spider crab can be a good bait?????

what can i say francis other than outstanding fishing man . some lovely bass and rays there man well done on the new PB.

Love it Francis, thats some super fishing. Well done on the ray..!

Might try the low water mark when we are down there in Sept/Oct, esp if we get a run of surf.

We are planning to ditch the bait fishing and use plastics and lures all weekend but I might just pick one session and head over.

Let us know if you are about ..!
We're down there last weekend in Sept and first few days of Oct.

Now that's what I call fishing, top top report, fishing and pictures. Very well done, amazing results.

lovely array (oops, sorry.. ) of ray. congrats on the PB.
great photos and great report, thanks for sharing!