St Inigoes 5/18

[Big Mike]

Yak 67 and myself hit St Inigoes this morning. Between the 2 of us we should have had one working FF, but his wiring was bad and mine had the lowest light setting possible and I couldn't see the screen to turn up the brightness. So we did what all good cheaters do, follow the crab pots. We hit several roving bands of schoolies on those edges and each put around 20 over the side. Unfortunately lots of 14" class fish. Gary also caught his very first cow nose ray, which given their prevalence last year I was mildly surprised by. There was a huge school of them up on the flats and he didn't heed my advice to reel in. Finally Gary was visited by an otter at the ramp, probably looking for some rockfish scraps. While quality wasn't great, still felt good to have pullage.

[J. Rentch]

You can keep those CNR down your way. They are a pain in the ROD/REEL. Glad you were able to get into the schoolies.

[J.A. Veil]

I hooked my first cow-nosed ray of the year yesterday near the Honga River bridge. They do pull hard and perhaps should deserve a bit more respect for their pullage. Nice work fellas.

[ronaultmtd]

I hate CNR's...love those bow fishermen sticking it to the schools of CNRs...

[JohnP]

Just out of curiosity....what are you most likely to catch a CNR on? I've never caught one but am excited to hook up with my first one day. What's the easiest way to get them off the hook? Can you eat them? I know I've had Atlantic Skate in a restaurant one time that I thought was pretty good.

[ronaultmtd]

The most expensive lure I own is what I usually hook these CNRs on- the $15.00 XR 12 XRap...but it doesn't matter what lure- they run into your lines and snag themselves on the hook- they average 35-40 pounds and are extremely strong with lots of reserve...I usually beach these to keep from losing an expensive crank it or just break them off if it is a jig head/swim bait

[Yak67]

I hooked it with just a 4"inch Opening Night paddle tail and single hook, it was definitely a "Drive By" as Ron stated

The power is unbelievable for something of that size. I hooked what I thought was a small one!

Yak67
2015 Hobie PA 14
2016 Hobie Outback LE #217

[J.A. Veil]

Just out of curiosity....what are you most likely to catch a CNR on? I've never caught one but am excited to hook up with my first one day. What's the easiest way to get them off the hook? Can you eat them? I know I've had Atlantic Skate in a restaurant one time that I thought was pretty good.

Most of the rays I hook are snagged on a wing and not hooked in the mouth. I don't intentionally target them.

Once I am sure the strong fish pulling my line is a ray and not a large striper or black drum, I point my rod directly at the fish, palm the spool, and pull back. That protects my rod tip from breaking and usually the line breaks at the lure/leader or line/leader connection. You do not normally lose a lot of line that way.

I would hesitate to bring a ray into your kayak just to retrieve a lure. They are very strong and wide. Enjoy the pullage then break it off.

[Slobber Bob]

I would hesitate to bring a ray into your kayak just to retrieve a lure. They are very strong and wide.

Hesitate? I wouldn't even think of it! If the ray whips that barb along it's tail into you, you must definitely will be going to seek medical attention. My wife got hit by a dinner plate sized southern ray in the ankle and she was miserable with pain for days. The wound took more than a few weeks to finally stop oozing and start to heal over.

[Mark]

Just out of curiosity....what are you most likely to catch a CNR on? I've never caught one but am excited to hook up with my first one day. What's the easiest way to get them off the hook? Can you eat them? I know I've had Atlantic Skate in a restaurant one time that I thought was pretty good.

I tangled with them quite often when I first started kayak fishing. I recall hooking three in one outing at Downs Park in Pasadena. I used to wrestle them to my kayak to save as much line as possible before cutting my line. Then John Veil showed me the method he described to you for getting rid of them. It works quite well.

Because I often got them to the boat before using John's quick release method I could see that I indeed hooked many in the mouth. They seemed to have an affinity for Rat-L-Traps which meant each ray encounter with that lure cost me $5. The only time I got my lure back was when I used a jig with a soft plastic trailer. The ray straightened the hook.

They obviously eat more than oysters. They must chase bait fish too, otherwise I wouldn't have hooked up with so many while casting and trolling.

I'm smarter about them now. They're easily spotted and when I see a school them I pull my line from the water until it passes. It's the stealthy ones that cause problems!

After your first encounter I suspect your enthusiasm to meet another will decrease.

But good luck to you when it happens.

[silasvirus82]

I've caught a few CNR now, some in the wing, some in the mouth. Managed to unhook all but the first one only because I didn't know how to deal with them. If you get them flipped over by the side of the boat and the lure is visible you should be able to release them with pliers. I recently bought a longer pair of these http://bakerhookout.com/portfolio/st...-duty-hookout/ for just such an occasion. I don't know if it's better or worse to wrassle with something until you can remove a hook, or to let it rust out, but if it were me I'd rather have the hook out.

[Shady]

I've caught a couple CNR and filet and released one of the first. They're certainly not one of the best things to eat that swims in the bay, but not bad. The consistency of the meat is quite unexpected and its more like pork than fish.

[Slobber Bob]

Mmmmmm.... the other white meat.

How did you prepare it and would you eat it again? I've kept and ate skates before when I was desperate for meat, but haven't tried ray yet. Used it for shark bait before... There is a heck of a lot of meat on those wings.

[Shady]

Cut the wings off right away and separate the meat from the cartilage in the middle when I got home. Soak the meat in buttermilk or regular milk. Cut into small chunks or strips, tenderize and grill or fry. I also diced small and made tacos, which were not bad just using your normal beef taco seasoning. I think Ray meat could also be ground like pork or beef, which may lead to use in other dishes.... I wouldn't keep it again, plenty of perch, cats, trout, striper, etc to be caught and eaten with much less trouble cleaning...

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[Darryl330]

They invade my area on the Chester river too. I've hooked into a couple and worked hard to get my line back. Got them next to the yak and cut them off. It's kind of fun, but after you do that a time or two, you just try to avoid them.

They are apart of "nature", so I don't hold any hatred for them and as long as the archers are harvesting and utilizing them, that's cool too.
just my 2 cents