Just curious if anyone has ever been hit while wearing the waders with built-in rubber boots. Wondering how big a barb they'd stop, if any. Also, I bought a pair of Ray-Guard boots last year but they were so narrow they made my feet hurt really bad. I'm a size 9 and went all the way to size 12 with no luck, they all hurt. Are they all that narrow or did Academy get a bad batch? I wear Ray-Guard strap-ons now, but have never been hit.

I have a pair of the everlast boots, they are great. I have stepped on a stingray with them on, I felt his tail whip around my leg, but he couldn't stick me. They really worked! I do have a friend who got stuck threw those Hodgeman stingray boots. I used to wear those, now I just use them for weed eating; they work great for that.

Yes sir, they will lay on top of an oyster reef. They get on shell for the same reasons other fish do, plenty to eat there. A good friend of mine has been stuck one time in prolly 50 years of wading the coast and it happened on top of an oyster reef in inches of water. They had anchored on one end of a long reef and waded it's length in waist deep water. He went to get the boat and walked down the top of the reef in ankle deep water and one was laying right on the top of the reef and it got him. I have also seen plenty of flounder laying on top of oyster shell, enough to know it doesn't bother them a bit.

Someone else in this thread was talking about talking to locals to know where you need to be careful. Let me give you this bit of advise, if you are in the water you better be careful. There are not many places I have not seen a stingray over the years in the areas I fish.

Also, someone was saying they were suprised more swimmers didn't get hit at the beach. I am extremely suprised more don't get hit by rays. When I was a kid we use to have huge beach seines that were hundreds of yards long that we would seine for redfish, trout and flounder, etc. This was back when it was legal as were gill nets, etc. Anyway, when we use to seine the beach we caught hundreds of stingrays. It'd make you think when you go swimming at the beach.

My godfather got hit by one while wading several years back. It went through his calf. We were on an island off of Matagorda. By the time we got back to port and to the hospital, he was already unconcious. The doctors almost had to take his leg, but they didn't have to. I am sure he was relieved He still has his leg. He doesn't remember much of the whole experience, but he does remember the pain. It must be really intense to make a grown man pass out. I hope I never get hit by one.

i know 2 guys that have been hit by rays they are tough not a pretty picture was left behind

have me some foreverlast wading boots found my online cheaper than at academy

I took one of Slowride's (Dean Thomas) classes over at Aransas Pass. He and Scott Null were talking about hits by stingrays, and they had a stinger. That spear went from a pointed tip to a half inch wide and on up to at least and inch wide and a minimum of 6 to 8 inches long. It was either bone or extremely hard cartilage and was serrated with the barbs pointing backward for the most desired affect. You could have attached it to a pole and made a spear or just held it your hand and used it as a knife and killed someone. I was impressed to say the least!

When I went home, I bought the knee high EverLast boots from the company. I wanted to make sure I got exactly the ones I wanted!

Ray

My brother and I were duck hunting in Port Mansfield a few years ago. He got hit behind the ankle bone while getting into the duck blind. The ray was laying up under the blind in the shade. Unfortunately, my brother had an alergic reaction to the venom, which is in the mucus covering the barb. He starting seeing spots and his airway became constricted. Fortunately one of my hunting buddies is a doctor.

The best thing you can do when you get hit is start the outboard motor and let the cooling system discharge stream onto the wound. It has to be really hot to dissapate the venom. Also, we now carry an epi-pen with us to battle the alergic reaction.

I fish oso bay and shamrocks cove a bunch. Sometimes I do not even want to move around once I get to a good locations at these spots. I have seen days when there has been about 3 stringrays for every five steps in all directions. I have seen so many rays as these spots that it is amazing that I have not gotten hit. I hold my breath. However, this shows you how non-aggressive they are and that the shuffle works. Also, you should target areas holding stingrays. Trout and reds follow them, eating the prey they kick up as they slide trough the bottom.

I had one simply brush the side of my ankle and boy did it hurt. It just barely broke the skin. It make me nauseated as well.

What I can't figure. These are the same rays that I went snorkeling with at Grand Cayman. Somehow the water is so clear and you can stay clear of their tail. Doesn't make sense. Hardly anyone ever gets stuck down there and there are all kinds of tourists in the water there.

The rays down there can be individually identified. The guides have even named them. I remember one darker one, he was called Darth Vader. He would swim between your legs and let you scratch his back. You can bet I was watching that tail although no one else seemed to be.

Don

one more reason to stay away from salt water...

Since you really can't see ANYTHING in the galveston water im glad i havent been hit but im always extra careful. But thanks for posting what to do, hope i dont need it but glad i know...