ON A ROLL

Hello to all

Unfortunately I have felt the need to take a few days of work,my back is and knees are sending me a rather painful message to slow down for a bit.....bloody right an all I can barley pull a sock on let alone go plastering or fishing......uffff I hate being out of action stuck indoors whilst all the while I just want to be next to some salt-water casting a few baits,it really drives home how for granted I take able bodied-ness! any way I have had a few needles pushed into the pressure points at the old giroprachtor's and thankfully things are beginning to ease......I wont be entering any gymnastic competitions any time soon but hey.

On a brighter note I had a very busy weekend angling so enough about my battered bones......after the capture of the Thornback's last weekend we decided to hit the channel again, but this time the target would be small eyed ray from a different mark.Myself ,Sensai Collingridge, Big H and Pepe Headed up the M5 all buzzing at the prospect of a few Rays.We made a quick stop of at West coast tackle to pick up a few bits and bend Craig Butler's ear.....who was more than helpful so cheers buddy.Next came the obligatory trek to the mark which the dog enjoyed but the rest of us that were lugging heavy items of tackle found it a bit less pleasant.
Being predominately a low water mark we had jumped the gun a bit as the tide still had a lot of water to shed before we could comfortably cast over the boulders onto the sand,we weren't in a hurry mind so we took our time setting up whilst enjoying the sun and surrounding's.
I made a few casts with just a lead to check if I could make it onto the clear ground,after successfully retrieving the lead a few times I clipped on the baited pulley rigs......as did the boys.

 I didn't take long for the pooches to home in on the juicy fish baits,we were hauling from the off .I had two on a rig at one point....proper tricked me into shouting Ray on!Thankfully once the tide had fully receded they seemed to bugger off for a while.We scooted our tripods down with the tide and it wasn't long before Tom connected with a decent fish....

Excited as ever I made my way to the water's edge hoping it was Toms Small eyed,upon grabbing the leader a pair of wings flapped up in the muddy water...."You've got it" I shouted back.

Two target species in two trips isn't bad uh? "on a roll boys" I looked up to notice one of my lines had gone slack.....I clambered my way to the rods to checkout the enquiry which turned out to be a small Conger....bloody thing tricked me into thinking I had a Ray.

Soon enough the tide was quickly on its way back in, forcing us to retreat up the boulder's; which is a bit of a chore and not for the average pleasure angler.As tide and time pushed we were not catching anything... it was getting close to calling it a day but not before both myself and big H hooked into good fish....I lost mine about a minute or so into the fight, all the while H looked like he was hooked into a monster! " keep reeling!!!" I pleaded.... by this time I was already in the drink trying not to break my ankles amongst the boulders. after a tense few minutes I had the leader in my hand....All our jaws dropped as I lifted a hefty Blonde ray safely from the water.

What a jammy git....an amazing catch by anyone's standards....second trip,third Ray for Big H! on a serious roll. We were all so happy the walk back was a breeze,the next day I ventured out of Weymouth on a rather choppy day.....there were a few lads chumming the water with their stomach contents,I maneged to keep what little colour i have and even caught a pb Spurdog of 16lb's all in all a bloody good weekend.....

my back and knees say other-wise but needs must and all that.

Til next time

Good luck

RAY VON

Hello to all

Firstly let me congratulate man like Moxey on coming second place in the South west lakes trust Perch competition which was held at Tamar lake in dire easterly winds making things more than complicated for the anglers that were brave enough to take part.Some great fish were landed and pb's broken.......congrats to my pal Dom Garnett who took a long overdue personal best! and big up my man Lee Garner who won the comp during which he extracted a 4lb'er.....Nice one lad's top dangling!

Aside from the Perch, my love affair with the salt water angling continues to run as strong as the the Bristol channel.Which aptly brings me to my latest session....earlier on in the week I had arranged to go Ray fishing with my friends Ty aka big H and sensia Collingridge.I got a bit pissed on Saturday night and passed out with the telly on.In the morning my alarm sounded to alert me it was time to go fishing,I woke up a bit fuzzy headed and looked up to the television.....I couldn't believe it! the show Everybody loves Raymond was on.I chuckled to myself and took this as a definite sign the we would catch the target species that day.

So we headed up the motorway to fish a well known Ray mark in Somerset,The venue has a reputation for throwing up lots of Thorney's which hopefully Tom and Ty would tangle with as neither one has yet had the pleasure of catching one the proper way......from the shore.
After negotiating a few hundred steps and a bitch of a walk we were scuppered to find three lads had beaten us to our chosen mark, slightly peeved we trekked on until we found a safe place to perch ourselves for the day, most importantly with a suitable and safe place to land anything we might catch,the last thing you would want is to fall in.....no fish is worth risking your life for.

Standard Ray tactics were employed,long pulleys with fish baits mounted on 4/0 Varivas Big mouth extra's pennell style,we soon had our baits out and the excitement was building,as was the tide.Ty couldn't believe the speed and force the tide possess whilst watching it smother the boulders and mud flats that laid in front of us.With the flood also came a rather uncomfortable on shore blow,however we were kept busy landing strap congers and dogfish but there seemed to be no sign of the target species....the wind increased as we reached the top of the tide....it was becoming harder to get the baits out,and with the wind blowing the opposite direction of the powerful tide holding bottom was was border-line....it was looking like time to do one when I noticed Ty's rod buggering off towards Wales.He eagerly lifted the rod prompting the line to play a high pitched tune as it whistled in the blustery wind."Ray on" I enthused.....hastily clambering down the rocks like a mountain goat with a meal ticket,the fish held low using the tide to its full advantage.The bend in Ty's blank was spectacular,I thought he had something serious on the line but upon grabbing the leader and giving the fish a bit of persuasion a modest sized thorney broke the merk of the surface.

The size was irrelevant,we were all chuffed and decided it would be best to stay on for a little while longer to see if Tom could get in on the Rays....lucky we did too,soon after returning big H's ray Tom was hooked up.I was back on climbing duty quickly at the ready to leader the culprit,which gratefully was the target species....Toms face when I came up the rocks holding what he so dearly wanted was priceless......some proper kid at Christmas shit.Big H was soon back on the rod to land his second of the day....my rods weren't receiving any attention but I was happy to see the boys get what they wanted and be a part of it so happy days.

 

Til next time

Good luck

BEACH BOYZ

Hello to all

So I'm back already......matter of days between posts,he must be excited.

Well I am;also knackered mind but that's what happens when you fish and work hard.As you will know the flavour of the month is definitely the old Raymond's.I don't quite know what it is about them that captures my attention so much but these guys are high up on the favourites list.

So After a week on the grind with no angling for 5 days I was going stir crazy,It was Friday at last.Me and Neil aka Randy Schliffe threw the tools to one side and pondered an impromptu trip to a local beach for the evening,I could see old Rand looked how I felt but I had a good feeling and decided to ignore my fatigue and the lure of the pub to go in pursuit of a Ray.
With the van rapidly loaded we made a quick stop off to grab some Bass and chips for dinner ( which were bloody delicious I must add ) Moments later we arrived at the beach,The sea looked beautifully calm and inviting.
With fish-baits being the order of the day I had packed some squid,a big Bluey,some Mackerel and Sand eels.
Rig wise I opted to fish a standard pulley pennell on one rod and a pulley dropper on tutha.Both made with long snoods around 3.5 ft to ensure Raymond doesn't sit on my gripper lead spikes and get spooked.With everything set I punched out the rods, one short at around 60 yards and the other as far as I could put it.

We still  had an hour or so until the top of the tide and from what I had gathered the venue fishes better on the ebb so it was a case of sitting back and waiting for the sea and the fish to do there thing.
I was enjoying just lying there relaxing for a moment,but It wasn't long before Rand and I started landing a procession of dogs.....they were really making us work hard.
After a couple hours of pure dogfish carnage It was becoming a bit of a chore baiting up time and time again but he who dares wins.... according to Del boy Trotter that is.
He wasn't wrong either....I was watching the blue tip-lights awaiting a tap tap from another pooch when to my amazement the pulley dropper fished long on a bluey and squid had been seized by our target species,the rod pulled down almost in slow motion before I grabbed it from the tripod.I wound down and leant into a satisfying weight,I could feel the fish pulling back hard and knew exactly what I was attached to.After a tense few minutes I had her close to the shore but she was having non of it and wanted to go elsewhere but with a bit of persuasion and a good wave I had her beached,flapping angrily in the light of my head torch there lay the prize I had worked so hard to get.

To say I was made up is an understatement,We didn't have any scales so couldn't get a weight on my first shore caught Small eyed but never mind.We stayed on for a couple more hours hoping for another but other than a small Huss and a few more Dogs that was to be it.

Next on the hit list is the Undulate,also the Smoothhound's will be running our coast in numbers in the not too distant so watch this space.

Til next time

Good luck