targeting ray

right lads have decided to head hunt for ray... any advice on bait. location in east cork and west waterford.rigs.and any other tips would be cool. thanks.

right lads have decided to head hunt for ray... any advice on bait. location in east cork and west waterford.rigs.and any other tips would be cool. thanks.

pulley pennel rig with whole squide

Pulley rigs with sand eels and mac as bait

There will be plenty ray caught on the likes of Garryvoe and Youghal beach from now on as they are starting to show up already.

Traces dont matter too much. I prefer a 3 hooked clipped rig as you may as well catch 3 fish at a time. There is no need for pennel rigs!!! Hook sizes from 2- 1/0 I wouldn`t go any bigger than that. Match you bait to your hook size. Crab, sandeel and mac are the best baits.
Do not use whole squid off these beaches as you will probably not catch much and you wont be able to cast a whole squid very far.

There will be plenty ray caught on the likes of Garryvoe and Youghal beach from now on as they are starting to show up already.

Traces dont matter too much. I prefer a 3 hooked clipped rig as you may as well catch 3 fish at a time. There is no need for pennel rigs!!! Hook sizes from 2- 1/0 I wouldn`t go any bigger than that. Match you bait to your hook size. Crab, sandeel and mac are the best baits.
Do not use whole squid off these beaches as you will probably not catch much and you wont be able to cast a whole squid very far.

that very wise man gave me the same info about 2 years ago and i went on to get a good few of them, altho i cant cast like him so i use 1 or 2 hooks in size 1 b940's and they do the job fine.

There will be plenty ray caught on the likes of Garryvoe and Youghal beach from now on as they are starting to show up already.

Traces dont matter too much. I prefer a 3 hooked clipped rig as you may as well catch 3 fish at a time. There is no need for pennel rigs!!! Hook sizes from 2- 1/0 I wouldn`t go any bigger than that. Match you bait to your hook size. Crab, sandeel and mac are the best baits.
Do not use whole squid off these beaches as you will probably not catch much and you wont be able to cast a whole squid very far.

and most important patience

Just adding to this and most baits have been already posted but i use sandeel and bluey cocktail on one rod and mack and squid on other and both rods were catching last year in places people told me i wouldnt catch them.

Fresh mackerel works well over here but I have taken them on most fish baits and plenty on whole squid. Pulley rigs or the 'long and low' work well here too.

great advice lads will give all a shot.thanks.

Pennel rigs!......... why? l: use a 3h flapper 2up 1down,or single hook clipped,long and low would be good,1/0,2/0 or 3/0 hook size.
on the single hook rig.

Pennel rigs!......... why? l: use a 3h flapper 2up 1down,or single hook clipped,long and low would be good,1/0,2/0 or 3/0 hook size.
on the single hook rig.

Long and low gets snagged really easily on anything other than clean beaches. Pulley rig is a reliable easy casting rig which cuts down on snagging and fish loss. All down to personal choice.

I use penels up to 4/0 and very big baits of mackerel or sand eel wrapped in squid for alot of my fishing in the Estuary. The reason for using penels to allow large baits to be presented correctly. If I was to use paternoster rigs they would snag to easily on the marks I fish and small baits they would be desimated by crabs in seconds. Large baits work well in the Estuary as the crabs are ripping the bait apart while it is in the water spreading the sent.

On clean ground I'd use a paternoster multihook rig just so I can pick up more dogs but on a second rod I'd use a clip down or pulley with a smaller penel rig stream lined for distance. The three hook rig gives the same sent spread across three hooks but some days the penel will out fish it. Different rigs work on different days on different marks so to limit yourself to one type of rig or distance is to limit yoursef. Saying that nearly all the ray I've caught have been on penel pulleys largely down to the marks I fish. The biggest by far have been down to long up and overs including a fish of 16lbs.

Distance isn't always necessary but this is mark dependent. One mark I fish I've caught ray at 20 yards out in shallow water. Clean shallow ground usually means a bit of distance but try all ranges. One thing I would recommend is to go out armed with a gemini disgourger especiallly is using penels so swallowed hooks can be retrieved without harming the ray.

I use penels up to 4/0 and very big baits of mackerel or sand eel wrapped in squid for alot of my fishing in the Estuary. The reason for using penels to allow large baits to be presented correctly. If I was to use paternoster rigs they would snag to easily on the marks I fish and small baits they would be desimated by crabs in seconds. Large baits work well in the Estuary as the crabs are ripping the bait apart while it is in the water spreading the sent.

This is perfect example of how and when to use a pully rig and big baits. The pully was designed to get big fish in over rough ground without getting snagged.

On the west waterford/east cork beaches there is no need for huge baits and pully rigs for ray because there are not infestations of crabs and there is not rough ground to pull fish in over.

This subject has gone from fishing a particular area to "well this is how I catch them".
It would be interesting to know how many that have posted alternative techniques and baits on this thread have actually caught a ray in the area asked about.

you give it to them lad

I use penels up to 4/0 and very big baits of mackerel or sand eel wrapped in squid for alot of my fishing in the Estuary. The reason for using penels to allow large baits to be presented correctly. If I was to use paternoster rigs they would snag to easily on the marks I fish and small baits they would be desimated by crabs in seconds. Large baits work well in the Estuary as the crabs are ripping the bait apart while it is in the water spreading the sent.

This is perfect example of how and when to use a pully rig and big baits. The pully was designed to get big fish in over rough ground without getting snagged.

On the west waterford/east cork beaches there is no need for huge baits and pully rigs for ray because there are not infestations of crabs and there is not rough ground to pull fish in over.

This subject has gone from fishing a particular area to "well this is how I catch them".
It would be interesting to know how many that have posted alternative techniques and baits on this thread have actually caught a ray in the area asked about.

In fairness to me you could quote my secound paragraph where I go onto clean ground fishing.

i use what ever rigs i have on the day and hope for a ray

what size bullets do you use denis

these nice shiny ones


http://media.midwayusa.com/productimage ... 490326.jpg

hahaha good stuff lads bit of banter cant be beat.. thanks.

these nice shiny ones


http://media.midwayusa.com/productimage ... 490326.jpg

.270. Very nice!!!