Skipper Dave Roberts and crew head into the racing tides of the Bristol Channel on a mission to achieve ‘the slam’: four species of rays in one day
The Bristol Channel is renowned for its fast-flowing coloured water, sometimes rendering it a daunting prospect for many anglers wishing to give it a try. However, I believe that within this natural phenomenon lies the secret of the success of many of its inhabitant species.
The colour in the water is simply sand in suspension; when this falls out, it lays on the bottom creating vast sand bank areas. Over time, these areas become home to many types of life form such as crustacean and fish fry which, in turn, become the very food that many of our fish species rely on to survive. The speed of the water is dictated by the tides, which will vary depending on the current stages of the moon’s cycle. One of the families of fish that flourish here, and are indeed one of our mainstay targets, are the rays.
To fish for them we need to select our tides. On big spring tides where the water can gallop along at speeds in excess of five knots, we must select areas where we can shelter from the power of the water, whereas neap tides allow us more choice. Neap tides also allow us to fish deeper marks for longer periods without having to use huge weights and overpowerful rods and reels.
On our trip today, the tidal prediction was for a mid-range flow. This meant that we could explore the channel grounds though we would have to spend time inshore when the flow was at its strongest. Our party consisted of a select few whose main ambition was to catch the Bristol Channel ‘grand slam’ of rays. This includes the small-eyed (raja microocellata), the thornback (raja clavata), the blonde (raja brachyura) and the spotted (raja montagui). These are the most common species of ray taken in these waters, though the stingray (Dasyatis pastinaca) and the cuckoo ray (Leucoraja naevus) are also taken on rare occasions throughout the Channel.
Sea Angler magazine editor David Mitchell, videographer Joe Wooltorton and Penn pro angler James Madsen made up the team.
None of these anglers had fulfilled the ‘slam’ task before and all were eager to set sail. My first mark was situated half a mile from the Welsh coast. This meant a 40-minute steam across the Channel from my home port of Minehead for my catamaran ‘AlyKat’. This gave us plenty of time to ready the kettle and set about rigging up our gear. We were using a selection of boat rods and uptiders to maximise our opportunities and cover as much ground as possible. James and I opted for the new Penn battalion solid carbon 20- 30lb boat rod with Penn fathom mk II lever drag multiplier. James also chose to launch a Penn prevail uptider, again matched with a fathom reel. David was armed wi
