A great week end’s fishing was had in south Wexford by Conchuir Mac Eochaidh. Conchuir reports that the waters have really heated up over the course of the week resulting in a spike of activity. Some small Herring (caught on sabiki rigs), gurnards, whiting, 5 thornback ray and 11 smoothhound were caught over the two day session.
This 15lb female thornback ray was caught on Saturday after a hard 10 minute fight on 20lb class gear. Bait of choice was a live whiting bridled on a 6/0 O’Shaunaghsy hook on a 7 ft flurocarbon trace. Conchuir advises vigilance when using this rig for rays as despite the size of the hook the rays can swallow the bait quite deep. 3 other ray of 5 & 6 and 12 lbs were caught over the course of the weekend on the same bait and rig. In addition a small 3lb male was tagged and released on the Sunday.
All 11 smooth hounds caught were tagged and released, each of which fell to crab baits.
