I gave Clifton another go this morning but conditions were very different to two days ago. The wind was straight off the sea, there was a reasonable surf and there was a lot of large weed fronds in the water ... however ...

Firs cast produced a solid take but the fish didn't return to complete act one. After half an hour one of the rods experienced a good pull down but the moment I set the hook I knew there was something wrong, I could feel the line rubbing on something nasty. Eventually the hook pulled and a quick check of the line quickly told the story if had been wrapped on foul ground. A short while later I have a good rattle and this produced a very nice eel, this is being jellied as I type.

At mid day my Veritas rod lent forward and stayed there. For various reasons I do not have a lot of confidence in this rod, however, today it was given a real workout, I might add the same went for me. I was sure this wasn't an eagle ray, it was simply brute strength and bloody ignorance. When the fish ran there was nothing I could do except apply as much side strain as my six kilo line would allow.

By the time I got the fish within twenty-five metres of the surf (15 minutes, I timed it) I was pretty sure with the back wash I was never going to get this fish on the beach. My partner was busy recording much of the action with a point and shoot camera, she could see the fish was beginning to tire, I was absolutely knackered. Eventually the fish came to the surface and I am confident this was a short tail sting ray, a brute of a fish, its topside virtually black.

I happily accept it is very difficult to estimate the weight of any fish and with it surfaced just the outside of the surf a guess would be about the best I could manage. I have caught rays to just over sixty pounds and this dwarfed my previous best effort. I would guesstimate between eighty and one hundred pounds and I had seen enough of it to decide to hold the spool and let it snap off.

It would have stressed the fish no end to bring it through the surf, only to be returned after a photo session. I would like to have had a record of my personal best, however, I was also relieved that at seventy-two I and the Veritas, handled the fight quite well.