Mr Fish
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2020
- Messages
- 19,059
- Reaction score
- 65,814
- Points
- 116
- Location
- North Devon
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
At the risk of sounding like a complete whinger, I woke up Saturday morning with excruciating back ache and it took several attempts just to get out of bed.
It was a fishing comp in the evening and I really wanted to go, but even trying to get a bit of gear together in the afternoon was very painful.
Luckily it eased and by 7.30 it was a dull ache at best so the agreed plan to meet up with @Christurner at a local surf beach was still on.
Rays were the target and I met Chris down there as it took me awhile to get my arse in gear and get out of the house.
When I staggered up, he’d already had a 4lb small eyed and it was looking promising.
It was slow for me to begin with. I had a small strap and Chris wasn’t getting any more bites, either.
Then he reported a 4lb hound that gave ‘a weird bite’, so perhaps it was looking up.
One of my rods was doing a bit of a slow pull down on a whole squid and I thought small ray, so was surprised to also bring in a hound, about 5lb.
Then it went dead again, but a little later I managed a tiny hound of about 2.5lbs.
I’d left a half bluey bait a long way out, retreating before the flooding tide. As I watched the tod tip, it gave a few twitches then bent right over with no ceremony or further foreplay.
A classic ray bite and sure enough, I coaxed in this 5lb 8 beastie.
It felt quite a bit heavier but double checked and the scales are new, so I guess it wasn’t as heavy as I thought.
Chris was into to something better and as I wandered over to see what he pulled from the surf, it turned out to be a much better SE.
8lb 7!
It was approaching 2am and as Chris had a car boot to do on Sunday, we’d agreed to pack up, but probably because I went out so late, I was still keen.
I decided to stay on ‘a bit longer’ and walk back the two half bluey baits I’d only just put out.
A ‘bit longer’ became a lot longer but at 3.15 I felt it really was time to call it a day, plus it wasn’t as if I could retreat back much further given how much line was left on my reels!
This one came in, bloody LONG winding session!
Most surf beaches, the fish are in close but because this beach is so flat, it does actually pay on occasion to leave baits out a long way.
Some very good double figure bass have been caught this way.
I glanced up from packing up and saw the other rod bent over a fair bit. Hmmm.
Then it went a little slack. I tightened the line and it slackened again.
Not the most obvious bite and I thought maybe tide/weed (there was a LOT of line out) but it was worthy of a look.
Sure enough, there was a fair weight on the end and I still couldn’t decide if it was weed or not, but the odd kick closer in suggested a ray.
And so it proved! But I was NOT expecting a thornback!
Generally speaking these are bloody rare on our coast, although a few were caught in the vicinity in late summer.
This one definitely didn’t feel 5lb and on weighing it went 8lb 5, so it gave me something to enter for the comp.
Excuse the wide eyed expression ???
I’m still trying to get the hang of selfies at night on my own!
After all that drama it was 4am and DEFINITELY time to go!
So much for my ‘I’m not staying out until 4am’ vow the night before.
Ah well, it proved worth it in the end and might get me on the comp board!
It was a fishing comp in the evening and I really wanted to go, but even trying to get a bit of gear together in the afternoon was very painful.
Luckily it eased and by 7.30 it was a dull ache at best so the agreed plan to meet up with @Christurner at a local surf beach was still on.
Rays were the target and I met Chris down there as it took me awhile to get my arse in gear and get out of the house.
When I staggered up, he’d already had a 4lb small eyed and it was looking promising.
It was slow for me to begin with. I had a small strap and Chris wasn’t getting any more bites, either.
Then he reported a 4lb hound that gave ‘a weird bite’, so perhaps it was looking up.
One of my rods was doing a bit of a slow pull down on a whole squid and I thought small ray, so was surprised to also bring in a hound, about 5lb.
Then it went dead again, but a little later I managed a tiny hound of about 2.5lbs.
I’d left a half bluey bait a long way out, retreating before the flooding tide. As I watched the tod tip, it gave a few twitches then bent right over with no ceremony or further foreplay.
A classic ray bite and sure enough, I coaxed in this 5lb 8 beastie.
It felt quite a bit heavier but double checked and the scales are new, so I guess it wasn’t as heavy as I thought.
Chris was into to something better and as I wandered over to see what he pulled from the surf, it turned out to be a much better SE.
8lb 7!
It was approaching 2am and as Chris had a car boot to do on Sunday, we’d agreed to pack up, but probably because I went out so late, I was still keen.
I decided to stay on ‘a bit longer’ and walk back the two half bluey baits I’d only just put out.
A ‘bit longer’ became a lot longer but at 3.15 I felt it really was time to call it a day, plus it wasn’t as if I could retreat back much further given how much line was left on my reels!
This one came in, bloody LONG winding session!
Most surf beaches, the fish are in close but because this beach is so flat, it does actually pay on occasion to leave baits out a long way.
Some very good double figure bass have been caught this way.
I glanced up from packing up and saw the other rod bent over a fair bit. Hmmm.
Then it went a little slack. I tightened the line and it slackened again.
Not the most obvious bite and I thought maybe tide/weed (there was a LOT of line out) but it was worthy of a look.
Sure enough, there was a fair weight on the end and I still couldn’t decide if it was weed or not, but the odd kick closer in suggested a ray.
And so it proved! But I was NOT expecting a thornback!
Generally speaking these are bloody rare on our coast, although a few were caught in the vicinity in late summer.
This one definitely didn’t feel 5lb and on weighing it went 8lb 5, so it gave me something to enter for the comp.
Excuse the wide eyed expression ???
I’m still trying to get the hang of selfies at night on my own!
After all that drama it was 4am and DEFINITELY time to go!
So much for my ‘I’m not staying out until 4am’ vow the night before.
Ah well, it proved worth it in the end and might get me on the comp board!
