COOL BLONDES
Once the cod move offshore in January and February, the fishing can be tough, but you can rely on blonde rays
Time to tackle some 20lb-plus fish.
Although the cod fishing along the South Coast is a shadow of its former self, there are still fish caught each winter. However, the traditional time when these cod move back offshore has always put a bit of a downer on things.
Over the years I’ve managed to beat the winter blues by specifically targeting big blonde rays during January and February, and it’s a time of year that has seen me smash my personal best on numerous occasions, with countless blondes over the magic 25lb mark, and a good handful nudging 30lb.
I’ve caught plenty of blonde rays, and until about eight years ago they were all off the South Coast in reasonably deep water on heavy kit.
I’ve caught a few ‘special’ ones too. One such fish was a 22-pounder I caught on a live sandeel in two knots of tide while drifting a sandbank in 40 feet of water in search of bass. On that day I was using my trusty 11ft Fox Mullet Master rod coupled with a fixed-spool reel loaded with 20lb braid. That ray took off like a fish possessed, and I really didn’t have any idea what it was until near the end of the fight, when it just hung there as we drifted along.
That particular fish showed me that blonde rays inhabit shallower water, and it was a chance conversation with my friend Sean Heath, who at the time was skipper of Great White out of Hayling Island, that set the winter blonde ray ball rolling – and we never looked back.
LUCKY BREAK
Our first winter blonde trip came about a bit by accident. I had travelled to Brighton with my buddy and photographer, Jim Midgley, to have a crack at some early wreck pollack with Ray Burn on Grey Viking, but the weather gods had different ideas and it blew up nasty.
There we were, consoling ourselves in the hotel bar, when I just happened to log on to Facebook on my mobile. Up popped Sean, informing everyone that he was going ray fishing in the morning – so I asked him: “Got room for a couple of large ones?” He came straight back and said “Of course you can come!” That was music to my ears.
I knew we’d get out of Hayling because the bank in question is only a few miles offshore, rather than the 20-odd mile steam off to the wrecks out of Brighton, so we’d definitely get a few hours’ fishing in before the tide turned and conditions deteriorated.
LIGHT APPROACH
Traditionally, the banks where boats off the South Coast fish for big blondes are in excess of 50ft of water, and in the strong tides that means you have to use heavy lead weights and often 30lb-class gear. But there are quite a few shallow banks inshore where you can use much lighter tackle, even uptiding gear.
On this particular day, and subsequent ones, I used my MTI 15lb-class offshore rod coupled with a Shimano Talica 10 two-speed multiplier loaded with 30lb braid. Arron was using an Abu Suveran uptider and Sean went for his trusty 20lb-class Conoflex.
As far as lead weight was concerned, I managed to hold bottom with 10oz, while Arron held easily with a 7oz fixed-head grip weight.
The reason why we were fishing so ‘light’ for these big rays was purely for sport. Sean had informed me the night before, during a rather excited exchange on Facebook, that the blondes on this bank belt off like rockets once hooked. He saw them as being more akin to tope than rays in the way that they fight, mainly due to the shallow water in which they are caught.
I sort of knew where he was coming from after boating that 22-pounder on my mullet rod, but I was in for a shock when I hooked my first fish of the day.
To cut a long story short, we fished for just over two hours before the weather pushed us back in, and we managed a rather impressive tally of seven blonde rays, five of which were over 20lb, with me boating two new personal bests in the form of rays weighing 28lb 8oz and 29lb. What an unbelievable session!
In subsequent years I made a point of visiting Hayling every winter, sometimes for a Boxing Day bash and other times in mid-January or February when the weather looked good. We’ve always caught big blonde rays, and on one particular trip we nailed 13 in just a few hours, with five of them weighing over 25lb and seven of the other eight topping 20lb.
RIG AND BAIT
Rigs for blonde ray fishing tend to be simple. It’s a good idea to use a reasonably heavy mono for your hooklengths, because a big blonde has a rasping mouth that will go through lighter mono, especially during a prolonged fight. I use 60-80lb mono.
As far as the length of the trace goes, I’m a firm believer of fishing relatively short traces in fast water to keep the bait hard on the seabed, so I often go for a trace no longer than 3ft. On the business end, I prefer using a single, strong hook
like a size 6/0 or 8/0 Sakuma Manta Extra. Then it’s simply a case of having your lead weight on a short boom and fishing the trace as a running leger rig.
It was many moons ago when Colin Penny, skipper of Flamer, out of Weymouth, taught me how to target big blonde rays, and to this day I’ve used exactly the same bait that he showed me, which has accounted for countless 20lb-plus blondes for me.
All you need is half a fillet of mackerel and a whole squid. Just pass the point of your hook once through the tail end of the mackerel fillet, and again through the tail end of the squid (once you’ve peeled away the fins and skin from it). Then whip a little bit of bait elastic around the ends and the hook to stop dogfish ripping it off – a simple bait that wafts around in the tide, all mounted on a single hook.
The last piece of advice is make sure you back off your drag so a big blonde can take line. These fish really do motor off when first hooked. I have seen one or two rods go flying over the side of the boat, never to be seen again, because the angler hadn’t backed off the drag and was not watching his rod tip. ■