Terry, Dan and i headed to Ravens on Wednesday to try and improve our species counts for the year and hopefully find something to put a bit of a bend in the rod for a change.
We had seen a couple of jets doing high level exercises as we travelled along the 55 and were greeted with a flypast from a couple of Hawks as we got out of the car.
We made our way onto the rocks, and we were then treated to 2 F15s banking overhead, possibly to land at Valley, as we tackled up. I managed to get a shot but think it needs a magnifying glass to see the planes.
The fishing was very slow to start, possibly down to the swell which was a lot more than we expected given the lack of wind.
Terry found a Ballan close in, and was having a bit more luck casting out onto the sand with plenty of small Codling, Whiting and a Dab to keep him busy. He also found a Poor Cod for the hunt.
Dan had a couple of small Codling and a Dog casting out, before finding a Poor Cod of his own.
I was still fishless on all of my 3 rods, but I managed to pull my finger out before it got dark and made it Poor Cod all round.
While I was taking the photo, my close in rod lurched over. I had been having the odd bite, but couldn’t hook anything so this first cast with a different rig had done the trick. My second new species for the day was a Ballan Wrasse.
Things were picking up now. We were all getting fish more regularly. Mainly small Codling and Whiting, with the odd Dog as it got dark.
Terry had a 5 Bearded Rockling off the sand, and I had a Shore Rockling from closer in near the rocks.
I put the scratching rigs away and tackled down my mini bashing rod and went all out with 6/0 hooks and big fish baits for a Conger on one rod close in and further out for Huss on the other.
Sadly, my first fish on these rigs, on a whole Poor Cod as bait, was a very greedy Whiting!
We were getting a few Dogs, and Terry and Dan were still picking up Codling and Whiting on their smaller hooks.
Terry dropped what he thought was a Huss on the retrieve, but soon after was in again on his Pennell, and Dan went down to land his fish as I held my rods out of the way. He had actually managed a Dog on one of the Pennell hooks and a Huss of 7lb 5oz on the other!
Dan found a small Huss soon after and I decided to go all out for Huss and wound in the Conger rod and swapped over rigs before casting it out a bit further.
The dogs were well on the feed now, and often taking the baits right down. As I was unhooking one I heard the ratchet on the rod I had just changed over and Terry gave me a shout as the rod was bouncing pretty well. I nimbly danced across the rocks ( skidded and slid ), picked up the rod and wound into the fish. It was pulling back well, and creating a good bend in my old Daiwa, which is a little on the soft side. Dan came down to land the fish and after it was washed around the front of the rock on a swell, it was deposited at his feet so he was able to grab it by the tail to land it. Good job too as the 6/0 wasn’t in its mouth and the 3/0 on the Pennell was only just through its bottom lip!
We took some photos and Terry weighed it at 9lb 6oz before it went back.
Dan had another small Huss and we all had a few more Dogs but all the excitement was too much for us and we decided to pack up and head for home. Just in time as it happens as it started raining just as we were getting off the rocks.
I ended up on 7 species, with 4 new ones for the year. Terry had 8 with 3 new ones and Dan added 1 new one to move him on to 2 stars. Hes out again tomorrow so he might be on 3 before long!
Happy days!