Wicklow Sea Fishing, Ray Start to Show

Sea fishing in May can be hit and miss on Ireland’s east coast as fish begin to return after their spawning migrations, the shallow banks off north Co. Wicklow being a classic case in point. Last Sunday Kit Dunne’s charter vessel Lisin 1 had a red letter day catching numerous tope, huss, smooth hound, and ray, seventy two hours later the fish play hard ball, but hey that’s fishing.

A homelyn or spotted ray for Wicklow based charter skipper Kit Dunne.

A warm southerly breeze flattened the sea as we cleared the pier head following coordinates to a mark that would see us drop mackerel and squid baited hooks into a flooding tide with a view to catching a few more early season animals. Very quickly it became apparent that a repeat of last Sunday’s performance was definitely not on the cards. Bites were slow with only a few doggies, small whiting and dabs coming aboard during the first two hours.

Myles Howell raising a thornback ray up from the deep.

As the flood eased doggies became more frequent and a heavy lean on my rod signaled something more interesting. Lifting into a resistance that certainly wasn’t dog like, shortly afterwards a welcome spotted ray came into view, quickly netted and photographed before being returned whence it came.

A nice thornback ray for Irish International angler Myles Howell.

A change of mark over slack water to catch the first of the ebb resulted in a nice thornback ray for Irish International angler Myles Howell. One swallow doesn’t make a summer though and as the ebb increased so the fishing tailed off except for an odd doggie. That’s May fishing for you, in another few weeks all will be different as smoothies, huss, tope, and ray become well established and the mackerel start to appear.

To book a day out on Lisin 1 contact Kit Dunne by ringing +353 (0)87 6832179 or email through the Wicklow Boat Charters website, www.wicklowboatcharters.ie.

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