) Fishface called me to change the venue to Arklow. Although we have had some Smoothies there ,,,the odd one or two,, it has really disappointed this year. Usually you can count on it for plenty of fish but a few hours into the session on a rising tide into darkness all we had to show for our efforts were a couple of pins and a small flounder 
. I got to the stage where I said i'd be glad to get a doggie and lo and behold one was landed 
. Neil held out hope for a Ray and as darkness fell about 9pm he got a solid pull on his rod and lifted into a small Ray.
I was sick as a pig cos I knew he wouldn't shut up about it for weeks but at least I had plenty of crab left
I lashed out crab after crab to no avail ,,meanwhile Neil was lifting into another Ray,,,a bigger one this time .
It wasn't all plain sailing for him though because as he unhooked the fish it took a chunk out of his little pinky. It was sad seeing a grown man cry and I won't post any photos of him blubbering but I would have taken his pain for one of those Raymonds (and not blubbered
) Both fish swam away strongly. I'll post some pics of his Rays and of his expert unhooking methods (do not try this at home ).
I'm also putting up a pic of my Smoothie last week just so he doesnt get too much of a big head
. Think i'll go back to minibashing for a while 
