hey everyone,

seems like you guys are sweltering in the heat out there still... weather here in SoCal pretty mild for the summer, and definitely much cooler at the beach...

Anyways, thought some of you might enjoy this post since I haven't been carping much here.. I've been getting into some surf fishing lately... especially since it is much cooler at the beach.. and well.. it's just peaceful and relaxing to be on the sand...

well, took my friend out to Point Dume early this morning for some surf fishin and also took a long surf rod to see if we could land something BIGGER...

was nice and cool this morning... hit the sand around 6:30am... overcast/cool/spotty drizzle... no seaweed in the surf... picked up some sand crabs in Malibu since Point Dume doesn't seem to have any all...

started out with the usual perch...




quick video of one of my surf perch caught on sand crab...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iiPk-RTZ1A

but then there is a huge run on the long surf rod... my friend runs to the rod that went bendo with major drag zippin out... now, this was our first ever bat ray caught on a long surf rod... so pardon my excitement (I'm still hootin and hollering Jesse).. and some liberal use of profanity here and there.. hahaha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Uq6zlRjGWA

it runs half his 25 lb mono Daiwa 5500 baitrunner reel out... and it walked us about 150 yards to the left of where we started... maybe about 20 minutes later, we finally land it and I drag it up on to the beach...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3ZTO67q9Yc



my friend tries to lift the bat ray up, but too heavy... and he's scared like a girl anyways... he did injure his back while on the job though years ago though... Not sure how much this one weighed... what do you think Jered??? we thought maybe 50-60 lbs...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkzklL_10-s

here I am trying to flip it right side up and get it back into the water... eventually we did and it swam off to fight another day...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poRpG2JEGBY

well... that was enough excitement for one morning...

hope you all are doing well back in Texas!

Way to go Danny. You guys got it good with the weather out there. I have caught a number of rays in the teens at the Texas coast. Some of them fight like heck. That one looks like it is built for speed with those nice wide wings.

I would guess that that one will be pushing 50. Do they have the "stinger" like most other rays? Did not see one.

Sweet, there's a fish you don't see every day!

that's awesome!

Sweeeet!

that thing is huge, had one come right up next to me in florida while snapper fishing off a dock, those things are awesome

yeah thx Curt... and these do have a stinger.. closer to the body on the dorsal side of the tail... but hey, I wasn't takin any chances! hehe... we r definitely amateurs with the bat rays! glad to see u guys r havin fun on this site...

That's a huge bat ray! Congrats! Thanks for sharing with us

Awesome fish! Congrats!

Nice Ray. Sounds like you had a very good day on the surf. Congrats.

Great fish, thanks for the sharing it with us.

hey thanks everyone for the nice comments... I'm sure the vids were pretty freakin funny...

definitely pulled harder than my PB carp or buff! hehe

good stuff

There's a kid on CAG named Justin that has posted a couple of videos catching those things. They definitely look like they are beastly fighters.

Oh and those videos with the ray are hilarious.

Not that I blame you guys, I'd freak out if that thing whipped its tail at me...repeatedly.