Addicted2Anglings Steve Chambers had become pretty despondent with the fishing on the Suffolk Coastline lately. Postage stamp sized dabs and tiny whiting were just not cutting it so he decided to see if any early rays were showing at a local mark, was his hunch about to pay off or was the quiet spell going to last a little while yet?

 

The fishing on the east coast this year so far has at best been frustrating and at its worst flipping pointless,  my usual unwavering thirst to hit a beach and wet a line had diminished to somewhat of a flicker of interest. Recent changes in my working life has kept me very busy so I’ve not even had the time to think about getting out to fair so I do take a bit thanks from that. I know that had time permitted, I too would of spent many an hour scratching around for undersized dabs and pin whiting which is about as good as it’s gotten so far, probably extinguishing my flicker of interest completely.

A day off work was gratefully received, with the kids on half term and wife asleep for the day after a night shift plans started to form in my head for the days activities. Coffee in hand I started surfing Facebook to see what everyone was up too, find out what’s been happening and to try and steal an idea or two for the day.  What’s this….. “Local angler with a brace of thornbacks”. His first of the year, interest now spiked I read on… “Shingle street the venue”. That’s 5mins from my house! Hmmm.. quick check of the tides and weather told me a 12:30 high beckoned with a light to moderate SW, that’ll do Game on!!
A raid of the bait freezer for squid and bluey promptly got me into full fishing mode and with a free pass to do as I wished the kids and the gear were bundled into the car and the Ray mission was on.

Arriving to a relatively calm and coloured sea I eagerly set up and sent the first baits out, my method of attack was long pulleys weighted with a 5oz and baited with squid and bluey combos on one and straight bluey on the other. It was an hour before high so the timing was perfect, it’s normally an hour either side of high for the rays here proven time and time again as the peak time for them so I sat back full of anticipation and expectation waiting for the rod tips to show signs of the target.

Two hours had now passed and with the kids blissfully playing away the background, thoughts of why I hadn’t been out this year began to remind me of how bad it had been.  Casting long gazes up and down the beach to see if anyone else fishing was having any joy, my attention was soon caught by the tip of my rod at distance slackening and bouncing up in typical ray fashion. Its not often that a ray will immediately hook itself, hence the slow bobbing and nudging of the rod tip that proceeded the initial enquiry.

 

When fishing for rays, the set in the rod will often lift and start to go slack and it’s important that you don’t rush to grab the rod and hit as it will probably result in a strike into thin air. What’s happened is the fish has moved in over the top and onto the bait and just taken the tension off the rod by slackening the hook length. This will normally be followed a few mins later by a few short and definitive tugs on the rod tip which signals the fish now has the bait in its mouth and is slowly starting to swallow it. Ive known this process to take up to 10mins and its hard to sit on your hands for this long, resisting the temptation reel in but it’s so important to wait for this stage of the bite, this is the best time to lift into the fish as you should get a hook set near the top of the fish’s mouth which is much easier to unhook and causes less damage to the fish. If you let the bite develop further you will most likely see a rod tip slam round which is fantastic to see but will almost certainly see a gut hooked ray on the end. Not a problem if they are going home for tea!

Now I was confident the ray had the best chance of being hooked I lifted in to it, sure enough, the weight of the target species was there and I couldn’t wait to get it on the beach! The excitement the kids were showing just filled me with enthusiasm and this one fish alone made the trip worthwhile especially when it made its appearance on the shoreline. This was the first time they had seen a ray and were fascinated by it,  he was a beautifully marked male weighing in at 6lb 6oz. A few pics and a video of the release followed and the feeling and sense of a job well done filled me,causing me to smile as wide as the kids were.  Unbeknown to me whilst all this had been unfolding the other rod had been having a party of its own,  I glanced up just in time to see the tip smashing round signalling ray number two had found my bait and not wanting to be left out was doing its utmost to get my attention. I duly acknowledged this and swiftly grabbed the rod and began retrieving, this fish didn’t feel quite as big and I was right, but at a healthy 4lb 7oz I was just as pleased to see this little male as I was to see his bigger counterpart earlier.

Now I’m buzzing and I quickly got both rods baited and sent out to sea, I’m expecting another bite now… “they’re feeding… I’m going to get another coz it’s only 1 hour down”.
Well… I kept telling myself this and before I knew it the tide was now 3 hours down and it was two hours since my last fish! A glance around and seeing that everyone has either packed up, or starting to, I start pottering about with the bits around me, gathered it up to start packing away myself. A quick shout to the kids to say home time is abruptly interrupted with another glance at the once motionless rods is now showing signs of ray number 3, the tip slacking and tightening on a very frequent basis. I’m in again and this one has a serious attitude problem!! 20yrds out and I’m locked solid,  I can’t move it an inch! I walk to the left and I walk to the right, nothing… I lean back into it hoping to move it off the bottom still nothing… all I can do is sit tight and apply as much pressure as I can high into the rod tip without being excessive in force. After around a minute of non movement the tip slackens up a touch and the fish is on the move again, finally I see it on the surface 10 yards out and it looks a cracker. On the beach it’s immediately evident that it’s bigger than the previous two and also it’s the first female of the day, a gorgeous girl heavily laden with purses and looking like she’s going to give birth any day now. Minimal messing about with this one, she is unhooked, weighed (7lb 8oz) photographed and released in the space of 2mins. I was so pleased to see her go back strongly and quickly set about having another cast or two before actually packing up for the day.
My last two casts resulted in a lost fish probably around the same stamp as the others and a missed bite.  I would of quite happily fished on but because it was getting on and I really needed to get the kids home for tea I packed up and off I went. The chatter amongst the kiddies was brilliant and it was definitely a proud dad moment knowing that it was today’s session that had them all laughing, smiling and playing… recalling all the fish I reeled in, what they looked like, how big they were… just brilliant.
For me, rays are a fish that I’ve only been targeting for a couple of years and have a real soft spot for fishing for them… after the success I had last year and all the little sessions I squeezed in here and there, my wife had only one thing to say to me after I recalled the session with her…… And so it begins…I don’t know what she’s talking about!! Ha Ha!