My Year on the Ray’s
from the Shore
Adam Wells
I have
always had a serious passion for Rays ever since I caught my first one back in
the late 80’s, the sight of that first Ray coming in, in the beam of my
headlamp, through the surf and onto the beach will be something I never forget,
I still get the same excitement today as I did back then.
I still get
that adrenaline rush when sitting watching the tips of my rods and get that
typical tell-tale first pull down on the tip of my rod as the Ray settles over
the bait. That’s when I have to sit on
my hands (as I get too excited) as you need to give the Ray a little time to
engulf the bait. This is when I normally roll a fag and pour a coffee, eyes
stilled glued to the rod tip, then as the Ray has engulfed the bait it moves
off, either pulling the grip lead out and giving you a slack line bite, or
moving off and pulling the rod tip right down (if not careful taking the rod
off the tripod). This is when I pick up my rod and lean into the fish, such a
satisfying feeling.
We are very
lucky to have excellent Ray fishing along our beaches, we can catch most
species of Ray from shore marks here in Hampshire and Dorset, I have been asked
by many people why I have had some success on Rays from our local marks.
Patience, determination, and sticking to my game plan the duration of the trip
is always my answer…
One of the
biggest problems I see with anglers is that they know how to catch Rays, but,
they give up to quickly. Example – most anglers just want to catch fish, any
fish, just want to get bites, now with Ray fishing, success come's with
sticking to a game plan.
We will take
Small eyed Rays for an example, best bait to catch them on is Sandeel, now if
there are no Small eyed Rays about, you aren’t going to get to many bites
during that trip fishing with a Sandeel bait, so, what most people do is get
rid of the Sandeel bait and revert to the 1lb of ragworm they have brought
along and start catching small fish.
To be
successful with Rays you have to stick with a game plan when you arrive at a
venue for a trip, stick with the right bait and rigs and wait, you may blank,
not even get a bite, and the angler next to you fishing with worm baits is
pulling in a steady stream of small fish, don’t give in, for when it all goes
right, you will be in for a trip to remember on Rays from the Shore……..
Anyway here
is my little guide with a few hints and tips that hopefully will help you catch
a few rays from the shore…….
Tackling up for Rays
Rods - I use fairly powerful beach rods
for my Rays fishing, Rays may not be the most spectacular of fighting fish but
they can use there bulk size to their advantage buy either burying their wings
into the seabed or just kiting and using their size to hang in the tide. Either
way I find a powerful beach rod helps to get them in.
Reels – I use multipliers, but fixed spool
are OK, the main thing is what you load your reels up with? Now for most of my
Ray fishing I will use 15lb BS mono (0.35 dia), the reason for this is that most
Rays are caught at range (100yrds or so), this line will help with getting your
baits out at range. There are times when distance casting is not so important
and then I will increase line to 20lb BS (0.40 dia).
Rigs – Now there are a multitude of rigs out
there you can catch Rays on, fixed paternoster, pulley rigs, up and over rigs,
etc. Everyone will have their own favourite that works for them, I personally
always use an up and over rig, and always use a spiked breakout style weight,
and the main reason for this is that I can fish a long trace (Hook snood 4-6ft
long) on an up and over rig. The reason I use a long trace (hook snood) is
because of the make-up of a Ray, the Rays mouth is on the underside of its body
and has to settle over the top of the bait to eat it, this means that if the
trace is to short I believe the Ray when it settles over the bait feels the
spiked lead on your trace, thus putting them off. Now there is no scientific
proof of this, but it is something I believe in, hence using long traces so to
get the bait well away from the spiked weight.
Different
variations of the up and over rig, but all working on the same principle
The make-up
of the up and over rig I use will consist of a least a 60lb mono rig body, 60
lb Hook snood and a pair of strong forged 3’0 Hooks Pennell stile. Many people
ask why I fish with such heavy mono hook snoods, the reason for this is that
Ray have no teeth but have very strong crushing pads/gums in their mouth, which
can quickly were through thinner breaking strain mono snoods.
Baits
For the
majority of Ray fishing from the shore you will need to use fish baits, usually
a combination of Squid, Sandeel, Mackerel, or Bluey, and quite often I will use
a cocktail of Squid and one of the mentioned fish baits. There are certain
species of Ray and in certain situations, which other baits are needed to catch
them, but I will touch on that a bit later when I tell you a bit about how to
target each species of Ray. But for the bulk of my Ray fishing is done with
frozen Squid, Sandeel, Mackerel baits, which are in my freezer ready for me to
go when I get a window of time to fish.
 |
| Squid Bait |
 |
| Sandeel Bait |
The Ray Species
I fish for
Rays nearly every month of the year, there is normally at least one species of
Ray to target, Of course there is always exception to the rules but I will give
you my personally run down on the individual species, when I fish for them,
where I fish for them, what baits I use, and venues that have proved successful
for me
 |
| Thornback Ray |
Thornback Ray Raja clavata
I generally fish for this species
from Nov – March,
Thornbacks can be caught on many different
types of bait, and
my personal favourite baits are Squid,
Bluey, Mackerel, sometimes a cocktail of
them. Local
venues that fish well for Thornbacks are Calshot, Lepe
and in more
recent years Southampton water, places such
as Shore Road and Hythe marina. A
nice target size ray
for Thornbacks would be 6/7lb and anything 10lb or more
would be classed as a good specimen size for them.
 |
| Small Eyed Ray |
Small Eyed Ray Raja microocellata
I fish April
– Sept for this species, they can be caught all year round, but this period of
time is when there are at their greatest numbers. Small eyed Rays are quite
selective on baits there are caught on, without any doubt Sandeel is the number
one bait, but they can be caught on Squid and Pouting fillet. Local venues
would be anywhere from Hurst Shingle bank, Milford on sea, Barton on Sea and
Southbourne beach. Small eyed Rays don’t get caught inside the Solent; well I
have never caught one or seen one caught. A nice target size fish would be
around 5/6lb, a big Small eyed Ray would be anything over 10lb, but these are
rare, I have only ever caught 1 double figure Small eyed Ray.
 |
| Spotted Ray |
Spotted Ray Raja montagui
I fish March
–Sept for this species, I tend to catch Spotted Ray at the same times as
fishing for Small eyed Rays on the same baits, so tactics and venues are pretty
much the same as that for Small eyed Ray. The only exception is that Spotted
Rays can be caught in the Solent at venues such as Calshot, Lepe and Park
shore. Spotted Rays are one of the smallest Ray species we get, with a nice
target size fish being 4lb and a 5lb fish being a good specimen.
 |
| Stingray |
Stingray Dasyatis pastinaca
I fish June – Aug for this species, best bait for Stingrays
is Ragworm, nice big bunches of them. Stingray are the largest of the Ray
species, true heavyweights, every year fish of 40-50lb get caught from the
shore with fish up to 100lb caught in nets of commercial fishermen very close
to the shore. This species of Ray is the
only species I have found that actually fishes better in daylight tides instead
of night time tides, and with the weather the hotter the better. Obviously
great care is needed handling Stingray as they have a poisonous barb on the
tail, always best to fish for this species with someone who has experience in
dealing with them. Good places to try for Stingray are Park shore and Sowley,
but they can turn up on about any beach in the Solent.
 |
| Undulate Ray |
Undulate Ray Raja undulata
I fish April – Dec for this species, but, this is one species
that does seem to be caught nearly every month of the year. Best baits are
Squid, Sandeel, Mackerel, Bluey, or cocktails of them. Undulate Rays have made
a great comeback to our shores, back in 80’s and 90’s they were unheard of from
our shores, except for one or two very secret marks. Now venues from Hurst
shingle bank, Milford, right down to Bournemouth beaches all produce Undulate
Rays. A good target size would be a 10lb fish, with anything over 15lb a
specimen.
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| Blonde Rays |
Blonde Rays Raja brackyura
I fish April – Oct for this species, but Blonde Rays are very
rare from our shores, they occasionally turn up at Hurst shingle bank and
Bournemouth beaches, best baits are any fish baits, Squid, Sandeel, Mackerel. I
have only every caught one from our local beaches, so any size Blonde Ray is a
good one in my books, but the species can grow big, so I would say 8-10lb a
specimen from our beaches. The way to distinguish a Blonde Ray from a Spotted
Ray (as they do look very similar) is that on a Blonde Ray the spot’s cover the
whole fish and continue right to the edge of the wing tips, on a Spotted Ray
the spots stop about an inch from the edge of the wing tips.
Hopefully by
reading this article you will have found it interesting and hopefully help you
to catch a few Rays from our shores!
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| Huge Stingray |
Adam Wells - Noble's Fishing
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