Mike Fox Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 (edited) Having never caught a ray on any of our boats (stealth angling craft) we were recently given some good advice and encouragement by club members Rich and Mad Mike. They both suggested marks in the Swanage area, and mackerel baits (chunks or half fillets), with 6' traces of heavy mono traces (we used 20lb). Well, we gave it a go, and once our "lunch pick" Bruce clone anchor had bitten (which took ages dragging in the gravel), we started getting bites. George had the first fish, a spotted ray, on frozen mackerel, that went 4lb exactly (72.73%), his first ever ray, and on his new spinning rod and reel as well! He didn't stop grinning all the time we were out there, even when his next take proved to be a doggy. I had the next two fish, spotted ray again of just 3.5lb (63.64%) then a smaller one of 2.5lb. Carol had nothing for hour after hour, but her perseverance paid off with an 8lb thornback (61.54%), her heaviest ever fish, and first ever ray. We took advice that these were worth taking, and took this one home. The cloud was well in by then, with drizzle and poor vis, so we headed back into the Swash to try to bag a plaice or two. No joy there, so into the harbour to try one of our sandy marks, but again no good. We tried for flounder up by the Middle Mud, then again in Holes Bay, but flatfish proved elusive. Well, we don't think we have any chance of winning the comp, but it was an interesting day, and a new style of fishing for us - all thanks to the advice from club members. We look forward to seeing what else gets weighed in! Still, we each had a PB today, and confirmed identities online from the photos. Once we had calculated percentages, it was clear that George had the best fish of the day! Mike Edited September 17, 2006 by Mike Fox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Fox Posted September 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 (edited) Carol's 8lb thornback Edited September 17, 2006 by Mike Fox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Fox Posted September 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 and the largest of my two smaller spotted ray of 3.5lb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Martin Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 Well done George, beautiful looking fish arn't they. Maverick launched from Poole and went out in the pea soup which soon cleared. We headed to our favoured and found a spot to sit on. Our tally for the day was Ten Blonde Rays with the heaviset going to Dean at 20lb 6oz. I managed one of 17lb 12oz Reg well Reg came along and enjoyed the ride Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady jane Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 good days fishing 6 species but only 2 ray and unable to weigh due to broken scales. cheers andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afishionado Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 Carol's 8lb thornback Hehehehe The cunning plan worked then Mike A tip with the thornback.......... Cut the wings off and keep them in a cool place (fridge) for a couple of days. They will exude the natural ammonia in their flesh as a slimy liquid. Wash well and skin. They are now ready to cook and the flesh will be sweet and most un-fishlike to the pallet. The two days of rest is vital to remove the rather unpleasant ammonia after tast of the fresh fish. Mad Mike PS I bet you remember that spot now! See you out there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 Slow day for us on Sammy, i managed a undulate of 7 1/2 and a bass of 5lb A few bream thrown in made it an enjoyable day PJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swainiac Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 Firstly, Mike, I'm really pleased that you all caught your target species today, whether is was aided by my advice or not, and to see George with his Spotted Ray, its a cracking fish, well done. Mark B and I fished our first comp on Nipper, not really a red letter day, only one ray n board, to me, a small eyed of just under five pounds. we had scad mackeral, pout, poor cod, Garfish, LSD, Bass, Bream, and the ray, so a few species, most on feathers!! Maybe out for a Stinger tomorrow evening. Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coddy Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 Slow day for us on Sammy, i managed a undulate of 7 1/2 and a bass of 5lb A few bream thrown in made it an enjoyable day PJ Paul, Photo's of your fish Coddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newboy Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 Well, where do I start ..... if I use a hammer to flatten a mackeral, does it count as a flat fish?! Met up with Simon on Wick at 8:00, during the day I caught mackerals, a scad, some small bream, a pout and that's it, not a very good day.I'll let Simon report his catch. The day started off with the sea liked a mill pond, but as the day went by, the wind picked up and became quite rough in the end. Thank you Simon for the ride on Britboard, a lovely boat and hope to fish on her soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coddy Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 Slow day for us on Sammy, i managed a undulate of 7 1/2 and a bass of 5lb A few bream thrown in made it an enjoyable day PJ Paul, Photo's of your fish Coddy Paul your Bass Coddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl/overdraft Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 My day started out bad with my crew staying in bed (ill. Sorry petticoat govt). so not able to fish comp. I eventually made it to dancing ledge with some nice fresh macky. Three Thornbacks biggest 7lb 4oz. 2 lsd. and another string of macky.Headed back to Swanage bay in the merk but no luck there. Back on mooring 4pm, its very different fishing alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
great white Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 Well done guys keep the reports coming My email does not seem to be connecting to the server at the moment, but I will pick them up at work tomorrow Nice to hear a few PB's being broken and some rays were caught Rich sounds like you had a busy day, but its a new one on me feathering for rays Charlie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic Moore Posted September 18, 2006 Report Share Posted September 18, 2006 My mate Shaun met me at Kimmeridge at 7.30 where I met Andy and crew of Lady Jane Who kindly pointed out where to find the mackeral, then we headed out about 7 miles and found a bank to fish the bottom of and were soon into fish. A blond (I think) about 7lb 12oz and Shaun picking up Tope. Then a great battle for me with a 19lb 8oz beauty (blond I guess). It then went pretty quiet and after a couple of moves I sweaked an undulate of about 5lb and shaun's tally was Tope, conger and a few LSDs. A great day on Entiser who performed impecibly and SAFELY retrieved at Kimeridge at 5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic Moore Posted September 18, 2006 Report Share Posted September 18, 2006 This one by far my best Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted September 18, 2006 Report Share Posted September 18, 2006 (edited) Dave, Many thanks for an enjoyable day. Towing Sammy in the fog was a bit nerve racking but the weatherr turned out nice. Great to see so many members out. I was expecting to see more Tope= what has happened to them this year? PJ Edited September 18, 2006 by Paul J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam F Posted September 18, 2006 Report Share Posted September 18, 2006 Well done guys - sounds like some good catches. I was gutted not to have been able to get out - Rachs' birthday unfortunatly... Looks like the big blondes are aorund! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coddy Posted September 18, 2006 Report Share Posted September 18, 2006 Well done guys - Looks like the big blondes are aorund! I hope you are talking about fish! Coddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alun j. Posted September 18, 2006 Report Share Posted September 18, 2006 Just a quick report for the comp........ Terry and I had a good day on Stingray, thanks to Martin's help in putting us in the right area. 7 or 8 Blondes.....most in double fgures..... best went 23 lb. in the net. Weighing the net, swinging in the breeze and dripping ray slime was more difficult....... ranging from 2 to 2lb.12oz....... .....so in time-honoured PBSBAC tradition.......we'll take the low steady fish weight and top net weight to call the fish at 20 lbs. 4 oz. Earlier in the morning I lost one that was much bigger......... after a long scrap the trace broke at the hook....I'm losing my liking for flurocarbon. Alun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Martin Posted September 18, 2006 Report Share Posted September 18, 2006 Well done Alun and Terry. Glad you got into some fish. Alun what breaking strain flouro were you using? I would suggst a minimum 70lb breaking strain line when targeting Blondes. If the fish takes the hook down there grinding pads soon abraid lesser lines. Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncan Posted September 18, 2006 Report Share Posted September 18, 2006 Phaeton's tail was all to predictable after folling Rich's advice re Sat night. Got heavily involved in a party and were still doing the rounds of friends boats on the pontoons at 0200h............. Inevitably this resulted in a somewhat later start than anticipated, no noticable attempt at breakfast and lunch wasn't touched until 2000h that night either! Fishing wise we had our best species hunt ever - which was of course absolutely useless. Cuttle were clearly around and causing much heartache, mackerel were extrememly thin on the ground and the huge gar we aquired didn't attract any interest as bait whatsoever. Final results Rays - 0 Flats - 1 Much to Dave's disgust (at the time) this we beastie decided to play Went only 5lb 14oz but scrapped like a much bigger fish. Maybe next time.............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alun j. Posted September 18, 2006 Report Share Posted September 18, 2006 After last year's experience, I sterpped up to 27 fluro....which broke at the knot. I then switched to 27 lb mono..... which was fine......... but the fish weren't as big as that first one ! I'm learning though....... perhaps I'll go up to 40 next year !! Thanks again Marin for the assistance.....I hope the trophy goes to Dean......he seemed to be fishing hard ! Two nice 4 lb. bass were nice consolation for not having a table size ray to take home............ we put all those big ones back. Alun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncan Posted September 18, 2006 Report Share Posted September 18, 2006 have got to admire these fine snood merchants! sorry you lost the big one Alun but fishing for blondes with a 27lb trace would seem like a recipe for trusting in fate to me. It's not the overall BS it's the resistance to abrasion and nicks from the mouth area pads round to the tail spikes. whatever you cleary got the mark and tactics right from your catch - well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britboard Posted September 18, 2006 Report Share Posted September 18, 2006 As kam states, not a lot happening on "Cimarra" (Britboard is my forum tag Kam) left the Wick at about 08:00 and steamed out behind the island for some bait, nothing, nada not a bite so made our way to "Biggies mark" and soon found some Mackerel. Tried drifting the mark for some Bass Kam got one take which snapped off and nothing for me. Aquafresh was drifting also but disappeared over the horizon after a while, as those boys seem to know what they are doing we figured it was time to head for the ledge. Kam went with squid baited feathers and pulled a few Bream whilst i opted for a 4/0 pennel with Mackerel strips and got nothing but my hooks stripped each drop. After an hour or so of that we headed west a bit and anchored below the coastguard watch Kam stuck with the feathers and got Bream, Pouting and a scad and me with the pennel hooks which were stripped again until a Bass of 2lb 2oz decided it liked my bait thank god for that i thought as it gets difficult to justify to Lynne why i spend time fishing instead of with her if i go home empty handed. Although i have been known to dash to the Mudeford fish stall just to fool her. (hope she doesn't read the forum i don't think she does ) Finally called it a day at about 15:30 and headed in and as the water was lowish i thought i would follow the big boat with twin 225hp engines though the quay the theory being that he would bottom out before me and i would be ok. "Yeah right" another prop please I'm going off Mudeford! Anyhow it was more fun than sitting at home doing chores, thanks for coming Kam and your welcome out anytime. Simon L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afishionado Posted September 18, 2006 Report Share Posted September 18, 2006 Quote.........sorry you lost the big one Alun but fishing for blondes with a 27lb trace would seem like a recipe for trusting in fate to me You are right of course, however last Saturday whilst fishing off Swanage we were getting the odd ray and LSD on the heavy rods but also some hard fighting bream on light tackle (Shimano light carbon rod and Shimano fixed spool with 12lb braid and 8lb mono trace). Whilst I took a pasty break I had left the line in suspecting that the ragworm had been stripped and that all was left was the squid strip. I had seen the rod nod a couple of times, and as I finished eating, I picked up the rod and wallop! Summat was thumping away on the line, well after a slow pumping fight I landed a Thorny of about 8lb which was just lip hooked. Certainly not the baest way to approach ray fishing Mad Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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