Ray Lopez
09-06-2010, 05:36 PM
So last night Rich, Rudy and I decided to make a trek to MDR channel for some bat ray fishing. Got out there around 10pm and set out some squid and sardines for the long soak. Not to long into it Rich hooks up on a 20 pound ray. Then about 20 minutes later i hook into a thornback guitar fish. Then Rich hooks into another TBGF, then i hook into another one too. Grrrr these pesky little guys have been killing the fishing action in MDR for us recently. Then Rich tosses out a squid head close to shore and lands a nice little mack. *ding* a light turned on in my head and i told him to keep it and lets use it for bait. Well Rich and I switch up with chunks of Mack. He on the Carolina rig and me with the double dropper loop with wire leader.
We let them soak for a while, and then Rich and I decided to go over to the canal to try and land more bait since it was thick with um. Shortly after we get over there we here one of Rich's reels going off. Rudy grabs Rich's pole and the fight was on!!!!!! Strong drag ripping runs going to the left. Rudy runs with the fish to make up some line. He fights the bat ray to where i could see some color. It was easily in the 75 to 100 pound range. Then i think the bat ray stuffed himself into the rocks and broke off 30# mono. Bummer!!! Well then Rich and I went back on the hunt for bait fish. Again within minutes of going back there i here Rudy whistling for me. I run up to see my 11 footer was full bendo and the drag was screaming. Rudy pass's it over to me and the fight was on. The fish just made a straight run out to the middle of the channel. I could not gain on him for anything. Then he slowed and i started to gain some line, but shortly after that i can feel my line rubbing on something. CRAP!!!! So i lay off on reeling to see if maybe the ray will untangle itself but it ended up snapping!!!!! DAMN!
Bummer two big rays broke off!!!!!!!
Well after that Rich stayed by the rods and Rudy and I went down to try to catch bait. Zip, Zilch, Nada!! Bait fish everywhere but none getting hooked on the sabiki or the small drop shot squid tentacle. Well we decided to go back up to the top and wait for some fish to come back. Then Rich lands another small Mack. I strip off two big chunks of mack and toss it back out there. About 30 minutes later i get slammed, my bait runner starts screaming. I reel up and BAM HOOK SET!!!!! Monster runs but with my luck this time it is going from left to right and back but not out towards the buoys. First i run with it to the left then as i start to gain on him the first time he drops to the bottom and digs himself into the soft sand. Well no we are at a stand still, i pull and nothing is going. Almost like i was snagged in a rock. F*CK!! Then Rich tells me that some of the bigger ones he has caught do the same thing. So i decided to bounce my rod tip by leaning back. After about 15 bounces he gets back out of the sand and goes for another run this time back to the right. HARDCORE DEATH RUN!!! I run about 200 feet down the jetty onto one of the overhangs. At this point about 5 other guys show up that were fishing down the jetty a ways. They ask me what i got and i told um "HUGE BAT RAY!!!!!" They were all shocked because of how i was struggling with this huge surf pole on this fish. Well the bat ray gets tired and digs back into the sand to get another wind. So back to the waiting game and bouncing him until he got up again. By this time my arms are shaking and my back is killing me. Then he got up again and made another run to the left again. Ran about 100 feet back to the left. Then dug in again! Then quickly jumped back to the right and fast. This was another last ditch run took me another 150 feet to the right!!!! Then i could feel his defeat. I ended up getting my second wind once i felt the fish give in and sort of drift in with some short runs. I call over for Rudy to help me out. Then we saw it surface about 30 feet out. The wing flopped down with a THUD. HOLY SH*T!!!!!!!! I yell out huge ray and hand the pole off to Rudy and i scrambled down the rocks towards this monster bat ray. As i get down to the shoreline at low tide the rocks are very slippery and i almost fall in, but luckily i caught myself lol. Then i start to try and drag this monster closer to the shoreline so i could unhook it. I try to grab the holes above the eyes but found out quickly that my huge hand was not huge enough to grab it that way. So i call out "Hey i need some help down here, it's too big for me to get the hook out by myself!" Shortly after that two of the other guys jumped down there and tried to help me unhook this bat ray. After about 4 tries i was able to flip this beat on it's back. The guy tried to unhook it a few times but i told him to forget about it and i just cut the hook. I flipped it back over and let it swim away and gave out a loud yell of victory and pumped my fist in the air. This bat ray had a wing span in the 4 to 5 foot range and thick!
I got up to the top again and it was high fives all around. Then as i limped back (yes limped that fight kicked my butt so much that even the arches of my feet were sore). I was so beat and tired that i told the guys that I'm done. I needed to rest for a bit and try to relax lol. We left shortly after that fish at about 4am
This was mos def my PB biggest fish ever!
We let them soak for a while, and then Rich and I decided to go over to the canal to try and land more bait since it was thick with um. Shortly after we get over there we here one of Rich's reels going off. Rudy grabs Rich's pole and the fight was on!!!!!! Strong drag ripping runs going to the left. Rudy runs with the fish to make up some line. He fights the bat ray to where i could see some color. It was easily in the 75 to 100 pound range. Then i think the bat ray stuffed himself into the rocks and broke off 30# mono. Bummer!!! Well then Rich and I went back on the hunt for bait fish. Again within minutes of going back there i here Rudy whistling for me. I run up to see my 11 footer was full bendo and the drag was screaming. Rudy pass's it over to me and the fight was on. The fish just made a straight run out to the middle of the channel. I could not gain on him for anything. Then he slowed and i started to gain some line, but shortly after that i can feel my line rubbing on something. CRAP!!!! So i lay off on reeling to see if maybe the ray will untangle itself but it ended up snapping!!!!! DAMN!
Bummer two big rays broke off!!!!!!!
Well after that Rich stayed by the rods and Rudy and I went down to try to catch bait. Zip, Zilch, Nada!! Bait fish everywhere but none getting hooked on the sabiki or the small drop shot squid tentacle. Well we decided to go back up to the top and wait for some fish to come back. Then Rich lands another small Mack. I strip off two big chunks of mack and toss it back out there. About 30 minutes later i get slammed, my bait runner starts screaming. I reel up and BAM HOOK SET!!!!! Monster runs but with my luck this time it is going from left to right and back but not out towards the buoys. First i run with it to the left then as i start to gain on him the first time he drops to the bottom and digs himself into the soft sand. Well no we are at a stand still, i pull and nothing is going. Almost like i was snagged in a rock. F*CK!! Then Rich tells me that some of the bigger ones he has caught do the same thing. So i decided to bounce my rod tip by leaning back. After about 15 bounces he gets back out of the sand and goes for another run this time back to the right. HARDCORE DEATH RUN!!! I run about 200 feet down the jetty onto one of the overhangs. At this point about 5 other guys show up that were fishing down the jetty a ways. They ask me what i got and i told um "HUGE BAT RAY!!!!!" They were all shocked because of how i was struggling with this huge surf pole on this fish. Well the bat ray gets tired and digs back into the sand to get another wind. So back to the waiting game and bouncing him until he got up again. By this time my arms are shaking and my back is killing me. Then he got up again and made another run to the left again. Ran about 100 feet back to the left. Then dug in again! Then quickly jumped back to the right and fast. This was another last ditch run took me another 150 feet to the right!!!! Then i could feel his defeat. I ended up getting my second wind once i felt the fish give in and sort of drift in with some short runs. I call over for Rudy to help me out. Then we saw it surface about 30 feet out. The wing flopped down with a THUD. HOLY SH*T!!!!!!!! I yell out huge ray and hand the pole off to Rudy and i scrambled down the rocks towards this monster bat ray. As i get down to the shoreline at low tide the rocks are very slippery and i almost fall in, but luckily i caught myself lol. Then i start to try and drag this monster closer to the shoreline so i could unhook it. I try to grab the holes above the eyes but found out quickly that my huge hand was not huge enough to grab it that way. So i call out "Hey i need some help down here, it's too big for me to get the hook out by myself!" Shortly after that two of the other guys jumped down there and tried to help me unhook this bat ray. After about 4 tries i was able to flip this beat on it's back. The guy tried to unhook it a few times but i told him to forget about it and i just cut the hook. I flipped it back over and let it swim away and gave out a loud yell of victory and pumped my fist in the air. This bat ray had a wing span in the 4 to 5 foot range and thick!
I got up to the top again and it was high fives all around. Then as i limped back (yes limped that fight kicked my butt so much that even the arches of my feet were sore). I was so beat and tired that i told the guys that I'm done. I needed to rest for a bit and try to relax lol. We left shortly after that fish at about 4am
This was mos def my PB biggest fish ever!