A Little Ray of Sunshine.
The weather has been playing havoc with boat and shore anglers alike, I've had several boat trips cancelled this year and also a few guided shore fishing trips with top Bristol Channel guide Jansen Teakle. It was actually last autumn that we set a date to try for Conger and Huss and that was cancelled as the weather kicked off, the next trip was to be Thornback Rays and the weather put the kibosh on that one. So it was great to finally get the news that a good tide and weather were in unison giving us the conditions we needed to go and search for a Thornback Ray. The Bristol Channel with its chocca mocca frothy water is perfect for the Thornback Ray who love too roam the mud flats in search of their favourite food, shoals of frozen Bluey's . The Bluey better known as the Pacific Saury is an oily fish found in the freezers of most tackle shops and the high oil content helps the Rays locate the bait in the most coloured of channel water. Having messaged Jansen I knew he would be bringing the bait so I didn't have the embarrassment of asking the shop if they had any Bluey's under the counter!
The day arrived and it was once again an early start as I was to meet Jansen in our special place, under the clocktower and he would be wearing a pink carnation in his salopettes to help recognise him. I left home at 5.45 and there was a southerly wind already building something I discovered when I unhooked the frost protection screen from the windscreen as it blew down the road. The frost protection screen was another one of my dear wife's magic bean moments whereby she has been sold something we will neither need or use, a thin piece of shiny plastic like that found at Roswell New Mexico with frost deflecting organozomes. She very kindly fixed it to the windscreen the previous night to deflect the frost particles but with no frost and a strong wind that it definitely does not deflect, I now found myself chasing it like an escaped dog and all at 5am. Once it was caught and stored I was on my way still somewhat perturbed by the fact that my wife bought not only one but two of the darn things, time for some Paloma Faith and chill for the rest of the drive. I arrived in plenty of time and stepping outside the bitter wind hinted at a degree of easterly, hopefully this would swing Southwesterly as the morning progressed. I dressed for the cold, bought my parking ticket and started the assent to base camp, a few steps up the hill and a luminous lycra clad runner emerged from the gloom and I pulled in to let him pass. His face looked like he was going to explode bright red with steam rising from his soaked mop of hair " morning" I said, " yes good morning off fishing"? I thought I might reply with " no just fly tipping" but he rapidly disappeared. I struggled onwards when the same crazy fool came back down towards me, " morning" I said, no response that time. This continued happening all the way to the summit and I even asked if he wanted to carry my rucksack on the next pass he made, and people think our sport is mad! The summit was reached and I dropped the kit and looked back across the beach as the light grew stronger, yellow streaks from behind the clouds reflected on the expanse of sand below, stunning start to the day.
The view from the other side of mount Jansen was not only less stunning but lacking the main ingredient, water! The Bristol channel mud was clearly visible and I know rays only need a few inches of water to move around in but even they would struggle in that, the Bristol channel however can fill and recede with lightning speed. The strength and speed of the tides are one of the main reasons I use the services of Jansen, an experienced angler with many hours spent learning the ways of this infamous body of water.
I marched towards the meeting point and could see Jansen had just arrived, it was now I realised what a rugged handsome chap Jansen actually was, having only ever met him in the dark on previous expeditions. Clearly healthy and fit Jansen reminded me of myself 18 months ago, when I say months I actually mean years obviously, we are only as old as we feel but this walk always makes me feel old. So with re-introductions made we yomped the downhill section and discussed the tactics, Jansen was confident as the fishing conditions were good and no doubt would improve further with the arrival of the water. By the time the rods were setup the water was charging up the beach to our right and so the first casts were made with the hooks loaded with the bait of choice.
I started getting a few rattling bites that we put down to small Whiting and sure enough one of the small critters manage to hook itself, nice to see fish feeding but that isn't what I'm after. It was a fair while before the first proper bite but when it came it was unmistakable with the line going instantly slack as the Ray swam off downtide.I wound down until I felt resistance then kited the fish towards where Jansen had done his mountain goat descent to meet the fish. It wasn't a monster but as far as my challenge goes its species 18 and I was really happy to get the Thornback Ray, I'm a real fan of rays and hope I can get several different species of them during this challenge. The photos were taken and Jansen climbed back down the rocks to release the ray back to the sea, nice to see it waving its wings at us as it slid down beneath the waves although Rays don't have fingers so it might have been a bit ruder than a wave!
Time to re-bait the rod and I noticed Jansen was keen for me to do the baits, so I was involved and doing them in the sizes I wanted them no doubt, it could also be that now it had thawed out it was considerably more messy, surely not. So baits all done and we were fishing again, it wasn't long before the next bluey bait got scoffed by a Ray and this one came up on the surface a long way out so no surprise at what it was. It was another male Thornback and a quick picture before sending Jansen down the rocks for the release, much easier in the daylight, and with a man servant.
It was a bit of a wait before the next ray made an appearance and we tried a few different things to instigate bites, casting further out, bigger baits, chanting and eventually I had another enquiry. This turned into the third Thornback of the session and Jansen unhooked it at the water and released the Ray to grow bigger. It wasn't too long to wait for another bite and Thornback number 4 was safely landed and it was another male fish, another picture and relax and wait for the next.
The tide was ebbing rapidly as the session was coming to an end everything had gone eerily quiet on the fish front, it was looking like 4 rays was going to be the final tally and that's a great day session and mission accomplished as far as the fiftytwo challenge was concerned but as an angler I secretly wanted just one more. Looking across the channel I could see the sun shining brightly over in Wales and I realised just how close we were to the welsh coastline.
A small finger of sun crept from the welsh side and touched the water a little ray of hope and sure enough as I wound in the final rod to pack up a last and 5th Thornback was attached, great way to end a fantastic days fishing with a truly inspirational guy, I learned a lot, caught several and we both got home safely. Jansen runs the guiding service The Gambling Angler and I cant recommend him highly enough. Out again on Saturday after species 19 with a bit of luck, if not I'm sure there will be a tale or two.
