RAYS Your Glass ! 11th May 2011

scottish_and_mental · #1 05-13-2011, 02:33 PM

After a lot of research during the week and discussions with my pal Rob i decided i couldn't take being out of action with a broken hand any longer ,i had to get one of those damned rays !
First job was to pick up one of my 7ht's and see if i could turn the handle without the cast getting in the way .. second job was to prepare the slosh's just incase .
With Billy travelling along we met up at the car park around 5.30 and were set up ready for an attack at either a small eyed or spotty as soon as darkness approached.
Low water was around 11.00 so the plan was to fish from around 9 as it got dark until the early hours or atleast the start of the flood as long as the weed wasn't a pain.the wind was fairly brisk from the south west and the water had plenty of colour and a chop on it so various baits were sent seawards in the hope of a bass .
As the sky darkened i changed rigs and fired out a whole top and tailed launced as far as my wonky plastered hand would allow and set about sending out rod number two - again with sandeel but a regular sized one.
Rods out and coffee cup in hand ready to pour out abrew i looked up to see my launce rod bent right down and thought perhaps i hooked a raft of weed or the likes ,but after a few sharp tugs i knew i was into a fish and this was gonna be some dogfish if thats what it was !
Praying to the gods i tried winding in - concentrating on keeping the line taught as well as trying not to keep hitting the opposite handle with the end of my cast and focusing my eyes on the surf line .
10 minutes into my attempt at a ray and out of the surf comes my first shore small eyed ray - a male and a beauty at 8lb 6 ounces ..

the adrenalin was pumping and after carefully releasing the chap back into the sea it was time to gather my thoughts and try to get my head out the clouds .
the sea had calmed and the wind vanished to leave conditions perfect - things were looking up ..
45 minutes later and the tell tale fiddle on the end and another pull down and i was up like a flash and heading down to the waters edge to see another male , this time a lovely 6lb 3 ounce small eyed hit the beam of my headtorch..I was excited to say the least .

6lb 3oz Male

Billy was fishing about 50 yards to my right and hadnt had a touch , oddly there wasn't a pout,doggy or even a bait robbing rattle to be seen between us - 2 hits 2 rays in an hour ..
At around midnight as i sent fresh baits out Billy shouted he had a fish on and as i raced over to the frantic winding, out popped small eyed ray number 3 - Billys first ever ray,biggest ever shore fish and obviously his personal best at a whopping 7lb on the nose .
safely returned i'd barely got back to my beach buddy when Bill was in again ! ray number 4 - this time just a small male nudging 5lb and we were both in shock at the nights events .
bearing in mind i had put in hour after hour,session after session in the hunt for any sized ray , was fishing a new mark and had been told to rest for another 3 weeks things just couldn't get any better !
Oddest moment of the night came when Bill suddenly stood up and turned round to look behind him and said ' someones just tapped me on the shoulder 3 times ' !! , well i was stood about 5 feet away and if there were ghosts on the beach i was leaving him to them and going back to my rods lol.
By now the water had started to flood , there was almost zero weed for the whole ebb and it seemed the fish god had finally remembered i existed .
A tell tale tap on the sandeel and i knew the woofers had finally woken up and were feeding on the flood. One for Bill and thing were still even as the time approached 1.30 am ..
A slack line bite followed by some odd tugs sent me down the beach once more and to cap off a perfect session in came small eye number 5 - a small male around 2 and a half pounds.
( I have to admit i was hoping it was a spotty just to put the cherry on top, but was pleased none the less )
3 am and Billy started to feel the cold so we packed up and headed back to the car park still in a awe at without doubt our best ever session .no plagues of tiddlers,no packs of dogs - 7 fish beached - 5 of them the target species..PB's for us both and you'll never guess where i'm headed Friday night !

rest of pics will follow when Bill uploads them - some crackers to come