THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

Had we moved there earlier, or not had to leave prematurely, who knows what the final figure might
have been. Ironically, two other boats also beat the old record of forty five fish that day, and to our
shame, all fish over a pre-determined minimum size were brought ashore to be weighed.
Kept component of Fleetwood record Thornback haul
Preston on the River Ribble was another very productive Lancashire charter boat venue in its day
producing lots of rays, in the main by heading south off Ainsdale and Formby to fish along the northern
edge of the buoyed outer Mersey Channel.
In those days we put the dinghy in from Pontins at Ainsdale and would catch loads of the things from
the same area between the FT buoy and Jordan Spit. South of that, as I've already mentioned, Rhyl was
the next hot spot, as indeed were most charter venues right throughout Wales, from Llandudno around
into the Bristol Channel.
The stand-outs, for me certainly, were Aberystwyth and Aberdovey which share much of the same
ground. The boats there could catch them like there was no tomorrow.
Once you rounded St. Davids Head, other ray species started to become as prevalent, particularly small
eyed rays. The same was true along the north coast of Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset, rounding Lands
End eastwards to the Isle of Wight.
Thornbacks were still also regularly caught throughout that area. But it wasn't until you passed through
the Dover Strait that they reclaimed their species dominance, with the Thames Estuary seemingly being
alive with the things. Bradwell in particular springs to mind, fishing with John Rawle in the early days
of uptide fishing. Further up into the North Sea, far less were caught.
Whether that was due to the type of ground or the style of fishing, I'm not sure, though as you get
beyond The Wash, cod and lure fishing tend to dominate much more of the thinking.
74