Stingray in the Blackwater

[rufus]

Has anybody here got any good links to stingray pages or any info that might lead to some prior knowledge for a shore stingray hunt on the Blackwater estuary this coming summer?

 

I know that they run very big here, to record breaking size in fact, and seeing as I spend a lot of time in the area around Mersea Island during the summer months, I thought I might have a go at catching one.

 

Any info on bait and rigs would be helpful.

[Kieran Hanrahan]

Hi Rufus

 

http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/rays%20...20-%20sting.htm

 

The above page has some basic information on sting rays from boat and shore. I have seen bronzed hooks and heavy duty mono recommended over and above standard hooks and wire in case of breakages or snags. I will be looking for some thornbacks over the Easter especially if the weather holds and we don't get too much rain!

 

Tight lines

 

Kieran Hanrahan

[rufus]

Thanks for that Kieran...

 

My girlfreind lost a big fish last year at Mersea Island... she got a bruise all along her arm as the fish took off and pulled the rod sharply out of her grasp! Now the normal run of fish here in summer are school bass up to around 4 pounds or so. We think it could only have been a sting ray and a big un' at that.

 

The link says fish for them as you would for tope. makes sense if the fish you may catch run up to 70 pounds or more...info is thin on the ground, but I'm slowly putting together some idea of the methods for catching these gentle giants... and some idea of the problems too.. Like getting stung!!

 

Not sure how I would beach and unhook one...hopefully this year I'll find out the only way possible, by actually catching one.

[Kieran Hanrahan]

Hi Rufus

 

There is a particular technique to handling them.

 

Carefully!

 

Long gloves (meat processors are good) are ideal, and the general idea is to keep the 35 cm long stinger as far away from you and any one else's body as possible in the whole process. A gaff (dare we mention this word on a board in reference to any flat fish!) is generally required as it allows you handle the smaller fish by keeping the tila and stinger facing out away from your body and in particular your legs. A bit like conger, a very strong hessian sack or similar fabric that can be quickly wrapped aqround the tail and stinger whilst the hook is removed with a T Bar, pliers or disgorger etc. It helps to have experienced hands around, mainly to keep the fish immobile during unhooking and to ease the release back into the water.

 

I did read that normally "calm" fish do go nuts in shallow water, and I did get a walloping fight off a tub gurnard in about eight feet of water last year out near blacksod bay!

 

Bear in mind that there are other rays about...

 

Tight lines!

 

Kieran

[Elton]

Rufus,

 

Could well have been a smoothound.

 

Whatever - definitely worth having a go for!!

 

Tight lines,

 

Elton

[rufus]

Got a plan coming together...the stiffest rod in my bag coupled with a 7000. 40lb straight through and a short 100lb mono to a forged 6/0. This should be able to cope with middling weights..dont know what you would need for the 70lb + fish that are out there. Thinking also of suspending a chum bag on a stake a couple of feet above the sea bed staked out at low tide...cant do any harm can it? Also going to a mark that produced a 40lb fish some years back according to local legend and where I witnessed the capture of a couple of fish when I was a kid...

 

Should start my campaign around June and report back if it goes according to plan

[Dave B]

Hi Rufus, Just to let you know that if you intend to target the stingers in the Blackwater you shouldn't go too heavy. Yes, there are some very big fish there, but you really don't have to go overboard with heavy live and monster hooks.

 

Use an up and over rig with a 4ft-long trace of 50lb mono, with either a single size 6/0 hook or a size 4/0 pennell rig.

 

Also, don't bother trying fish baits. The best bait by a long shot for the big stingers off the East Anglian coast, is a whole king ragworm.

 

I've had plenty of experience fishing the Maplin Edge in the Thames - a series of sandbanks and gutways for stingers, and the rag gets them every time. You'll also increase your chances of a bass too!

 

I've never caught a stinger on any bait other than ragworm in this country. (Just returned from Gran Canaria where I had two BIG 'uns, 80lb and 92lb - both on mackerel!) By all means fish two rods and try mackerel on one, but rag is the way to go.

 

Good Luck

[phil dean]

We had babies in the Bahamas using Conch Slop, a particularly smelly by product of eating conch. (it's the guts).

 

Something equally smelly may also be worth a go.

[rufus]

Dave, thanks for the bait/rig info..the very stuff I was looking for! Good that they like king rag as I have a nice king rag dig just up the coast ...which is handy! and especially as I usually fish the summer for bass exclusively, (which is how I came to want to fish for sting ray in the first place) Be nice to fish for both at the same time.

Maplin Edge sounds interesting and closer to me...is that off Foulness island? Could do evening sessions on my dirt bike there

[Elton]

Just found this thread whilst doing a bit of housekeeping. I wonder if Rufus ever did land a stingray? I know somebody who posts on here who's had a few around that sort of area in the past year.