# Monster Stingray Report!



## HuntinforTail (Mar 29, 2011)

For the whole story, more pictures, and other reports, check out our blog
http://lostboysoutdoors.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/monster-stingray/

After our success earlier in the week, I knew that I had to get down to the beach for the weekend! The reports were calling for relatively clean and flat surf, which makes for easy kayaking. We planned on fishing just south of San Louis Pass on the beach at our normal spot.

When we arrived we were greeted with a chocolate brown surf with a slightly greener color way out. Unfortunately, the clear calm water that had been around all week was nowhere to be found. We did have one thing to be happy about! NO WEED! This was the first trip we have made since March that we have encountered absolutely no sargassum weed.

I quickly got my 9/0 rigged up with a whole stingray and my other 9/0 with a whole mullet. I got in the kayak and started cruising. I noticed that the current was really pulling. I had to try my best just to maintain a straight path. By the time I dropped the baits and got back to the beach, the current had pulled our lines out to a 45 degree angle from camp. Josh baited up a whole stingray and encountered the same problem.












We decided to sit back and spend some time catching some baits to see if the current would slow down as the tide began to trough. I took the cast net and began throwing it in the wade gut catching a bunch of really good sized mullet.












After one good throw of the cast net, I noticed that I had another 3 good sized mullet, but there was something else in there that I had never seen in person before. It was a very strange fish, but I knew what it was immediately and got very excited.












A Southern Stargazer! One of the only electric fish in the Gulf of Mexico. I have always heard stories of them and seen pictures, but never have caught one.













After catching plenty of bait, the current finally began to slow down around 6 PM. We knew that we needed to get some fresh bait out for night time. We had had a few small runs on some of the fresh mullet, so we decided to reel in those lines and re-bait for the night. We hooked up a one of the 9/0s with a fresh mullet and the other with a fresh whiting.












We kept getting a few small runs where just 5-10 feet of line would get pulled. We knew that these for sure had to be pup sharks.


Then at 9:50 we hear the beautiful sound of a Penn Senator 9/0 screaming! We all look up and the glow stick clipped to the line is rocketing through the air straight towards the ocean! We had something good running with our whiting! I climbed up in the back of the truck and picked up the rod as Tom and Josh worked quickly to get me into the fighting belt and harness. Once they got me all strapped and clipped in, I slowly tightened the drag down and FISH ON!!!












I immediately knew that this fish was much bigger than anything I had ever fought before! Did we just hook into an 8+ foot shark? Is it a Tiger? Hammer? Monster Bull? He was pulling drag off my reel while it was locked down like it was no problem.



I fought the beast from the truck bed for a good 30 minutes. As soon as I gained some good distance on the fish it would take it right back. Finally, I got the fish to the 2nd sand bar. As soon as this fish realized it was being pulled into shallow water it planted itself down and wouldn't budge. Hmm that's weird. Sharks usually don't plant down in one spot.


I'm trying to crank down on this fish with everything I've got, but it just isn't moving. Every once in a while it would gain some strength back and pull a few more yards of line. I knew I had to do something, because the more that I let it sit there and rest, the more energy it was gaining. I jumped down out of the truck bed and continued my fight with the monster on the beach. I was able to muscle it over the sandbar by walking backwards slowly with the fish and reeling as I walked forward with it.












I was finally able to get the fish up and over the second sand bar, but ran into the same problem when it hit the first sandbar. I never even stopped to think that this could be anything but a shark, even though it was giving me all the telltale signs that it was a completely different sea monster. I battled the mystery beast for another 15 minutes or so and was able to horse it over the first sand bar.


We finally see the leader coming out of the water. I hand off the rod to my lovely fiance while I run to grab the leader with Tom and Josh. We were so eager to finally see the beast that I had been battling for almost an hour. The three of us grabbed the 400lb mono and pulled. Usually at this time we will see a dorsal fin swimming back and forth, but this time we saw nothing. We only felt a lot of weight. I again thought how strange this was. Had I been battling a large plastic bag for the last hour?


We gave the leader another mighty tug and out of the wade gut emerged the most enormous Southern Stingray that I had ever seen. This monster looked like something that should belong in Jurassic Park! When we gave the last tug the stingray rushed up on the sand and immediately started flapping its wings.



[URL="http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy219/HuntinForTail/9e835bc8.jpg%5b/IMG"]http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy219/HuntinForTail/9e835bc8.jpg[/IMG[/URL]]


[IMG]http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy219/HuntinForTail/4b4be5d7.jpg


We quickly cut the barb, so that we can release the fish safely.



[URL="http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy219/HuntinForTail/8c47cfc9.jpg%5b/IMG"]http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy219/HuntinForTail/8c47cfc9.jpg[/IMG[/URL]]


[IMG]http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy219/HuntinForTail/f641f410.jpg


He was over 5 feet across and over a foot thick in the middle. There is no way I can give an accurate guess of how much the ray weighed, but I'd say over 100 lbs. easy. Thank you to my fiancé Kim who took all the pictures for us. Yes, I know that we need to get a better digital camera for night pictures.


The three of us dragged it into deep enough water for it to swim away safely. We all celebrated and cheered as we watched the giant slowly fade away and sink back into the deep.


What a night! After that fight we were done for the night. I was sore from head to toe and now that the adrenaline was wearing off, I realized that all my muscles are burning. We packed up camp and started reeling in the last of our rods to find that pup sharks and crabs had taken most of our bait. We did have one bait ray get hit by a decent sized shark, but it missed the hook.












The next morning I spent some time cleaning up the stingray's barb to keep as a trophy of the fight that the epic monster had given us. I think I'll get it framed in a shadow box.


We didn't get the shark over 8 feet that we have been looking for, but we were lucky enough to battle with this sea creature.



http://lostboysoutdoors.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/monster-stingray/


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## sharksurfer66 (Sep 17, 2005)

WOW!! Nice report, and awesome Trophy!!


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## mullethead00 (May 31, 2010)

Epic!


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## Longshot270 (Aug 5, 2011)

Awesome ray! I have only seen one large one in person and it was a foot smaller than yours.

That stargazer looks really cool too.


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## surfisher (Mar 8, 2012)

good report nice pics! that barb could really do some damage nice trophy congrats!


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## gater (May 25, 2004)

*Weight*



HuntinforTail said:


> For the whole story, more pictures, and other reports, check out our blog
> http://lostboysoutdoors.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/monster-stingray/
> 
> After our success earlier in the week, I knew that I had to get down to the beach for the weekend! The reports were calling for relatively clean and flat surf, which makes for easy kayaking. We planned on fishing just south of San Louis Pass on the beach at our normal spot.
> ...


Believe it or not I used to fish for those monster rays on purpose and I would guess the weight of that one to be at least in the 170-180lb range maybe a little more, I can't tell from the pic how thick it is. There is not a stronger living thing swimming the bay's or beachfront than a 150lb+ ray, nice catch!

Gater


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## HuntinforTail (Mar 29, 2011)

Thanks guys! I'll get up the other report I promised yall tomorrow.

Gater - 
170-180! That's actually kinda what I was thinking. I didn't want to say it and have yall give me a hard time. 
How did yall go about targeting monster rays? I thought you usually just stumble across them.


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## Sea-Slug (May 28, 2004)

Congrats. Your report was nicely done also.


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## wtc3 (Aug 16, 2005)

THAT'S how a report is supposed to read! Well done! I was lucky enough to see my BIL fight one like that in the Matagorda surf a few years ago. Cool creatures for sure. The Stargazer is sweet!!


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## DANO (May 23, 2005)

Nice report & catch, that section of beach is notorious for monster rays. I know, I too have caught them there,...  I'll go 170 - 200lbs. A beast I tell ya ! A beast !!


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## Brine Jake (Aug 12, 2005)

DANO said:


> Nice report & catch, that section of beach is notorious for monster rays. I know, I too have caught them there,...  I'll go 170 - 200lbs. A beast I tell ya ! A beast !!


Yeah--not my thing, and very cool report.

Amazing what ya swim with when ya paddle to an outer bar.

I've seen some pretty big mantas come flying up outa the depths BTB, usually during a stretch of blue surf days. Quite a sight, even at that distance.


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## monkeyman1 (Dec 30, 2007)

have seen a guy at the sabine jetties getting pulled around in his john boat by what turned out to be a large ray. pulled him all over the place. nice report.


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## Capt. Hooky (May 24, 2010)

WOW!


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## dan_wrider (Jun 21, 2011)

Awesome report and pics! Feel like I was there lol.


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## JustSlabs (Jun 19, 2005)

I caught two of those big suckers one day at HI between the piers. You are right about wearing you out, I didn't want to get out of my chair the rest of the day.


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## surfguy (May 17, 2011)

X2!! I'm not real fond of the catch but awesome report. Great job!


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## scrambler (May 28, 2004)

As Gator said you are low on the weight. I caught one that size and it weighed 180 lbs. Congratulations on the monster ray!


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## gater (May 25, 2004)

*Big rays*



HuntinforTail said:


> Thanks guys! I'll get up the other report I promised yall tomorrow.
> 
> Gater -
> 170-180! That's actually kinda what I was thinking. I didn't want to say it and have yall give me a hard time.
> How did yall go about targeting monster rays? I thought you usually just stumble across them.


Deep water and monster live mullet and heavy enough weight to keep it on the bottom in a strong current. The current State and world record came from the green can around the corner from the Galveston CG station. The deep hole at the end of the TC dike is also a popular spot.

Big rod and reels are a must or you'll hurt yourself! LOL
We used either Penn 9/0 or 12/0 with 80-130lb test.

Gater


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

July seems to be a really good month for the big ones.


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## outlawguide (Apr 14, 2010)

Nice Job catching that monster. Me and my son hooked one about that size several weeks ago at the Port Oconnor Jetties and Lucky for me it got off after a 45 min fight because I had no idea how I was going to get it in the boat with just me and my 10yr old son. We caught a 6 foot shark right after that and the stingray faught twice as hard as the Shark. Its amazing how hard a stingray that size it get in.


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## Trouthappy (Jun 12, 2008)

There are two stories on stingrays and the damage they can cause, in the August issue of Texas Saltwater Fishing. It's now at the printer.


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## JOHNNYREB (Apr 20, 2006)

Yep....thats what we call a car hood size, nice report man!


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## bigfost (Oct 11, 2004)

The area between High Island and Sabine Pass where I fish a lot is sometimes thick with those bad boys. I've caught my quota for a lifetime. Now I'll fool with them until they suck down on the bottom the first time, then I break them off.

Congrats for sticking with it long enough to get it in.


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## seabo (Jun 29, 2006)

heck of a report! sounds like and looks like yall did it up good. wtg!


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## spicyitalian (Jan 18, 2012)

I got my copy of TSF mag in the mail yesterday ;-) 

Good reads about the lurking dangers out there.


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## Quint (Oct 20, 2006)

Nice report. Great pics. Looked like y'all had a good time. For god sakes don't step on that barb! Lol!


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## mharris1 (May 29, 2010)

I watched a guy land one about that size just north of the pass last saturday, and while he was trying to remove the hook, she spit out 7 babies. Probably one of the coolest things Ive seen. She was released and hopefully everybody is doing fine.


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## HuntinforTail (Mar 29, 2011)

mharris1 said:


> I watched a guy land one about that size just north of the pass last saturday, and while he was trying to remove the hook, she spit out 7 babies. Probably one of the coolest things Ive seen. She was released and hopefully everybody is doing fine.


Was that north of the pass or south of the pass? We had the EXACT same thing happen this last weekend. I'm going to get the report up this evening.


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## mharris1 (May 29, 2010)

This was on the Galveston side, in the surf, about a half mile or so from the pass. About noon or a little after.


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