Category: Thornback Ray

On the water at last….

Well at long last I got myself on the water again – first trip of the year and long overdue at that. In fact it turned out to be quite a pleasant few hours and I certainly exceeded my expectations on the catch front bearing in mind the time of year. I was pleasantly surprised. The launch site was the Elmore slipway at Lee-on-Solent – a familiar venue and not too adventurous for my first paddle of 2011!

I was ready to go at 7am and conditions were excellent with a light south easterly blowing. Here’s the yak pre-launch:

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I reached my mark about a kilometre off shore in good time and sent my baits to the sea bed – a strip of mackerel on one rod and good old ragworm on a wishbone rig on the the other. I really wasn’t expecting much action, it was just nice to be back fishing again to be honest.

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It was half an hour before I had my first bite and it was on the ragworm. It was a bite that was slow to develop but when I eventually struck into it and felt the dead weight I knew it was likely to be only one thing – a ray. It felt heavy in the tide and it was indeed a thornback ray that surfaced by the side of the kayak. I was a little surprised to catch it on the ragworm but was pleased with the result – it was probably around 6lb in weight so a good start to the year.

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After the quick picture I baited up again and sat back contemplating what a relative surprise the ray had been and waited for my next bite – it didn’t take long and this time it was a small but pristine bass.

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Several more schoolies followed which kept me busy – all caught on the ragworm.

Conditions remained excellent, in fact the Solent was something of a millpond for a while.

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Not a lot was happening with the fish baits I was putting down but the worm was still producing as the infamous Solent pout came on the feed. They were all tiny and hammering the worm baits that I was putting down, even had them on a double hook up on the wishbone rig! The thought did occur to me they’d be excellent live bait size for bass so maybe something to try later in the year.

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All in all a pleasant first trip of the year, good to get back into it and even better not to blank. Hopefully it’s a sign of a good year on the fishing front….. and dare I say it no red Solent weed to contend with either. Got the bug again now and already looking forward to the next trip.

Until next time……

A ray of hope…..

Have been off work this week primarily for a camping trip to Wales later today with my son but yesterday morning did present me with a fishing opportunity. The weather looked favourable according to the forecasts so I loaded the car up Monday night ready for an early start on Tuesday at the local haunt at Lee-on-Solent.

The yak was rigged and ready to go by about 5:15am but when I got to the launch point there was a fair old lump to the sea and a bit of a blow coming from the west – certainly not as flat as previous outings but it was do-able.

Got out to my favoured spot and set up with a good sized crab bait on one rod and a lash of mackerel on the other trying to avoid the pin bream that can strip the baits if you’re not careful here. This is a picture of the sea state which probably doesn’t do justice to how bumpy the conditions were.

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In addition to my rods I was hand lining for mackerel and almost instantly I was into a couple of them which were despatched to the cool bag.

It didn’t take long either for the first knock on the crab either and I connected…… you can tell pretty much straight away if it’s a smoothie and that’s exactly what surfaced. This one being of the starry flavour and as with all smuts he wasn’t too pleased to be aboard the yak! They really do go berserk when they’re out of the water but eventually he calmed down to have his picture taken before being returned…

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A good start I thought but then, save for intermittent mackies on the hand line, things went decidedly quiet with no more sniffs on the crab bait and not a squeak out of the mackerel strips I was putting down. Still, the wind had swung round to a north westerly and the sea flattened off a bit which was nice – nothing worse than trying to have a coffee in a lumpy sea! Here’s a picture of the sun on it’s way up……

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After a good hour or so I finally managed another bite on the crab again and was really pleased to see this bass come up – not a keeper but a bass is a bass all the same… they are such beautiful fish.

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By now it was 9:30am, the first of the Cowes week yachts were beginning to gather and The Solent was beginning to get busy so I was contemplating calling it a day when I had my one and only bite on the mackerel bait. It was a strange bite and when I struck into it all I could feel was a dead weight but when it got to near the surface I saw why… it was a thornback ray – not big but my first from the yak so pleasing. A couple of pictures and he was put back to fight another day.

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Stuck at it for another hour or so but it had gone quiet again which probably wasn’t helped by the hive of activity on the water with yacht after yacht skimming through. It’s an impressive sight even if puts an end to the fishing!

I paddled in and gutted a few of the mackerel ready for the smoker and the rest that were left I kept for bait – probably had a dozen or so in total, not bad for fishing anchored up using a hand line just underneath the yak…

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So, another nice little session but I really must try a different venue next time!

As I say, leaving the wife and dog at home and off to Wales later today with my son camping for a few days, and hopefully, there will be a bit of fishing to be had from a couple of rock marks I’ve been told about… we’ll see.

Until next time……