tips for ray from the beach?

hey guys,
anyone got any good tips for catching ray off the beach?
i.e
-what time of year?
-what baits are best?
-what type of beach(sandy)?

or just general knowledge on fishing for ray?

p.s i have never caught one ..... hench the post

thornbacks are the most common and you are running into the low season for them - best bait over sand is usually sand eel athough they will come to mackerel, rag, lug and I have found cocktails with razorfish seem to work particularly well in deeper water western marks...

spotted rays are typically caught by accident on some of the south east Irish sea beaches, and best to search through the forums for reports - third option next to the gallery.

blonde rays are rarely encountered off the shore although the shannon throws up nice big fish regularly and there are a few other marks, bigger fillet or flapper baits required

undulate rays are extremely rare, ask seanibo about that secret mark he and mcgroary risk their lives wading out to... ok slight exaggeration but it grows in the telling!

cuckoo rays are only found in northern waters, head to antrim and try places like dunluce and the northern mixed ground marks, very small, smallest but arguably nicest looking species.

painted rays are now in prime season along the south coast, with small fish baits (poor cod is very good as are pin whiting) hammered out at distance likely to get you a bit fish, smaller fish will focus on shellfish baits and worms

stingrays are a summer and late autumn species only, grow massive, best targeted in very shallow warm water on a coming tide with king ragworm. Learn how to handle them...

Eagle rays reported in the shannon on occassion, shagreen rays found offshore in very deep water and skate are another story all together...

Best chance right now is waterford and cork beaches at night on a coming tide for painted rays, option of thornbacks in the shannon and deeper water marks like killary harbour etc.

FWIW

kieran said most of it there.

i normally use a fairly long pulley rig(about 60-70cm clipped down) and a single size 1/0 manta hook or a 2/0 kamasan. bait is usually sandeel and squid but sometimes mackeral.

i usually find summer months best for most rays, although as kieran has mentioned, painted rays are almost year round.

the actual shore your fishing off dosent really matter as long as your fishing onto sand or some other smooth sea bed like mud(shannon estuary).

hope that helps you a bit.

Alex

for thornback ray i found that using 3 hook mackerel feathers baited with frozen mackerel works great for me,caught 18 in one day during the summer,i fish sandy ground with a few meters of water better when the tide is flowing

have a look at this site http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/sea/sseaons.htm it will give you a idea of the best times

18 in one day!!!

ive never got 18 in a season no matter how many thornback sessions that inevitably turn into dogs sessions that ive been on

18 in one day!!!

ive never got 18 in a season no matter how many thornback sessions that inevitably turn into dogs sessions that ive been on

some people go mackerel bashing i go thornback bashing had 37 thornbacks between june and sept and the only dog sessions i had was after the ray moved out will pm you details of the mark i fish and you can try beat my record of 18 thornback in one day

all 18 were release,hope to see them again next year

I've always found an hour either side of low water to be best for thornies, and the ideal beach is shallow and sandy with rock outcrops.

jono,b
you will catch ray "thornback" on more or less any type of rig, but personally i use the pully rig, as far as i know most anglers fishing for thornbacks favor this type of rig.
snood length depends on what the angler feels is right for the area that he is fishing in,
i use a long snood sometimes up to five feet or more, the reason being is to keep a good distance from the bait and the grip lead, i also like to add coloured beads and tubeing to the rig. two years ago me and my daugher fished one of my marks for rays with plain pully rigs, we got four rays in an hour and a half, i then changed to the rigs with coloured beads and tubeing, and in the next two 1/2 hours we landed over 20 rays, they were all got on mackerel tipped with squid at each side of low tide, all fish were between 3lb and 8lb and all were released safe.
two days later we hit the same mark with two friends of mine, fished for five hours and ended up with 50+ rays, it what i called a red letter day, and you dont get many of them...

the tip about the long snood to keep it away from the lead comes up time and time again

apparently the ray wants to land on the bait - and if it feels anything wrong - its off

so having the grip away from the bait wont spook the ray with the grips sticking up out of it

funnily enough i have caught them on both flappers and pulleys - usually on the flappers in close when i have a pulley as far as i can put if for rays!!!

never caught one but i know that they are more of a summer species and they like sandy beeches, mainly esturies as for baits, i would say crab, mackerel, squid, sandeel and razorfish.

thornbacks are the most common and you are running into the low season for them - best bait over sand is usually sand eel athough they will come to mackerel, rag, lug and I have found cocktails with razorfish seem to work particularly well in deeper water western marks...

spotted rays are typically caught by accident on some of the south east Irish sea beaches, and best to search through the forums for reports - third option next to the gallery.

blonde rays are rarely encountered off the shore although the shannon throws up nice big fish regularly and there are a few other marks, bigger fillet or flapper baits required

undulate rays are extremely rare, ask seanibo about that secret mark he and mcgroary risk their lives wading out to... ok slight exaggeration but it grows in the telling!

cuckoo rays are only found in northern waters, head to antrim and try places like dunluce and the northern mixed ground marks, very small, smallest but arguably nicest looking species.

painted rays are now in prime season along the south coast, with small fish baits (poor cod is very good as are pin whiting) hammered out at distance likely to get you a bit fish, smaller fish will focus on shellfish baits and worms

stingrays are a summer and late autumn species only, grow massive, best targeted in very shallow warm water on a coming tide with king ragworm. Learn how to handle them...

Eagle rays reported in the shannon on occassion, shagreen rays found offshore in very deep water and skate are another story all together...

Best chance right now is waterford and cork beaches at night on a coming tide for painted rays, option of thornbacks in the shannon and deeper water marks like killary harbour etc.

FWIW

I dont agree with most of this.

How can advise someone to go fishing for painted ray with poor cod,pin whiting, shellfish or lug worm.

Kieran I would like to ask you when was the last time you caught a painted ray on any of those baits.

As for the stingray.How many have you had on ragworm ... Not a lot I will bet.

Jono

The three baits for ray are sandeel, Mackeral and crab. Other baits will, on occasion catch but if you want to target these fish I wouldn`t be using any other baits.

Kieran

You also say that big blonde ray are regularly caught from the shore from the shannon. I would like to ask how regularly does this occur.

I am not trying to cause trouble here but if someone is going to travel across the country to try and catch a fish why not give him the right information giving him a good chance of succeeding.

Just on the painted ray...best bait is undoubtedly mackeral. As regards prime season, we're past that. October is probably the best month. You will still catch now, but it is more hit & miss.

the tip about the long snood to keep it away from the lead comes up time and time again

apparently the ray wants to land on the bait - and if it feels anything wrong - its off

so having the grip away from the bait wont spook the ray with the grips sticking up out of it

funnily enough i have caught them on both flappers and pulleys - usually on the flappers in close when i have a pulley as far as i can put if for rays!!!

good point makes sence, the ray wont lie on the bait if a grip lead is gonna stick into the fish, so traces with long snoods?

thornbacks are the most common and you are running into the low season for them - best bait over sand is usually sand eel athough they will come to mackerel, rag, lug and I have found cocktails with razorfish seem to work particularly well in deeper water western marks...

spotted rays are typically caught by accident on some of the south east Irish sea beaches, and best to search through the forums for reports - third option next to the gallery.

blonde rays are rarely encountered off the shore although the shannon throws up nice big fish regularly and there are a few other marks, bigger fillet or flapper baits required

undulate rays are extremely rare, ask seanibo about that secret mark he and mcgroary risk their lives wading out to... ok slight exaggeration but it grows in the telling!

cuckoo rays are only found in northern waters, head to antrim and try places like dunluce and the northern mixed ground marks, very small, smallest but arguably nicest looking species.

painted rays are now in prime season along the south coast, with small fish baits (poor cod is very good as are pin whiting) hammered out at distance likely to get you a bit fish, smaller fish will focus on shellfish baits and worms

stingrays are a summer and late autumn species only, grow massive, best targeted in very shallow warm water on a coming tide with king ragworm. Learn how to handle them...

Eagle rays reported in the shannon on occassion, shagreen rays found offshore in very deep water and skate are another story all together...

Best chance right now is waterford and cork beaches at night on a coming tide for painted rays, option of thornbacks in the shannon and deeper water marks like killary harbour etc.

FWIW

I dont agree with most of this.

How can advise someone to go fishing for painted ray with poor cod,pin whiting, shellfish or lug worm.

Kieran I would like to ask you when was the last time you caught a painted ray on any of those baits.

As for the stingray.How many have you had on ragworm ... Not a lot I will bet.

Jono

The three baits for ray are sandeel, Mackeral and crab. Other baits will, on occasion catch but if you want to target these fish I wouldn`t be using any other baits.

Kieran

You also say that big blonde ray are regularly caught from the shore from the shannon. I would like to ask how regularly does this occur.

I am not trying to cause trouble here but if someone is going to travel across the country to try and catch a fish why not give him the right information giving him a good chance of succeeding.

I have fished the Shannon for the last 20 years and have seen plenty of stingray caught on King rag, squid, herring, and trout fillets.........

There is plenty of species of Ray in the Shannon and Blonde are caught now and again its just on the Clare side we dont post as many reports if only some people knew what species and where were catching them you could be quite suprised there is even a tope mark which fishes well on a hot summer when there isnt much rain and more salinity in the estuary not far from Shannon Airport.......

thornbacks are the most common and you are running into the low season for them - best bait over sand is usually sand eel athough they will come to mackerel, rag, lug and I have found cocktails with razorfish seem to work particularly well in deeper water western marks...

spotted rays are typically caught by accident on some of the south east Irish sea beaches, and best to search through the forums for reports - third option next to the gallery.

blonde rays are rarely encountered off the shore although the shannon throws up nice big fish regularly and there are a few other marks, bigger fillet or flapper baits required

undulate rays are extremely rare, ask seanibo about that secret mark he and mcgroary risk their lives wading out to... ok slight exaggeration but it grows in the telling!

cuckoo rays are only found in northern waters, head to antrim and try places like dunluce and the northern mixed ground marks, very small, smallest but arguably nicest looking species.

painted rays are now in prime season along the south coast, with small fish baits (poor cod is very good as are pin whiting) hammered out at distance likely to get you a bit fish, smaller fish will focus on shellfish baits and worms

stingrays are a summer and late autumn species only, grow massive, best targeted in very shallow warm water on a coming tide with king ragworm. Learn how to handle them...

Eagle rays reported in the shannon on occassion, shagreen rays found offshore in very deep water and skate are another story all together...

Best chance right now is waterford and cork beaches at night on a coming tide for painted rays, option of thornbacks in the shannon and deeper water marks like killary harbour etc.

FWIW

I dont agree with most of this.

How can advise someone to go fishing for painted ray with poor cod,pin whiting, shellfish or lug worm.

Kieran I would like to ask you when was the last time you caught a painted ray on any of those baits.

As for the stingray.How many have you had on ragworm ... Not a lot I will bet.

Jono

The three baits for ray are sandeel, Mackeral and crab. Other baits will, on occasion catch but if you want to target these fish I wouldn`t be using any other baits.

Kieran

You also say that big blonde ray are regularly caught from the shore from the shannon. I would like to ask how regularly does this occur.

I am not trying to cause trouble here but if someone is going to travel across the country to try and catch a fish why not give him the right information giving him a good chance of succeeding.

I have fished the Shannon for the last 20 years and have seen plenty of stingray caught on King rag, squid, herring, and trout fillets.........

There is plenty of species of Ray in the Shannon and Blonde are caught now and again its just on the Clare side we dont post as many reports if only some people knew what species and where were catching them you could be quite suprised there is even a tope mark which fishes well on a hot summer when there isnt much rain and more salinity in the estuary not far from Shannon Airport.......

stingrays may have been caught on occasion on those baits, we recently caught whiting on KFC, it still does not mean I am going to go out and target them with chicken dippers.

I would like Kieren to reply to my comments.

I think there is far to much " advice " being thrown out new anglers here with no experience to back it up.

How many stingray have you caught kieran.

I seem to remember you telling me earlier in the year that you had never evn seen one caught. How can you advise without any experience.

The point I am trying to make in all this is new anglers should be encouraged and given information with a good chance of working out not filling there heads full of muck.

How many painted ray do you reckon someone fishing cork/waterford beach would have if they were fishing at this time of the year with poorcod as bait.

the tip about the long snood to keep it away from the lead comes up time and time again

apparently the ray wants to land on the bait - and if it feels anything wrong - its off

so having the grip away from the bait wont spook the ray with the grips sticking up out of it

funnily enough i have caught them on both flappers and pulleys - usually on the flappers in close when i have a pulley as far as i can put if for rays!!!

good point makes sence, the ray wont lie on the bait if a grip lead is gonna stick into the fish, so traces with long snoods?

i find that a beach bomb weight works better then a grip lead any time i am fishing for ray,it will roll with the tide but that's not a big problem for me but may cause problems for others where there is a strong tide,i think corbyeire is right the grip weight will spook them

I think there is far to much " advice " being thrown out new anglers here with no experience to back it up.



The point I am trying to make in all this is new anglers should be encouraged and given information with a good chance of working out not filling there heads full of muck.
.

have too agree, some of the stuff i've read in irish angler regarding marks around ireland has been highly inaccurate, thornbacks routinely caught off south beach greystones, blonde ,painted and undulate ray off carraroe, three hook pennels rigs for turbot the matchman's favourite and for tope fishing on wexford beaches find the 'lumpiest' night for them implying tope like rough weather off the shore???nothing against the man himself just the information

I would suggest mackerel and sandeel for ray - the fresher the better. Also worth trying would be bluey, squid, razor, crab - maybe as a cocktail. But for me mackerel and sandeel are the main baits. Not gettin involved in the other debate.

sk

I think there is far to much " advice " being thrown out new anglers here with no experience to back it up.



The point I am trying to make in all this is new anglers should be encouraged and given information with a good chance of working out not filling there heads full of muck.
.

have too agree, some of the stuff i've read in irish angler regarding marks around ireland has been highly inaccurate, thornbacks routinely caught off south beach greystones, blonde ,painted and undulate ray off carraroe, three hook pennels rigs for turbot the matchman's favourite and for tope fishing on wexford beaches find the 'lumpiest' night for them implying tope like rough weather off the shore???nothing against the man himself just the information

i to have to agree here there seems to be so much so called help and information given here which there seems to be no personal experience to back it up,,,
ive never caught a sting ray so cant comment on them,,,,,
thornback ray best baits have to be sandeel, and mack personally i wouldn fish with out em,,,its basically the same for blondes but rarely catch any myself from the shore,,

on the east coast usually june july august september are the best times to fish for them,,,,

Ragworm is the bait of choice for English anglers for stingers and I do believe they bring it over to the west coast with some success but this is FOF info. All the sting ray in the Estuary I have caught/seen caught have been on fish baits but I have heard some promote peeler.

On thornback I generaly say Apiril to October is the best in the Estuary with the inner estuary doing best for me in Summer and the outer producing in the early and later months. Saying that I was fishing last night for ray and caught three to 5lbs. I generaly use pulleys as I am fishing dirty ground but use golds on clean ground. Up and overs have produced my double figure fish up to 16 lbs. As for baits I use mackerel, squid and sand eel. I have caught with all three on there own but eel or mack wrapped in squid with the squid and white gunk is lethal.

On the question people putting out incorrect information on the site well why should this forum be any different then when any other lot of anglers meet up. It's part of the learning experience of finding out alot of what you hear is bollox. I have often heard information that I have thought is bollox and found out that it really works.

Donagh