Galway Bay

[pauljordanie]

I'm trying to decide on location for some fishing off my boat in Galway Bay. I can get to the north side of the bay just as easy as the south side (North Clare side). Does anyone have any advise as to which side I should go from with regards to slipway access and fishing potential? I'll be fishing for macks and pollack.

[stevecrow74]

For mackerel in the bay just look out for bird activity on the water, that's usually a good sign for surface fish. For pollock you'll need to look out for rocky outcrops, weedy areas and any other patches of ground where the fish can take cover for ambush.
For slipways it depends on what side of the bay you are coming from and how far your willing to travel on the water.

[pauljordanie]

Thanks. I'll be coming from Ballinasloe side, so can head for either side of the bay. Don't fancy travelling miles on the boat and prefer to do the miles getting to the correct slipway. From a vehicle pulling a trailer point of view and slipway quality which would be the side of the bay to get on the water from? I see a couple of slipways around Oranmore side but does that mean travelling miles on boat before coming across fish? That area of the bay looks very shallow and very sandy. I have a fishfinder/GPS and have experience sea fishing.

[stevecrow74]

The inner bay produces fish, but not of any large size, pollock can be got around deer island, and I reckon around the Henry ledges may hold fish. After that yould be heading out from the slipway before carraroe and heading to areas on the north shore, there seems to be little or no reports from barna to spiddle, could be worth checking out, same with the inner Bay Area.
I'm just waiting to get my boat on the water to check out the inner bay for ray, tope and other species

[Tackleholic]

Hi lads.
The slip near the new sailing club on the east side of the docks is very handy. Turn left before harbour hotel, turn left and left again. Cross the bridge over the river that flows from Lough Atalia and turn right. Slip sion right hand side right across from Nimmos pier. Enough water to launch/retrieve at pretty much all tides. Plenty of Pollack to 1.5 lbs at the moment. Mackeral scarce but will improve in next few weeks. Inner bay worth exploring for ray near Renville. The black rock marker out from silver strand is worth a spin. Take care on low water as v shallow. Plenty of weed cover and rocks. Has produced good Pollack to 5 or 6 lbs on silver spinners. Typically later in summer round evening time. Still getting used to fishing the bay but confident that we'll pick up a few more species this summer not too far from Galway city.

[agardiner22]

the clare side is great for pollock, lots of dropoffs and rocky ground close to ballyvaughan where the slip access is great. out by the islands there is savage fishing to be had

[pauljordanie]

Took a spin out to Spiddal, but couldn't get access to the slipway as locked over head barrier! The tide was out so no use anyway. Barna the same so back to Galway to the new slip way that is not tide dependent to get on water. Very frustrating to drive somewhere and not being able to access because of locked over head barriers. I fished the inner bay and caught a few mackerel but they are still scarce.

Does anyone launch into Galway bay where the slip way is not tide dependent and accessible at all times, other than the sailing club, either from Galway or Clare side?

[pauljordanie]

I went to Spiddal and the over head barrier was closed! Couldn't get access to the key neither. Regardless, both Spiddal and Barna are tide dependent and couldn't launch. I ended up going back to Galway docks and launching at the new slipway which you can launch at all times. Caught a few macks but that was it. Does anyone know of any other slipway which is not so much tide dependent in Galway or Clare. Is the slip at Ballyvaughan tide dependent for launching?