Biggest Sting Ray I Have Ever Seen, and CAUGHT!

[beachbunker732]

I've kind of been hit by sharking fever lately, obsessing over catching a Sand Tiger Shark from the beaches of LBI just because I know it's possible, and I would love to see one up close, with all it's crazy teeth...So last night I hit the beach once again to continue my quest... Went all night without a hit, was ready to call it quits, and then as we were packing it in, my bait-runner starts screaming... I pick it up, give it a couple seconds and set the hook.. Upon feeling the hook burrow into it, this thing ran. HARD. I couldn't turn it's head.. I thought I finally had my 10 ft sand tiger, This relentless battle went on for an hour, maybe longer.. every time it started giving in, it would suction itself to the bottom to rest, during which time, I had no hope of moving it, then it would spool all of the line I just retrieved and more.. I was sweating bullets, and my arms were about ready to fall off, but I finally got him to ride the waves into shore.. And in disbelief, this is what was at the end of my line:

51975
51976
51977
51978
51979

This beast measured 7 feet from wing to wing and I'm not good at estimating weight, but I know this thing had to go over 250lbs easily!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

I have no idea of the species, but after a few pictures, this monster was returned to the ocean!

[Gerry Zagorski]

Amazing you were able to land that beast...Been hearing a lot of reports of Cow Nose Rays being caught, but that is not a Cow Nose.

Great report and thanks for posting it here.

[beachbunker732]

I can't believe my surf set-up handled it.. I actually had to have my brother pour fresh water on my reel, as the spool was getting HOT quick. Shimano Baitrunners (old model) never let me down and this just proves what they can handle. Also I didn't think my surf rod had that much backbone! And yeah I've caught cow-nose before, but they feel like a snapper compared to this thing!!!

Amazing you were able to land that beast...Been hearing a lot of reports of Cow Nose Rays being caught, but that is not a Cow Nose.

Great report and thanks for posting it here.

[Ol Pedro]

Great catch ! We had one customer "snag bottom" nite Bluefishing a few weeks ago . I took the rod and it felt like pulling Lobster gear . I railed the rod and hammered the drag and slowly gained on what I thought was dead weight . I called for Kevin to grab a gaff but to our surprise we saw this huge light colored ray around 5' wide . It took off on a run and straightened the Bluefish hook . There are a lot of strange things swimming around with all this bath water around .

[GDubya07]

Been seeing alot of them swimming lately near the surface - that looks like something out of River Monsters

WOW - Congrats on a great fight and landing it in the surf

GDubs-:cool:

[beachbunker732]

YES! Jeremy Wade was seriously narrating this battle in my head! I kept mentioning the show afterwards..

Been seeing alot of them swimming lately near the surface - that looks like something out of River Monsters

WOW - Congrats on a great fight and landing it in the surf

GDubs-:cool:

[dakota560]

That is an absolutely huge. A few years aggo we saw thiousands of cow nose rays out in the Chicken and none of the ones we saw came close to that size. Anyone have any idea what kind of ray that is?

Beautiful creature, insane how big they can get. Great effort landing it. That's some accomplishment.

Dakota

[beachbunker732]

I'm still trying to figure out the species.. I don't even know what to search other than "short tail sting ray"... and as luck would have it, there's already a species that is called the short-tail stingray, so my research is getting me no where, as this is not a short-tail, it just has a short tail :|

That is an absolutely huge. A few years aggo we saw thiousands of cow nose rays out in the Chicken and none of the ones we saw came close to that size. Anyone have any idea what kind of ray that is?

Beautiful creature, insane how big they can get. Great effort landing it. That's some accomplishment.

Dakota

[Garone Custom Rods]

Awesome fish man!

[tjd24]

Your pic was driving my crazy. Had to find species.
Looks like a Smooth Butterfly Ray.
Good job on a great catch & release.

[beachbunker732]

I think you're right, that looks just like it! But... I keep reading that their maximum wing span is around 3-4 feet... If that's the case, could mine, absolutely shattering those estimates at 7', have been a world record Smooth Butterfly Ray!?! :eek:




Your pic was driving my crazy. Had to find species.
Looks like a Smooth Butterfly Ray.
Good job on a great catch & release.

[tjd24]

That's 3-4 feet per lobe. Meaning 6 to 8 feet total. They call it Disc Width.
Check out www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gallery/SmoothbflyRay they show pics of some big ones.

[beachbunker732]

Gotcha. Thank you! Still, this thing was surely reaching it's maximum size!!

That's 3-4 feet per lobe. Meaning 6 to 8 feet total. They call it Disc Width.
Check out www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gallery/SmoothbflyRay they show pics of some big ones.

[tjd24]

I agree. They don't much bigger than that one.
Well done.

[SaltLife1980]

Wow.. what a monster!!

Amazing that you were able to get him ashore.. Great Job!

[lunkertaker]

Ya just never know what is lurking in the surf.

Nice catch and remarkable landing...and assuming subsequent release?

Great pics.

[kurtisb]

My daughter caught one of those in Maryland last month on a bucktail. It wasn't nearly as big, maybe 5 feet across. My grand daughter hooked a cow nose ray on the same trip, I ended up bringing it to the boat. It is an adrenaline rush when you hook up with one of those things.

[reefsquater]

Looks like a big ole female southern stingray to me, those wings aint all that bad eating either.

[reefsquater]

ScratCh that, not with that little tail

[joeya78]

kudos to you on that landing!

[Dino]

I think they call these guys Butterfly rays.. it has the wider shape almost like a diamond. incredible catch

[jmurr711]

thats awesome dude i have caught some decent cownoses but nothing like that ever! that woulda made a hell alot of philly scallops

[wayniac]

great fish:) congrats on landing it ,just wanted to give a heads up people,because of my stupity:( a few years ago of bringing a cow nose ray into the boat and getting stung(very painful).I suggest not to do that ,but if by your own choice you do the same and you do get stung do not use ice it traps the poison in you..Heat draws the poison out. fish on

[codbuster]

great fish:) congrats on landing it ,just wanted to give a heads up people,because of my stupity:( a few years ago of bringing a cow nose ray into the boat and getting stung(very painful).I suggest not to do that ,but if by your own choice you do the same and you do get stung do not use ice it traps the poison in you..Heat draws the poison out. fish on
Bleach!!!!!!! I thank Dom on the Gambler for this tip!! Got pricked by a doggie on the arm and Dom said BLEACH!! The hard swelling went down in a few hrs..

[JerseyCoast]

Nice catch!! How the hell did you release it after the battle? Must have taken 3 guys! :D

Almost positive its a butterfly as mentioned. Also, bleach is the best thing without a RX that you will find for stingers! Good tip on not using the ice as well!

I heard of a ST being caught just north of BI earlier this week. It was on for about 45 minutes, estimated at 7 feet, but it chewed through the leader. Guy told me he was using 300lb mono leader. He said he had a live bluefish, held down with a 24oz sinker that was dropped from his yak.

There is no doubt they are swimming in the wash, especially the last couple of weeks. Look at all of the food on the menu in tight for them.

Good Luck on the Tiger Quest and again..... one hell of a landing there! I dont know of many guys who would have worked it as well as you did there. Nice job! ;)

[beachbunker732]

My brother and I couldn't even move it further than maybe an inch at a time... so we inched it towards the water, and waited for the waves to make it easier, luckily a big wave came and we just pushed as the water receded and took the ray with it!

[QUOTE=JerseyCoast]Nice catch!! How the hell did you release it after the battle? Must have taken 3 guys! :D

[SaltLife1980]

Anyone know what type of Ray that is... been looking and cant seem to figure it out:confused:

[beachbunker732]

Smooth Butterfly Ray

Anyone know what type of Ray that is... been looking and cant seem to figure it out:confused:

[Take a kid fishing]

Got 2 bull nosed rays last weekend on LBI off the surf but not even close to what you go there. Crazy feeling that these things are swimming with us or us with them. :eek:

[dakota560]

My brother and I couldn't even move it further than maybe an inch at a time... so we inched it towards the water, and waited for the waves to make it easier, luckily a big wave came and we just pushed as the water receded and took the ray with it!

[QUOTE=JerseyCoast]Nice catch!! How the hell did you release it after the battle? Must have taken 3 guys! :D

Beach,

Awesome catch and even more awesome job returning it to the water unharmed. A creature like that deserves to be set free. Never saw a ray that big and never thought we had them that size in this area. I'm sure there are more fish / rays etc swimming in our waters which would shock us all.

Again great pictures, thanks for sharing.

Dakota