southbourne, may 8th

[geejayy]

with too many choices as to venue i set off and thought about it on the way eventually settleing for southbourne , coz i was thinking about turbot. and bass , and maybe smalleye ray,

with all night to relax i thought i best start wi a beer and so the 1st port of call was the grange hotel for a swift pint of ringwood.
then down to the beach.
it was a cracking evening and conditions looked promising , a warm overcast night ,spring tide and calm seas.



i set my self up with my light(er) rod fishing a 2 hook flapper useing mackerel and squid cocktails and the awb with a pennel pulley useing double sandeel and squid , hopeing for a ray .(only had small eels)
5oz plain leads seemed to hold ok.

i sat there lazing in the sun for 1/2 hour or so b4 decideing to check my bait, i'd seen no bites , the flapper was untouched so a quick rebait and check the awb , i'd noticed that it had swung round in the tide abit but when i struck there was a little weight there, weed? spider crab? but then it gave a little kick .
as it hit the beach i was chuffed to bits coz it was a little turbot


at 30cm it looked tasty, but i dunno min size and as hook removal was easy back it went.
with hightened interest i fished hard till midnight with just 2 or 3 pout to show for my efforts, thing were slow and my interest waned never the less i fished on , as it was good to be out in pleasant conditions just the odd light shower ,warm,comfortable and the beach to myself.

about o1.30 the awb had swung in the tide again, or thats what it looked like, i'd seen no bite .
this wee beasty fought like a demon all the way in , i was hopeing it were a bass but it didn't feel like it and i was realy surprised to find i'd caught a little ray.
but what sort of ray had me puzzled, the white spots on the wings really stumped me .
i took several photo's so as i could call for a possitive i.d here in the morning however the images are alot clearer than i could see at the time and i recon it was a small undulate unless some one tells me different.





with interest rekindled i fished through till 3am with just another couple of pout to the tally, then kipped till my alarm woke me at 4am for the slogg back up the cliff and away home.

over all another marvelous night out on the beach

[BaggieRich]

Nice one Gord, another cracking session and yet more species hunt points! Well done mate.

[pingu]

another cracking night there gordon

would say undualate as well by the markings


dave

[Gremlin]

Nice to see the turbot (Rec. Landing size (NFSA) 41cm boat/35cmshore).

I'm pretty sure that's an UNDULATE, although I've seen some drab CUCKOO RAYS which can be confusing because of the 'eye spot' on each wing.

www.sharktrust.org used to produce a very handy ID guide for rays ... I'm not sure if this image will paste or be readable, but anyway -



Ada

[Norfolkboy]

Well done Gord. Looks like an Undulate to me, great looking fish, IMO.

[barbelblanker]

Nice report, pint, fish and night. Well done all round there then.

[geejayy]

this site shows undulates with the white spots, though i didn't notice them on the one i had last year.

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/aquarium/index.html

[Greenheart]

Cracking brace of fish Gord. Sounds like a perfect night's fishing. Well done mate...

[fishypaul]

very well done gord

[silverfish]

Well done mate.All the best marty.