Setup for landbased rays

[Llama]

Hey, I'm located in Tasmania and wanted to look into getting a rod and reel for stuff like stingrays. I've seen a couple a bit under and around the 100kilo mark and wanted to get some help to figure out what I would need to handle it. Thanks 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi Llama

I have never fished in Tasmania, but I would be fishing with something like:

A large baitrunner, the biggest you can find, or the largest spinning reel you can find. Spool with as much 50 or 80 pound braid as possible (I guess depends on how much structure there is, though you'd probably want to go with the heavier line regardless).

A heavy 24-37KG spinning rod, that can cast a fair bit (I am assuming you're fishing off a beach/jetty of some sort). 

A large breakaway sinker/star sinker, with a short trace of 200 pound mono, and then a large fish bait or strip bait.

You could probably use heavier gear, I am sure a stingray of that size would fight hard.

Also, I don't know what the law is in Tasmania, but in QLD it is that you can't keep/target stingrays over 1.5 width. I assume a 100KG ray would be bigger than that. Make sure you check.

Good luck,

Cheers Hamish

[Ed.]

Personally I have only ever hooked one large ray, it was in  Shute Harbour Qld., from the Jetty, I was using a handline with 100lb line. Fought it for about 20 minutes without getting much line back, got it to the surface once, mostly I was loosing line slowly but continuously, then the line was cut off when a passenger ferry pulled up at the jetty and the line got clipped.

During the fight, I put on that much pressure that I was worried about breaking the 100 mono line off. Sting rays have the advantage of having a huge flat body shape which they can turn in the water column to make it almost impossible to pull the fish in towards you and requires very little effort on their part, they also can partially bury themselves  to the bottom so in effect they become a very effective anchor, again with very little effort on their part. Had the boat not cut me off,  I think that would have still being fighting it a few hours later.

If I was going to target large rays with a rod and reel, I would be choosing a large overhead that had a big drag with a shortish rod, and use  a good kidney harness and a large rod gimbal, similar gear to what is use for targeting largish game fish. That would give you the best leverage and to minimise the pressure on your back.

They can grow to enormous sizes and up to several hundred Kilo's. For me, they are not a fun fight with the fisherman doing most of the work for little gain. Large sharks are much more fun and easier to release when you do haul them in.

[Drop Bear]

Are you targeting them for sport of food? 

For food, I spear them on the incoming tide. I have attached a spear gun type spear shaft to a long bush pole. I walk around the shallows about 1-3 hours after low tide and get them that way. If you do this, make sure you have a long pole and keep them away from you until you can deal with the barb as they don't appreciate the attention. Stingray barbs are very impressive bits of weaponry.

IMHO they are an extremely underrated pan fish with sweet, soft white fillets (texture is a bit like Barra but tastes better). The rest of the world loves to eat skate but not so much up here in QLD. Not that I am complaining, leave more for me I say :). 

For sport I tie my line around the base of a tree and try and pull that in... in other words I try not to catch stingray on hook and line. In saying that I don't fish in Tasmania and you may have a great opportunity down there that I don't know about. 

Good luck and stay away from the barbs

[jon]

Hi drop bear, I have eaten them overseas and thought they were pretty nice. Caught plenty here as by arch but all were released. I would like to try one some time any tips on cleaning and preparing/ filleting?

[Drop Bear]

13 hours ago, jon said:

Hi drop bear, I have eaten them overseas and thought they were pretty nice. Caught plenty here as by arch but all were released. I would like to try one some time any tips on cleaning and preparing/ filleting?

They are very easy to fillet. Obviously a sharp knife. Think of them like a founder or sole but with a bit in the middle you don't want. Gently run the knife along where you think the flaps start until you hit the cartilage. Then lay the knife over and cut to the edge of the flap. flip it over and do the same on the bottom. You can get 2 fillets per side but the tops are bigger.

This guy does it from the outside in. got to 30 seconds. It seems to work pretty well but I prefer to start at the top as I recon you get more. 

 

Then skin the fillets like any fish. 

I like to cut them across the grain then fry in breadcrumbs but you can eat them any way you like. 

I would love to get some Japanese recipes that keep the skin on as it feels similar to eel. I can't find any though. 

 

[Hweebe]

On 14/03/2022 at 7:51 AM, Drop Bear said:

IMHO they are an extremely underrated pan fish with sweet, soft white fillets (texture is a bit like Barra but tastes better)

Interesting, I have always released ray bycatch and have never thought to fillet. I think most of the time I've caught sting rays on fishing line i'm either too buggered dragging them off the bottom or annoyed i've wasted 30+mins trying to save myself from being spooled when the target species is on the chew.

[jon]

Thanks db I might give it a go some time if I see a smaller man be when I’m squiding 

[Bob9863]

I used to catch a few as by catch while shark fishing in Darwin. 

I preferred overhead reels a Shimano Tekota 800 was my preferred reel on a 7ft from memory one piece 24kg ugly stick. 

I've caught some big Ray's in Thailand fishing the rivers, the key in both when shore fishing is to use the current be it river or tide to get your bait out. 

I could cast a pretty decent way with that rod with a heavy bait and some practice but a spin would be much better for casting, but your going to want at least 300 yards of 65lb minimum braid or 50lb mono as they can take off and I've seen reels spooled by them more then a few times. 

If your fishing from a boat it can be a lot simpler, heavy rod, heavy line and muscle them. 

They to either is to use constant pressure to keep their head up and try and turn them. 

 

I've got a set up I use overseas a lot, a, shimano Tekota 300 on a 15kg ugly stick, that would do the job. 

It's got 250 yards of 50lb jig an super line on it, that casts beautiful with heavy lures out to 40 yards. 

Something like might be a really good option as a dedicated rod for Ray's.