I fished West Kerry with "Billy the Bass" ,the "dammed "Dave  Desmond and Spider crab Murphy, on Billy`s usual dampen trip to Kerry,I call it his damp weekend because in that part of Ireland one gets very wet ,inside and out. We were very lucky it only rained at night over the weekend and stayed dry during the days. Mostly. It is a beautiful part of Ireland with immense beaches and very craggy rocks with deep water in close ,but Fenit is a headland 7 or 8 miles west of  Tralee at the mouth of Tralee bay where there is a small island with a pier going out to it .Fenit sea world aquarium is there and the reconstructed famine ship "The Jeanie Johnson" is also there.

It is a handsome boat and was built by youths from both parts of Ireland  with professional help. The pier is about a half a mile long and is the longest pier in Ireland with fishing on both sides but most people fish the seaward side because of some potting inside. The place is cursed with Spider crabs up to a pound in weight that can snap a hook in half and did several times over the weekend. We brought 200 Lug, 20 packs of  frozen sandeel and 9 boxes of Squid,a couple of dozen Mackerel, a bundle of frozen sprat and a few Herring we also had 4 Launce I had caught in Cork Harbour with us, all packed in 2 freezer bags within 2 cooler boxes. We had enough bait for a small army. On Friday night we arrived in Castlegreggory about 10.00 at night and we decided to fish the beach nearest us on the Maherees but the weed was terrible so we abandoned the attempt and had a few cups of tea ..........!

 He had a small Thornback @ 2 lbs and a small Undulate Ray@ 3 lbs. as the  day progressed he caught a very nice Thornback for nearly 8 lbs, he ended up with 4 species of ray,Thornback ,Undulate ,Small eyed and Spotted .Tom (Spider crab ) Murphy fished along side us for the 3 days and caught nothing except spider crabs not even a dog. Chris (Billy the bass) Lipinsky tried very very hard not let us see how bad he has become but never quite hid it from us . For all his efforts he only caught 1 small Thorny and of course his own supply of spiders.John Morrison a friend of "Billy`s" arrived down to us on late Saturday and set up fishing not far from his, not long after John caught the smallest Thornback ray we ever saw @ 1 lbs. it did not even cover my hand ,and my hands are not that big,really.I fished about 30 yards beyond Billy and Dave with Tom and although it started very slowly I had a small thorny and a small spotted I thought that I was going to be beaten again by far worse anglers and I hate that. But then at least the blank was broken and I hate the blank worse.

The fish was not happy and to show it he stripped 20 yards of 25lbs Penn line off my good old Shimano speedmaster. I would have lost the fish only for the fighting star drag on the reel and the beef in my Century Vectra match.He pulled and I pulled and prayed the line held, after at least two lifetimes he came to the top of the water and that point I very nearly needed a change of underwear. It was one of the biggest Undulates I had seen. Now Fenit is renowned for specimens of every deep water species with more here than nearly any else in Ireland they have Stingers to 40 lbs and smaller fish that is to say 20lbs regularly  but to every angler his fish is always the biggest and best. Back to my story . I now had the fish on top of the water and 100 yards from the the landward side of the pier, so standing on the wall I started walking towards the nearest shore and asking the kind anglers who were in my way to please reel in and let me walk under them. {and if you believe that bunkum  I can sell you the Titanic} After much roaring and shouting  they were persuaded to move , I can be very persuasive when I have to be.I walked all the way with the fish being not pleased to be going backwards towards the shore to the edge of the pier where that magnificent kind man "the dammed Dave Desmond" climbed over the edge of the pier and down 15 feet to land my beauty. He handed it up to me and was I pleased?,was I what.  As quick as I could I ran  back to the lads shaking like a leaf hoping this was a specimen.I borrowed a car from a lad on the road drove up to the  post office in Fenit where the very nice girl behind the counter agreed to weigh the fish after I did a small bit of crawling. I had to buy a pack of bin liners so not to dirty the shop scales and she weighed it on the certified shop scales. YES YES its in 4.865kg.I got the particulars and serial number of the scales and thanked the nice girl and then back down to the pier, at this stage I was in a rush to get the fish back in the water so we grabbed a half a dozen fast photos and got over the side again to return the ray . I gently returned the fish and waited a few seconds and with a flap of his wings off he went.One happy ray and one ecstatic angler.I was so excited I could not find my black book to get the names and address of the witness .I also misplaced my camera and keys of the car.I found them all later but what confusion.Happy smiles all round but I noticed "Billy " grimace as his bad luck continued ,his trip and beaten again. We fished on but my heart was not in it so about 6.00 p.m. we headed for Castlegreggory and dinner. The theory here was for a few quick lemonades and then down the beach. Well that's the theory, we stayed a little longer than that and then retired to our tents for a little celebration of our own . As the saying goes needless to say we were "not happy campers"the following morning. Very sick and tired we tried Fenit once more to see could we get lucky again, no such luck all we had that day was 1 lsd. and a bagful of those accursed Spider crabs. A long drive back to Cork lay ahead of us so we started back at 2. 00 p.m. and agreed to meet in our local watering hole the Silver Goblet that night .But after that weekend only the battle hardened Dave was able to make it up there.Hard Man.

 

That's what makes angling so much fun, a good weekend in the fresh air , plenty of good "clean" slagging with good mates, a beer or two  not as much as we had  and a few fish to pull your line and get the blood flowing and the heart stopping.

As with any story there has to be an end, mine did not come until 2 weeks later  remember the 4 Launce  we had ?. Well I used 1 over the weekend and forgot about them,came home packed away the gear and cleaned the car ,put the cooler box in the shed without realising the launce had slipped between the layers of a freezer bag I had in the box . Of course the boss at home only goes to the shed to get something 2 weeks later and do I catch it or do I what?. She threatens to ban all my fishing bait from all the fridges .I was a good boy for a while after that I can tell you but she loves me again. Could you blame her I ask myself?

 

Well that's about all . For now.

 

Tight lines and as my small fellow Shane says "catch a big one"

 

Big Bren.