With the spell of pleasant weather and water temperatures beginning to warm up the annual migration of thornback rays are making their way currently up the Swilly Bay in Co Donegal giving anglers plenty of opportunities to catch such an elegant creature. Thornback rays fish best in the Swilly from late May to early September and can be caught on a number of patterns of rigs but we recommend a pulley pennel rig fished hard on the bottom for simplicity and presenting two hooks each side of a medium to large sized bait
The Lough Swilly Bay holds well beyond 20 species (many of which are specimens) making it a complete anglers paradise.
At the moment there is a good variety of conger eels currently being landed (none yet reported to double figure weight) which is fantastic for this time of year. We find congers fish best in the Swilly from September onwards using large fish baits on a heavy duty running ledger rig.
Wont be long surely before the elusive tope hits the bay in the near future!
Be sure to check out where I give an in depth demonstration how to fish for Thornback rays in Lough Swilly and be sure to secure any rigs with us for your trips ahead.
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