NPH 01-18-08 SPOOLED TWICE, 1ST SNGF

[TunaChaser469]

My son and I have been reading so much about all you guys catching some fish, we thought we'd go out and give it a shot. We got to NPH, about 6:20pm, and by 7:00pm, I was fighting my first fish. By 7:02pm, the fish was kicking my a**. By 7:03pm, dazed and confused with all my line peeling off, I wasn't sure what to do with the behemouth at the end of my 12# line, so I thought I'd apply a little pressure. By 7:04pm, the fish pulled out the big guns and took off on a run straight down the harbor. He managed to peel off all the line on my Calcutta 400. :explode:
After losing this fish, I grabbed my other rod with a Trinidad TN12 and freshly spooled with 20# Izorline, baited up and flung the bait out. By 7:45, my son was now onto a fish. He was using my second Shimano rod and Calcutta 400 (spooled with 10# line) and after a few short bursts, the fish succumbs and my son lands his first shovel nose guitar fish. I didn't have a tape or scale, so I don't know the weight, but my son was pretty stocked he caught something of decent size. :banana:
After rebaiting my sons line, we cast the bait back out and within 15 minutes, he was back on to another fish. This time, this fish swam like a bat ray out of hell, straight across the harbor until half our spool was gone and he stopped. He must of sat down on the bottom or something because it was like trying to reel in a log. After a few minutes of trying to horse him in, the line snapped. :bang: Oh well, my son had a kick out of hearing his line peel off for a few minutes. All in all, it was a nice night. Here are a couple pics. One pic shows the rod bendo, before I got spooled. The other pic, well, you can see.
[attachment=1:2d30d]bat01.jpg[/attachment:2d30d]
[attachment=0:2d30d]sngf01.jpg[/attachment:2d30d]

[Wingnut]

Damn, don't you hate that helpless feeling while being spooled. Happened to me once a long time ago in the fresh. Probably a monster Catfish. Congrats on a fun day fishing! :mrgreen:

[one_leg]

Congrats to you both!

One_Leg

[tacklejunkie]

Sounds like a blast! Better to battle and be spooled than no bites at all! :banana: Nice fish! :thumb:

[Skyler]

Nice. Never caught one of those. How do they fight? better than a stingray or smoothhound?

[sansou]

Very nice!

Congrats to you and your son on your first SNGF!

[rocklee]

congrats on the first SNFG!
Those thing can fight! too bad about being spooled! must have been something HUGE!

thanks for the report and pics


rock

[chumfun]

Excellent Time... I usually target the bass and Hali... It has been a while since I worked out on a mud marlin...

Good Job. What dock were you on?

Chumfun..

[TunaChaser469]

Nice. Never caught one of those. How do they fight? better than a stingray or smoothhound?

I've never caught a stingray or smoothhound, so I can't compare. But this SNGF had about 6 short runs (maybe 20-45 seconds each) and then it just slowly came in. Where can I catch stingrays or smoothhounds and I'll let you know the difference of the fights. :mrgreen:

[spiceguy]

There's tons of 'em in NPH...

[TunaChaser469]

There's tons of 'em in NPH...

Do you fish for stingrays and Smoothhounds same method as bat rays?

[WOKIEE]

wRIGHT ON man great job . kids are our future got to teach them the secrets to life (fishin) WOKIEE :banana:

[flyngby]

Great job in the harbor.

Congrats to you you son for his action and to you for getting him out there.

Spiceguy is right that there are a ton of them out there.

From my experience and I fish 10 lb# line with a 20 lb leader on my larger pole that putting the pressure on them is not always wise. I posted a response to another BAT Hunter that was going to the jetty recently as to my technique when getting a bigger variety to grab the bait. It works for me.

Good luck out there and I am sure you son will make you go back bassed on his sucess and the 1 that got away.

Hope to see you out there!!!!!!!!!

[spiceguy]

There's tons of 'em in NPH...

Do you fish for stingrays and Smoothhounds same method as bat rays?

Batrays are stingrays but, yes. Big bait and heavy gear. Flyingby has seen my rig.
:D

I rig carolina style with a carolina keeper to hold the sliding sinker. Less knots means less chance of a break-off. imho. :wink:

[TunaChaser469]

quote]

Batrays are stingrays but, yes. Big bait and heavy gear. Flyingby has seen my rig.
:D

quote]

I don't think bat rays and stingrays are same fish. Sting rays are much smaller. But yes, they eat pretty much same thing. I've done soem research.

[flyngby]

quote]

Batrays are stingrays but, yes. Big bait and heavy gear. Flyingby has seen my rig.
:D

quote]

I don't think bat rays and stingrays are same fish. Sting rays are much smaller. But yes, they eat pretty much same thing. I've done soem research.

Tunachaser469

All the rays I have caught in Newport have Stingers.

I have caught 4 different ones there. Round Ray, Thornback Ray, Angel/Butterfly Ray, and Bat Rays.

Be careful handling all of them as you will pay the price if they catch you off guard. It only took me once to learn.

I am not trying to bust or show up your post but am putting up a few picks to help Identify them.

And yes Spiceguy's rig could tow the barge that the tugs tow in ond out of the harbor from the dredging project.

[spiceguy]

Well I can't be right everytime, just most of the time. :wink:

[TunaChaser469]

flynby - I hope I see you out there someday. I'd love to fish with you and learn more. I'm always thirsty for knowledge.

Spiceguy - your information is valuable too. Hopefully I will see you out n the water soem day too.

tight lines guys.

-Boz

[spiceguy]

flynby - I hope I see you out there someday. I'd love to fish with you and learn more. I'm always thirsty for knowledge.

Spiceguy - your information is valuable too. Hopefully I will see you out n the water soem day too.

tight lines guys.

-Boz

Well I hope I'm not IN the water... :D

[flyngby]

Spiceguy,

Alll of them can sting and all of them are in the RAY family so not wrong at all. Just like Flatfish, Tuna, Sharks, and Rockfish.

[spiceguy]

Spiceguy,

Alll of them can sting and all of them are in the RAY family so not wrong at all. Just like Flatfish, Tuna, Sharks, and Rockfish.


:wink: :wink: :wink:

I know man, I've lived at the beach my whole life. I just don't want to come across like a know-it-all. 8)

See ya on the dock. :D

[G-Man]

Nice "Wiggles". Yep, heavy gear...we use wire leaders, too. Big slab of Mac on a 25lb rig, 2-3oz slider. Summertime, use sardines, they gobble them up! The females go up to 5' out on the pier.

G. :wink: