Boat fishing enthusiast Scott Smy tells us of his first boat fishing trip since lockdown ended and when the ray’s were out in force- but ray’s were not the only fish keen to be picking up the baits!
As a result of both Covid-19 restrictions and poor weather it had been almost 10 months since my last charter trip on the Bristol Channel so as the date of our next trip loomed large on the calendar, forecasts were checked and double-checked. Very light west winds turning north west as the tide turned and flooded meant we were on- at last!
So the next morning saw a bunch of 8 of us turn up at Minehead all looking slightly bleary eyed as a result of a lack of sleep due to a combination of being both excited for the trip and having had to endure a period of extra time which saw England get to the final of Euro 2020.
For today’s trip we would be out on with Dave Roberts on his large south cat Alykat. This was the first time I had fished from Alykat and I was particularly impressed, but not just because of the large amount of deck space to fish from (all 8 of us fishing 2 rods each; 1 uptide, 1 downtide) but also the amount of seating available. She also has an amazing turn of speed for such a large boat which Dave demonstrated on the return to port with the big cat powering along at 24-26 knots with the throttles fully open — very impressive!
As the tope were still a bit then on the ground due to the lack of mackerel shoals, a plan was hatched to target the ever-dependable rays on the sand banks local to the Minehead area and then try for the hounds on the rougher ground on the flood. So Dave pointed the bows of Alykat west and made the short steam down to an inshore mark close to Selworthy Sands where it was hoped we would avoid the plague-like packs of dogfish which often frequent the channel at this time of year.
Kenny Stovell- Double Figure blonde ray
Tackle set-up was relatively simple — running ledger rigs either fished uptide or downtide with traces of around 4ft of 80lb Varivas Shock Rig ending in a pennel-rigged pair of Varivas BMX’s in either 4/0 or 5/0 (5/0 for the downtide rigs allowing slightly larger baits to be fished). Due to the shallow depth relatively light leads could be used with those fishing from the stern trotting their baits back away from the boat’s ‘scare area’. Baits were a variety of squid and sandeel combinations. Personally I don’t think you can beat whole squid for all species of rays, particularly when trying to winkle-out the larger specimens.
Scott’s preferred ray bait- whole squid
After around half an hour, Kenny Stovell bought in this the first small eyed ray which at around 7-8lb was the average size for the day. Several more followed including another 8lb fish to myself fished downtide using as light a lead as I could get away with. A particularly savage bite saw Kenny jumping out of his seat before his uptider disappeared over the side and with the fishing kiting across the tide, Dave accurately predicted a bass. After a short fight a cracking bass of 7-7 dropped into the net and was dispatched for the table.
A bonus bass for Kenny
With the tide dropping away, Dave moved Alykat to a different part of the bank and whilst we were still finding the odd small eyed and a solitary blonde, the dogfish were starting to become a real pest and were jumping on the baits before the rays had a chance. During these periods it can become quite frustrating but it’s just a case of fish hard, and fishing through them.
With the flood tide just about to start (which can always be a good time for the rays coming on the feed), Dave made the decision to take Alykat back up to the Minehead area and try for rays on the banks just off White Mark. This proved a great move as virtually as soon as the baits went down we starting to latch into some nice blonde and small eyed rays.
Ray’s for everyone aboard AlyKat!
It was hectic fishing, with the rays tearing off with the baits. Squid and sandeel combinations were working best once again. Not once but twice I saw the benefits of making sure you tie your rods down, with my downtide rod being lifted clean off the floor by a rays powering off with the bait.
Steve Nicholson had the pick of the rays, with a nice specimen small eyed of around 12lb whilst a number of double figure blondes up to around 14lb were shared out amongst the crew. As is the case with most raying trips up the channel, all fish were returned.
A 12lb small eyed ray for Steve Nicholson
With all of us having a supply of frozen crab, Dave made one final move and we set about trying to find some smoothounds on an area of rougher ground just to the east of Minehead. Whilst we did manage to find a few hounds to low double figures during the last few hours of the trip, they certainly weren’t there in the numbers that they had been on previous days but that’s just fishing.
A typical smoothhound for author, Scott
Fishing a large fish bait downtide for a bass I did manage to find a beautifully marked huss of around 12lb which was returned after a quick picture.
A nice huss to end a busy session!
We also found a few strap conger on the last mark along with the ever-present dogfish. All-in-all, a cracking trip with stunning weather and good company on a cracking boat. What more could you ask for?