North Wales First ray hunt of the year.

[Andy 1965]

After a couple of weeks unsuccessfully chasing piscatorial unicorns , I decided this week on a change of target species. A look back at my diary convinced me it was time to target my first thornback of 2023, and a YouTube video of a bumper ray session at my chosen venue last weekend, only confirmed that I was making the right decision. The single potential fly in the ointment, was the fact that with the mark itself, and the presence of rays there now well and truly in the public eye, there was always the chance that the place would be absolutely heaving . There was only one way to know for sure and so hoping for the best, I set off to find out.

I used the time on the drive over to think of a back up mark, in the event that my first-choice ledge was taken, and as I drove the last half a mile to the parking spot, I feared the worst but incredibly, as I turned the last corner I found the place completely deserted . After parking up, I wasted no time in getting hurriedly suited and booted, before setting off for the coast. There was still a slight chance that someone might have parked somewhere else, and beaten me to my favoured spot, so I wasn’t in the clear just yet, but thankfully I arrived to find that I had the place to myself.

10 minutes later and the first bait of the night was consigned to the deeps, a squid and sandeel cocktail on a 4/0 pennel pulley dropper, and this was followed a few minutes later by a 3-hook flapper baited with a variety of other offerings. It didn’t take long for the fish to find my baits, but judging by the bites the whiting were in town. In order to give the larger bait a slightly longer soak, I reeled in the flapper first and I was pleasantly surprised to feel something fighting back. I wondered if it might be a doggie, but when it broke the surface in front of me I was shocked to see a half decent huss of around the 5 to 6lb mark .

Having hooked it on a flapper rig with fairly light, 25lb snoods, it wasn’t ideal to try and lift it, so I decided to first use a swell to beach it on a lower ledge, from where I could safely retrieve it. This went ok to begin with, and the fish was soon safely out of the water, but as I grabbed the top of the rig body and and the full weight of the fish was taken by the snood, it snapped! Agonizingly, the fish was just out of reach so I started to clamber down to grab it, but before I could get there, a slightly bigger swell washed over the ledge and my catch was gone . Though I didn’t get to take a photo of the fish, I had still touched the rig and according to IGFA rules that counted as a catch , so I was happy to start the session with something half decent.

For the next hour I was kept busy with a steady stream of whiting, several of which were kept for bait, as well as the occasional doggie, but once I had enough bait for the session I tried dropping a couple of casts in close instead, to see what else might be lurking. These casts resulted in instant crashing bites, which produced a couple of half decent pollack, but they weren’t really what I was after, so I decided to go all out for the big stuff.

With 2 pulley droppers now on the go, I tried hedging my bets with a combination of squid, sandeel and mackerel on one rod, while I stuck to whiting on the other, and it was the fresh bait which finally produced my target species. A better bite consisting of several decent pulls suggested that another huss might have found my offering, but when I started to reel in, the culprit didn’t fight like one. It was bloody hard work and I was forced to pump and wind in order to regain line. As the fish got closer to shore it stayed deep, convincing me that it was in fact a ray, and I began to wonder if I might have hooked something very special . When the fish finally surfaced though, it became clear why I had struggled to reel it in, it was in fact a lot smaller than I had hoped for, but it was foul hooked in the wing. It was still a thornback though and at 5lb 2oz I was still more than happy with my first ray of 2023 .


After a quick picture, my catch was retuned and a fresh bait was cast out, but I barely had time to step back from the tripod before the other rod tip started to bounce. Once again I was convinced that a huss had found my bait, and with their annoying habit of spitting baits at the water’s edge I decided to give it plenty of time to be sure that it would hook itself. I gave it 5 minutes before I started to reel in, and thankfully I felt a reassuring weight on the line. The fight wasn’t anything spectacular and eventually a second huss of a similar size to the first was beaten, this time there were to be no dramas though, and with a 60lb snood on the dropper, I was able to lift my catch safely ashore. At 6lb 11oz, it wasn’t a monster but I was still more than happy with my prize .


After that mad 10 minutes, things quietened down and for the next hour I only caught dogs, which somehow managed to inhale some pretty big baits, but eventually my perseverance was rewarded once again, when line started to peel of one of my reels against a loosely set drag. I gave it a couple of minutes before lifting into the fish, then once more I felt a decent weight on my line. again the fish stayed deep, but it was no match for me and eventually ray number 2 of the night was beaten. Being smaller than the first, I didn’t bother weighing this one, but at an estimated 3lb I was still a happy bunny .


With low water approaching, and what is generally perceived as a productive period at this particular venue, I was hoping for more of the same, but sadly it wasn’t to be. Instead of rays, the dogs now started feeding freely and they were on my baits within minutes of them hitting bottom. I gave it another hour but with no signs that the rays might come back on the feed, I called it a night at 00:30.

So my first venture into ray fishing in 2023 had been a success, and I had even managed to land a couple of bonus huss as well, but with a cold snap on the cards , the fishing could take a backward step again this week. No matter what it does though, I’ll be back out there again on Thursday night, making the most of the bait fishing before the lure season kicks off again in the next month or so .

 

[Wolf]

Great catches, piccys & write up well done

 

[FishAmaniac]

Great session and report!
Well done on the fish

 

[Craig]

What a start to the ray hunt Andy! Well done on the huss too, sounds a great evening out on the rocks.
I know you weren't targeting the Pollack, but were they of any size?
I've always found a pound or so Pollack is a good bait for huss myself, usually stick a fillet on one rod and the frame and head on the other, produced some great results over the years.

 

[Bass&Chips]

Nice!

 

[Andy 1965]

Thanks for the replies all .

What a start to the ray hunt Andy! Well done on the huss too, sounds a great evening out on the rocks.
I know you weren't targeting the Pollack, but were they of any size?
I've always found a pound or so Pollack is a good bait for huss myself, usually stick a fillet on one rod and the frame and head on the other, produced some great results over the years.

The pollack were probably around the 0.5 & 1lb mark.

I tend not to use pollack as bait much myself, when whiting are so much easier to catch, but I have tried them in the past.

For rays I prefer smaller whiting, which I fish whole, but I also use fillets or halves of larger fish. Whiting will also work well for huss, but for conger I've found that poor cod are the best fresh bait by miles.

 

[Kine262]

Great report and congrats on the results Andy. I really enjoy reading your reports.

 

[Craig]

Thanks for the replies all .



The pollack were probably around the 0.5 & 1lb mark.

I tend not to use pollack as bait much myself, when whiting are so much easier to catch, but I have tried them in the past.

For rays I prefer smaller whiting, which I fish whole, but I also use fillets or halves of larger fish. Whiting will also work well for huss, but for conger I've found that poor cod are the best fresh bait by miles.

Interesting that you find different baits for different fish work best.
I usually fish Anglesey in the summer and early autumn so don't really encounter many whiting to try for bait, and haven't considered poor cod as bait before (not sure why as they're the perfect size), I'm certainly going to give them a second thought next time though.

Thanks for the tip on the poor cod for conger bait too. I have a very similar aspiration for a 20+ conger as yourself but don't get to travel over too much so any help towards my target is much appreciated!
From your reports, I think I fish similar marks to you aswell, though my biggest Conger was actually from somewhere I'd never have thought (in broad daylight, middle of summer on a whole squid), not the deeper water behind the church where I'm always confident but have yet to catch one.

 

[richtic]

Great fishing and pictures. Well done

 

[Andy 1965]

Interesting that you find different baits for different fish work best.
I usually fish Anglesey in the summer and early autumn so don't really encounter many whiting to try for bait, and haven't considered poor cod as bait before (not sure why as they're the perfect size), I'm certainly going to give them a second thought next time though.

Thanks for the tip on the poor cod for conger bait too. I have a very similar aspiration for a 20+ conger as yourself but don't get to travel over too much so any help towards my target is much appreciated!
From your reports, I think I fish similar marks to you aswell, though my biggest Conger was actually from somewhere I'd never have thought (in broad daylight, middle of summer on a whole squid), not the deeper water behind the church where I'm always confident but have yet to catch one.

I've fished pretty much every rough ground area of Anglesey in my hunt for a 20lb conger but my biggest to date, which I estimated to be around the 15lb mark, was caught casting off a rock ledge onto completely clean ground while ray fishing . Coincidentally, my first ever double figure eel was caught while doing exactly the same thing.