Out at Dawn making the most of the small weather windows

After checking the weather all day yesterday for an opportunity to get out on the Kayak it appeared first light this morning was going to be do able so got my gear together and was launching at first light into a fairly calm dawn sea.

I had a steady 20 min paddle towards Saltburn helped along by the freshening wind that picked up to a good blow causing white caps and small troughs to form it would then die down again, getting fresh bait was not a problem this morning as the sea was alive with Mackerel and every drop was producing them by the bucketload.

I kept some for bait and a few to feed the family then resorted to chopping my traces down to 2 hooks and shaking the Mackerel off to return them unharmed also a lot of small Mackerel about so I kept a few alive in the footwells for a try at any Tope that might be in the area    feeding on the abundance of food.
No trip would be complete without a few of these to show you 

I was treated to some spectacular early morning rainbows whilst fishing and am pleased with the photos of them whilst catching Mackerel 





With enough fresh bait secured I headed out and anchored up to try for the thornies and drop a live joey over in hope of a Tope, I was soon anchored up with my back to the wind but was getting swamped occasionally by the odd bigger trough that was forming but still safe and a good chance to fine tune my anchoring method that I tweaked after discussing them at the Runswick safety course same method just a faster release and it seemed to work a treat and less prone to tangling whilst setting.

Unfortunately it was still black with Mackerel on this mark as well with them engulfing full fillets of Mackerel and even taking frozen peeler after a few greedy flatties had come to the yak all caught on fillets of Mackerel it went a bit quieter and I managed to keep a bait down a bit longer which resulted in a good solid but short pull on the rod tip just what I was waiting for then a short while later a good pull round and I was into a Ray which fought it's socks off and to be honest when it surfaced I was expecting bigger it was full of fight and I had hold of the trace 3 times but it kept powering down again flapping it's wings like crazy some power they have but eventually it was on board and photographed weighed and released





A fine Male specimen of 6lb 2oz (I wonder if the males are known to fight more as other fish sometimes do)

Whilst unhooking it with long nosed pliers it extended its mouth a bit and bit my thumb very sharp teeth and powerful jaws on these creatures causing 8-9 paper like cuts that bled and stung a lot which was nice!
A few pics of the flatties


After that it was back to been pestered by the Mackerel and flatties and the Tope rod was quiet except for just a few small clicks on the ratchet which was probably the live bait getting a bit excited so called it a day shortly afterwards and paddled back in against the brisk wind but at least no surf to deal with and then back on the beach to clean my Mackerel

A thoroughly enjoyable session as always
Andy