YOUR FISHING YOUR FISHING
Huge stingray bottoms out angler’s scales
A round-up of your latest catches.
This enormous stingray could have threatened the British shore record of 78lb 8oz, but it bottomed out Dominic Dyas’s 50lb scales before it was fully lifted off the ground.
“I genuinely, along with a lot of other anglers, believe I have landed the biggest stinger from a UK beach,” said Dominic, who as a plasterer is used to lifting heavy bags of plaster.
He estimated the fish, caught at St Osyth, Essex, to weigh 65lb but, having seen the picture, other anglers reckoned it could be more than 85lb. The fish’s barb had been removed.
The British record, caught at Chesil Beach, Dorset, in 2015, weighed 78lb 8oz (35.607kg).
“When I picked her up she felt like a bag and a half of plaster at least, and I’m a plasterer so used to that weight. Two bags weigh 50kg, and is what I’ve lifted every morning for the last seven years. She was easily a bag and a half,” said the angler, from Grays, Essex, who was fishing for stingrays for the first time.
“I genuinely believe this has easily smashed the current UK record, and everyone who has caught stingrays who I have spoken to completely agrees,” he said.
Having sold some of his fishing gear, he was using a £12.99 Ron Thompson rod and Decathlon fixed-spool reel loaded with 15lb mainline with 50lb leader. Dominic, who also fishes for big catfish, used a Pennell pulley rig with size 1 hooks baited with king ragworms.
“Before catching the stingray, it had been a rubbish day, with my baits getting stripped,” he said. “At slack water, the tip nodded down and shuddered before the rod bent down towards the water. It was like trying to reel in a bag of cement, but
I reckon the soft rod helped me out. I knew that it was huge because I’m used to 80lb catfish,” said Dominic. “It could well be over 85lb, it was an absolute cracker.”
The Sussex coast also produced some good stingrays during the hot and calm days of late May and early June, including a superb 65lb 2oz fish. That was caught on the first cast of a session by Rob Tudor, of Pagham, West
Sussex, who said: “I was just about to set up my second rod when my rod slammed over and the fish slack lined me, so I grabbed the rod, reeled like crazy and then felt the steam train kick in.”
There was also a 55lb 2oz stingray taken on a ragworm bait by Charlie Cooper. The angler, from Cowes, Isle of Wight, was fishing at Gurnard beach.
Summer fishing for smoothhounds has kicked off in superb fashion for shore and boat anglers.
Best reported so far was an 18lb 2oz hound for Gavin Eason while shore fishing at a low tide mark at Selsey Bill, West Sussex. The angler, from Southwick, fished a peeler crab bait on a pulley rig with a size 4/0 Mustad Big Gun hook.
Over in Bognor Regis, Stuart Harfield, from Southampton, caught a 12lb 5oz hound on a squid and rag wrap, while a soft crab bait produced a 12lb 6oz fish for Will Constance, of Chilbolton, who was fishing at Lepe, Hampshire.
In North Wales, there was a big fish too for Al Mair, who used a peeler crab on a pulley rig to land a 17lb 8oz fish at high water from Holyhead, Anglesey.
Up in Morecambe Bay, Lancs, Richy Jackman, of Middlesbrough, encountered non-stop action during a session at Heysham and included a 16lb smoothhound in his catch, while squid and crab bait
Mark Fletcher produced a 13lb 5oz fish for Lee Scott, of Egremont, Cumbria.
On the Wirral, local anglers Steven Robertson and Mark Fletcher fished the Rock Channel at New Brighton and caught personal bests of 12lb 9oz and 11lb 15oz respectively. During a trip out on his own boat to the River Mersey’s Rock Channel, Terry Wallworth caught a 12lb 4oz smoothhound. The angler, from Runcorn, fished crab claws.
As usual the Bristol Channel has produced its share of hounds too, with Lilstock, in Somerset, throwing up a 14lb 7oz fish for Brian Forrest, from Bristol, who was fishing at high tide with fresh peeler crabs. While fishing at Clevedon pier, Terry Varley caught a 13lb 9oz hound. There was a 12-pounder for Matthew Webb, of Port Talbot, who used a squid and crab bait at Port Talbot beach.
Boat angler Caroline Hathaway got out on an individual trip on Shaun Anning’s Seafire, out of Watchet, and caught three smoothhounds to 14lb.
Terry Wallworth