Mike Fox Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Frisky Fox fished the comp on a small bank a few miles South of Poole/Bournemouth, specifically targeting small-eyed rays. We have never had any before, but every other deliberate ray session this year has drawn a blank. We had read up on the techniques, and arrived with plenty of bait. We first anchored up in 60' of water, but it was like Crufts down there! Doggie after doggie (Corky would have loved it!). Eventually, we decided to move, and found a shallow part of the same bank in 50' of water, where the tackle could slide down the bank with tide into the gully if needed. We had a few more dogs, George had two lovely bass on mackerel chuunk and whole squid, of 2lb and 2.5lb, which were both gently returned. Eventually, just after the ebb got going properly, George got into a proper fish, and boated a beautifully marked 3lb 11oz small-eyed ray - the first any of us had ever seen, and this was slipped back gently as well. Definitely George's day! No more ray to report, and no flatties in the harbour later. chatted with Sammy and a few other boats on Ch6 through the day - but sounds like ray were elusive for many. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 (edited) Nice one Mike, the rays were out there but I think the competition with the dogs was too much! Catch report for JoJo was: Dogfish after dogfish then.........I had a proper bite....10lb2oz Small Eyed Ray was netted (the fish came just as Coddy radio-ed Frisky Fox to advise the rays had come on the feed! Thanks Dave). Thanks to Paul Rowcliffe for crewing, unfortunatley he didn't hook his first ray, but there is always next time. Rob Pic to follow shortly, once I have put the boat away! Edited October 15, 2007 by rob francis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corky Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 well done mike, glad to hear you got to see a small eye even if the boy did show you how Had a good day today messing around trying to get to know some of the marks you showed me on sat - we caught the following Good size plaice (at that first mark you pointed out and said it held plaice !) several small bream a few school bass a red mullet 2 gurnard dozen or so mackerel poor cod and pout 2 species of wrasse some kind of ugly bleny type thing a cuttle fish (poole patch) that made ell of a mess! all in all a really good selection and some nice fish. Had to spend best part of an hour trying to get rid of all the cuttle ink, never again will one of those little sods get aboard my boat ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul D Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Chris, How big was your plaice ? - ( it is eligible for the comp )., Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corky Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 it was 2lb 8 oz Paul - but to be fair it fell to darrens rod (soon to be a club member but not yet) and i hadnt booked in for the comp , we were just out there enjoying the day I will be booking in for the open in december !!! thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Martin Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 "Awol" had a reasonable day in the glorious weather. Alun landed several Undulate Rays with the largest going 15lb 8 oz with myself specialising in Blonde Rays ( well gentlemen prefer Blondes ) my best going 14lb 8oz. We also had Bream to 3.75lb and conger to 25lb A very enjoyable and at times hectic day in good company. Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alun j. Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 What a nice day; What a good boat; What a great skipper !!!! He always puts me on the fish!!! Two years ago we , had a great day on Maverick.........and today was just as good and rewarding and the weather was glorious [ topping up the tan!!] With all the tide, we spent much more time moving about..........but it was fun and we had action everywhere [ even sorting tangles was OK as it was flat calm !]. We seemed to get the rewards\luck to match our experience....inshore, it was me that stuck into the fish........offshore, Martin was the one who found many more blondes........shame they weren't as big as the area can produce; nevertheless 14.5 of spotty battling in the tide took some arm-aching retrieving! Thanks again Martin for a brilliant day; enjoy your Holiday later this week, Alun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fugazi Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Fugazi had a good days fishing with plenty of dogfish and pout on the ray mark and then closer inshore where half a dozen table size bream a couple of bass and a few mackerel made it a good day out in the sunshine, but no ray's or bream. Gordon H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coddy Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 I went out to my Ray mark which has proved good to me before. This time, however it turned into dog city! Bill was king of the dogs plus a couple of mackeral. I was similar but no mackys but I did manage a ray ...................... see picture for size! Must have been all of 8ozs of blonde Nice day out however and good to hear others managed to find some better fish. Coddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fisherman1055 Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Miss Daisy , Merry Fisher 695, ( posibly to be renamed) had her first competition with the club. I went out with Peter Russel around the purbeck coast to try her out as a fishing platform. She handled like a dream and did not get upset by comments from Nipper about Gin Palaces. Unfortunately no Rays today but caught Bass, Smoothhound, Wrasse, makeral, Garfish, Conger, Dogfish and a Trigger. Truely a boat for species competitions. A good day was had by all Tony Deavin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprinter Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 Catch report for Chancer Mark took us out to get some bait but we drew a blank so a quick run from Bournmouth to Swanage race provided us with half a dozen mackerel, a Gar and a Jon Dory (which was small and went back in the oggin unharmed). After grabbing the bait we headed south in search of a suitable Ray site, The tide was howling through and i thought i would use my 12lb rod and Abu 6500 as i have not yet christened them, with 12lb line and a 1 lb weight 100 foot down i went. Neither of us had anything and Mark pulled up and asked me to do the same in preperation for a move. When i tried to pull in i realised that a 12LB rod and light weight reel on light line was not big or clever and that depth or state of the tide, I struggled and puffed and panted for the better part of 10 mins with the rod bent double only to find out that as the weight came into site so did a 11lb 6oz Bull Huss I didnt know that fish was on so i was shocked stunned and pleased that there was nothing wrong with my gear, although im not sure how i got it up on that light tackle. After a quick photo shot using Marks phone the Huss went back in to fight another day. We moved back into the Harbour and ,Mark pulled up a couple of plate sized Plaice and i drowned a few more worms, In summery a good day with glorious weather and good company. Rod and Reel truly christened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 nice catch lads well done out of curiosity what won the comp?? p.s if you want a laugh get corky to take you cuttle fish catching how much ink can these little beautys hold cos the one that sprayed all of us had tons of the stuff , think the police should squirt this in stead of pepper gas it certainly stopped us dead in our tracks i also scooped my first ever plaice was well chuffed 2lb 8oz on my first cast of the day (going to be eaten tonight) also got a couple of other species never had before, 3 schoolie bass one day ill catch a decent 1 an all round good sesh and fantastic weather couldnt have asked for more FISH ON!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul D Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 out of curiosity what won the comp?? Haven't got all the results to hand at the moment. Will sort the final scores out on Tuesday or Wednesday, however, I suspect that AWOL may have clinched it again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afishionado Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 I went out to my Ray mark which has proved good to me before. This time, however it turned into dog city! Bill was king of the dogs plus a couple of mackeral. I was similar but no mackys but I did manage a ray ...................... see picture for size! Must have been all of 8ozs of blonde Nice day out however and good to hear others managed to find some better fish. Coddy Was that a fish or a sporran? Mad Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl/overdraft Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 It seems Overdraft didn't fair much better than most. A superb day to be out but no Rays or flatfish to report. Tried banks off Swanage with dog after dog. Managed two Bream upto 2LB 10OZ. And then into the harbour on the way home for 1 1/2hrs trying the flattie bash but no return. Still never mind will try again another day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncan Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 with the weather matching the forecast to the mph and degree and a full load of bait Dave and I set out with AWOL on the annual pilgramage to RAY. as they provide fantastic sport all year round it is always a good target from all our waters. inevitably having spent a small fortune on bait we found plenty of fresh maccy straight away (well they were thin on the ground but we had time to burn before our scheduled 'start time') once Nipper and AWOL were catching (bait) we headed off to the first mark. screwed up slinging the hook the first time so decided to redo it - start of a lot of up and down anchoring that day! anyhow 1000h and it's lines down, 1002h and the rod nods the first time, and AWOL arrives as I am discussing the merits of a sun tan with an undulate! for some reason they choose to anchor slose by on the same contour........... anyhow this proved the last fish there and we moved on schedule to our second mark in deeper water. anchoring we found the tide a little ahead of schedule and easing already. hook down, baits down, sandwich open..........rod nods.....of we go again anyhow whilst Dave hooked into a nice conger that gave him and his tackle a 32minute work out in the strong ebb tide the big rays refused to play and 2lb+ was struggling to hold bottom sensibly so it was back in. nothing - moved even further in to see if the triggers would play; nope got bored headed out for a last chance at the rays but at the time our allotted 7hours expired we hadn't made much progress other than a nice bass that wanted to play. staying out in the wonderfull weather we hooked up to a few congers but no more rays........and not a dogfish in sight all day! back in at 2100h after a great day on the water nice to hear so many boats out on the water enjoyoing themselves Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conger king Posted October 16, 2007 Report Share Posted October 16, 2007 what was the result for the comp please someone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncan Posted October 16, 2007 Report Share Posted October 16, 2007 I am sure Paul will post once he has had returns from everyone booked in for the event. It may take a few days for some given logistics - I believe the 'time limit' is a week? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
great white Posted October 16, 2007 Report Share Posted October 16, 2007 Nice reports Guys thanks It is great to catch up on how the fishing is going. I have to sneak a look at work as time is busy at home between working on the boat, chasing up parts and of course enjoying the Rugby Charlie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conger king Posted October 16, 2007 Report Share Posted October 16, 2007 thanks for info will wait and see Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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