2013 trip to county Kerry /limerick with some pictures

[quagmiresdad]

in2013 trip to county Kerry
Set off on our annual pilgrimage to the far west of Ireland on Friday 21st June .7.30pm stena ferry to Belfast. 4 of us,Davy,graham,Brian aka mr miagi,and myself.got into n.ireland on time,talking of tactics marks bait and what to expect passed the time on the crossing,but if any of you have fished over there all the best laid plans can be destroyed in seconds.
First stop was newry for dominos pizza or like me beef curry from Chinese next door to get built up for the next stint to rosscrea 30 miles short of limerick for a Maccy ds coffee and mcmuffin.
Got to the mark we use as a banker on the Shannon to find a due westerly wind blowing along at 30mph plus,no chance of fishing there.westerlies limit where you can fish north Kerry so headed further west to tralee bay to fish a mark we have had limited success at,first fish was a plump flounder to me a good 1lb plus after about 2 hours,graham followed by catching an even bigger one then all went quiet.
Quick confab and it was decided we would tough it out on the other side of the bay on fenit pier.weather to rough for the usual multitude of fluff chuckers so we got set up and baits into the water.as we sheltered behind the volvo Davies rod went,fish on! Good fight and into the side comes one of our target species,an undulate ray of 8lb15oz.10 mins later miagis rod goes and he reels in his first undulate of exactly the same weight. Graham and I fishing like mad for one of the same but only catching LSD s and coconuts with legs.captain sig should set his crab cages here there are loads of large spider crabs here.
3pm and we set off for the digs in lixnaw to get frozen bait into freezer before anything happened to it.everything stowed away, something to eat and into bed for 7pm 36 hours since we last saw one.
Sunday morning,woke up to westerly still blowing through,so it was going to be a chance to try another new mark to us on the Shannon.got there 3 hours before low set up and fishing, rough ground in front of us cost us one or two rigs but Davy still managed a thornie of about 6lb, looking good but didn't bargain on there being an exceptionally low tide,ended up fishing in 2 ft of water in the channel in front of us. What kept us there were the stingrays flapping about in 6inches of water,no wading there.fished the tide back in for 4 hours for me to catch another big flounder and that was it,time for a move again.
Back to fenit pier for another undulate hunt Davy getting a smaller one this time just before dark,miagi decides to fish the inside and gets another undulate of about 2 lb well not one to not be open to change I cast in and 2 mins later the ratchet screams.slack line,you beauty a typical ray bite! Lifts into a good fish fighting like mad and up it comes to the surface a conger of 20lbs plus,graham tries to hand line it up and gets it to the balustrade ,it shakes its head and jumps,the enevitable happens and the line parts and back into the water it goes.
Monday woke up to brilliant day, so it was to one of our favourite marks on the Shannon which wasn't to disappoint with 8 thornies to 8 1/2 lbs and about 30 doggies between us in 6 hours.back to the town for something to eat then back to a high water mark than can produce thornies slightly smaller in size with the chance of small tope.
This place excelled with 4 thornies of 12 1/2,11 1/2,10,and 9lb as well as some dabs.the tide started ebbing like a train and the weed came with it making it just about impossible to fish.
Tuesday we headed over to dingle bay to try of the front there,a new mark for me and one certainly will return to ,we ended up with 9 thornies to about 7 lb,before the tide got too fast.these fish should have been called unthornies as there was a distinct lack of thorns on them compared to the Shannon fish.
Back over the Connor pass not for anyone with a fear of heights (think extreme trucking in the mountains of India) to trallee bay for a go on the storm beaches for ray and Bass,just too much surf and weed so nothing for our efforts there.
Wednesday we went to the world famous inch strand hoping for rays,drove the 3 miles along the beach in the fog to the end.got set up and fishing,missed quite a few Bass bites but still fighting the weed that had been stirred up from the weekend we ended up with some small plaice and flounders.back to the digs and back out later to fenit which resulted in doggies coconuts strap congers and a solitary thornie of about 5 lb.
Thursday was another day of trying new marks with limited success as the west wind got up again 4 thornies and plenty of doggies with the odd flounder to boost the catches.
Friday morning wet and windy off we set to a mark we know you catch congers at,looks nothing when you get there but it's conger city. First bite to me and I am too keen and drop it off on way in,back out 2 mins later fish on conger to about 3 lb,graham gets one about 5 lb so we know they are feeding,more bites and fish diving into kelp and getting off.davy meantime is catching doggies,gets another bite and latches on to a conger of 16.3 boy did that eel have attitude never seen a more bad tempered one in a long time when it was brought ashore fun and games to get it weighed but returned unharmed to fight another day.suprise of this mark was Davy catching a ling of just over a pound.moved on to a mark just up from where we saw the stingers with incessant rain comming down dampening everyone's enthusiasm.that bad it was washing the waterproofing out of my wet weather gear.davy landing a 6lb bull Huss nice surprise to end our trip over there again,so it was back to the digs and start packing for the 6 hour run back to the ferry at 7 am.
Next year we are for a change,heading to the beara peninsula to try our luck so if anyone knows any marks there we would welcome any information
Alan

Sorry for rambling on but there was that much crammed into one week the report doesn't do it justice
my thanks to gf kelly and donal domeny for information and meeting roger de doger from here,
Some pictures of the trip will post more when graham gets round to sending them

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Last edited by quagmiresdad on Thu Dec 19, 2013 6:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Some more pictures

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Conrgats on the fishing and a very good report..

Great report. Amazing trip and good happy photos. You can put a slash on the title. Kerry / Limerick. That part where you have happy faces seemed to be in Limerick not yet Kerry, then again I maybe wrong.

Tight Lines!

Interested to know where the low water mark with stingers on the Shannon was??

Nice fishing by the way.

Savage fishing lads, some fine Ray there.

My apologies to the good anglers of limerick for getting the county wrong.
Alan

Great results and a great report

Some more pictures

some lovely fishing there lads..good stuff!!!

twas a pleasure to meet you lads ,even if it was a bit embarrassing being recognized by a bunch of lads you never met before not to mention getting to the mark about 3 hours too late you,ll be glad to know after 4 months working down on shannon side i kinda got the knack of ray fishing to be honest i miss those prickly little critters nearly as much as i miss the best pints of Guinness and hospitality of foynes ,still their is no place like home and no fish like pin whiting