SOUTHAMPTON'S Bowditch brothers have certainly been finding some quality fish.
Self-employed builder Jay Bowditch beached a huge 47lb 3oz stingray from a Solent Shore mark.
He was using peeler crab and, after weighing and photographing it, the fish was returned alive.
Several other smaller rays were taken during the same session but quality smoothhound are still conspicuous by their absence along the Solent shoreline.
Not to be outdone, Shaun Bowditch who like his brother is a member of the Wessex Specimen Group (WSG) recorded a 13lb 9oz bull huss during a sortie to a Purbeck rock mark.
The oversized specimen, which fell to a large launce sandeel bait, was weighed, photographed and returned alive as are most fish caught by members of the WSG.
Also on the freelance front, a cracking black bream of 7lb 6.5oz was caught by John Hackwell while fishing over a mark in Poole Bay.
The specimen, which took ragworm tipped off with a sliver of squid presented on a size 1 hook, is the heaviest bream recorded so far this season.
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