As the tide rose the sport improved and it was a fish every cast. Frozen bait is sold in local tackle outlets, but live sandeels can be dug at low water from Fanore beach.
There are rows of spikes along the back-bone. Followers 0.
Specimen weight 20 lbs or 9.072 Kilos. Fishing For Smooth Hound and Thornback Ray In The Bristol Channel - Duration: 24:04. It did happen...The place was North Clare in Ireland in June 2004 and the angler was Sea Angler magazine's contributing editor Alan Yates. Fact file. An advantage of fishing the flood here is that as tide rises it makes it easier to land fish. Overlooking the Aran Islands and Galway Bay, it covers 300 square kilometres and is enclosed by a circle of villages, with Lisdoonvarna to the south and Ballyvaughan in the north.All along this coast are rock platforms giving access to deep, fish-filled waters. Characteristically, a curved row of rather large spines on the upper surface of each wing*. Fishing at peg 49, the Geordie angler kicked off with the day's only blonde ray, following it up with 13 thornbacks and plenty of dogfish. Once the bait is engulfed the fish will move off powerfully, often pulling the rod over hard, so make sure your rest is secure or you are holding the rod.Most regions of the Atlantic coast and most of the Irish Sea hold ray in summer.
Peg numbers have been painted on the rocks up to Black Head, so it's easy to remember where you've fished. Skate anglers never, ever use wired sinker. There is no biological distinction between skate and ray, although those with long pointed snouts are called skate and those with short or rounded snouts, ray.Confusion has arisen because of the difficulty in deciding if the snout is rounded or pointed, thus thornback ray are often called skate.The ray is responsible for the mermaid’s purses, which are the egg cases laid by the females. Mackerel can be caught along the Clare coast from May until September. In Ireland Fenit Pier has produced a few.An angling friend of mine once likened landing one to pulling a grand piano up a cliff.Rock fishing doesn't come much better than one angler catching 35 thornback rays in a session on two rods.
It was June and the small-eyed ray were prolific from the Chale and Atherfield beaches.I remember it as if it were yesterday. It can sometimes be quite strange how angling trips simply appear out of thin air. This can damage line and fingers if you let them, so the use of at least 30lb hook snoods is advised.Hook type too is pretty crucial with a long-shank Aberdeen the easiest to remove.A size 3/0 Kamasan B940 is ideal and particularly suited to baiting with a six inch frozen sandeel.Ray are rarely very close to the shore, so a single clipped-down paternoster is easily the most efficient rig.Ray are a close relative of the shark and have evolved to live on the sea bed. You should avoid the rock platforms in stormy seas when the surf is pounding the rocks.Alan and John were soon fishing on a platform bearing the peg numbers 67- 70. This was his fabled ground and also one of only two places in County Clare where sharks and tope have been landed from the shore.The sea cliffs in this area are also popular with climbers and tourists, but parking isn't too difficult alongside the road.
The under-side is creamy white with grey outer edges.
The clear water of the Atlantic Ocean supports a consistent inshore population of ray safe from the nets in the kelp and mixed ground.Thornback are most common, but the rarer types, like the cuckoo, undulate and blonde, turn up on occasions.Only last year I lost a possible big blonde ray that I could only coax towards the shore but not lift off the sea bed. "Keep them in a flask or cool bag until used and they will keep fresh. Through the English Channel they peak in the Solent, but become rare from the shore through Sussex and Kent, but catching one is not impossible.Essex rivers, like the Blackwater and Crouch, still produce ray in spring with St Osyth still favourite for a big sting ray.Beaches above the Wash, especially between Skegness in Lincolnshire and Hornsea in South Yorkshire, all produce thornbacks through the summer months.The ray’s powerful jaws mean you should remove hooks with care or use forceps. Although commercially targeted, they are still reasonably plentiful; having said that, the average size has fallen to approx 6lb and some localised venues that were once abundant with Thornback Ray are now completely barren.