1st Post! Surprise capture

12th February 

Wednesday afternoon here in west Cornwall was stunning - the wind dropped to nothing, and this was accompanied by blue sky and sun. This happened to coincide with a lecture free afternoon, which meant that fishing was on our minds. 

I contemplated a shore session to try for a wrasse and test out new lures, but Dan thought we should make the most of the good weather and take the kayaks out. The sea looked amazing, so I agreed. 

Got home by two and we were on the water by three. Our plan would be to target some mackerel and herring that overwinter here in south Cornwall, and then try for something else. I only took one rod, and set up a few small herring feathers, ending with a metal jig. Once at the mark it did not take long till a fat mackerel had taken the jig which I was working close to the bottom. It was great to be out, no wind, and it was warm. I soon had another 3 mackerel. I turned around at one point, seeing Dan’s rod well bent into a fish. A huge mackerel had taken his bait, and was giving his light float rod and small Exage a good workout.

I decided to fish tighter to the bottom with the jig, to see if I could find any other species. I was thinking there might be some whiting or codling about as I had one nearby on a soft plastic in September. Some time passed without any action, until suddenly, as I lifted the jig off the seabed, I felt some strong resistance and powerful thumping. My lure rod bent right over whilst line was leaving the reel at a fair pace. I had to just let the fish run. By tightening down the drag and applying some pressure I made a little progress. However, the fish had other ideas and went back down to the seabed. Dan reeled in and paddled over, reassuring me that if I took it slowly I would get the fish in. My first guess was that it was a decent cod, as the violent "head shakes" felt like a cod, but after a few minutes of stalemate I managed to get into a rhythm and slowly pump the fish up. It felt more like the dead weight of a ray at this point, but surely, I couldn't catch a ray on a jig, could I? 

As the fish neared the surface we saw colour, and indeed it was a ray, and not a small one either. As it saw sunlight, it headed back down, but eventually it was netted. Wow! Turning the ray onto its back revealed that yes, it was firmly hooked in the top lip with one of the assist hooks. She must have pounced on the lure as it hit the bottom. I quickly unhooked it for a picture, getting covered in slime in the process. I haven't ever weighed a ray before, but it was definitely a PB Thornback ray that can't have been far off 10lb. 

Slipped her back into the clear water and she glided back down into the depths. I was in disbelief as to what had just happened. 

We carried on fishing for an hour more, and had a bunch of poor cod and a small whiting on the jig before paddling back in. The paddle back was exciting, as a large German cruise ship was leaving the docks.

I hadn't imagined we would have an opportunity to kayak fish before the end of March, so getting out was a real treat.  

Thank you Cornwall!