My biggest catch ever!

[cwillis85]

Last night Nick and I headed over to the Skyway pier to kill an evening and try out the silly Reel Deal two speed I attached to my newly acquired Squidder. On the plus side the Squidder had good MOJO on it, first cast, bait soaking for a few seconds and I caught a pin fish. In the high gear range, that little pin fish would give me any line, after finally getting the reel shifted into low gear and easily reeling in the fish, I hooked him up on my Andros and heaved him out. A short while later I hooked the biggest pin fish I had ever seen. I hooked a small grunt earlier and assumed this was just another. Normally I wouldn't throw a bait that large out due to being high on the pier making it hard to safely get a fish landed, but tonight I thought, what the heck and hooked it on to my second rod. As it always happens, I was about ready to leave after only one good hit for Nick that got cut off on a pylon shortly after we arrived. I told Nick I was going to hit the head, if anything bites to tell them I will be back in a minute. Sure enough I am walking back and Nick calls for me, I get over there and he hands me my smaller rod. I tried to reel in some line, couldn't gain anything but wasn't pulling either, with all the seaweed passing by I asked Nick if he was sure it was a fish or if I had a massive ball of weeds, he said it had been pulling like crazy. About that time the fish started pulling line like I have not felt in a long time.

After a little while the fish stopped going out to the gulf and started headed back to the pier, luckily Nick had just got his lines that were tangled up with mine cut and I was able to chase him down the pier a short bit to keep him from getting around the same pylon that cut Nick off. Nick went to grab the net, during that time I felt the fish headed back down the pier but behind the pylons. I asked the people watching if they had a light and was able to see that the fish had my line on that barnacle covered pylon, I thought this was it but I gave a little slack to the fish and as soon as he stopped feeling resistance he came back out behind that pylon and he was spent. After a bit of a struggle to net the stingray that was slightly narrower in diameter than my net and after Nick and I found out the hard way that my thin rope needs to be replaced with something heavier that you can pull on without risking your hands, we got the ray up and over the rail. We snapped a couple pictures, had to cut the line since the hook was not accessible, dropped the net back down and revived the ray, then could not get him to swim out of the net. After spending most of my energy trying to to pull him up and drop the net around him so he could swim off, we ended up have to pull it back up to the pier and dump it out of the net. It hit the water and shot off.

Biggest fish I have ever caught, no idea the weight but told Nick next trip we will load weights in the net and lift them up the pier until we find out what feels about the same weight, not sure he is gonna go for that idea.

Caught him on my Cortez Jigmaster from the original batch, with all stardard 500s guts and straight 30lb mono to a 200lb swivel and 50lb flouro and a steel circle hook. The line feels like it wasn't far from snapping where it was contacting the pylon but it held up.

So excited for this catch and glad two rookies like Nick and myself were able to land such a large fish from such a challenging situation. Also glad Nick was willing to give up the rod, that takes a big man to not try to catch the fish yourself 

[ReelFishingProblems]

Aside from the action at the beginning and the end it was a nice quiet night. Even had music to listen to from just a little way down the pier.

[oldmanjoe]

   Glad to see you had some fun ...     Little runs than bucket pulling ,nice size ray.        Surprised you didn`t get in to the grunts and sheepheads.

[Swami805]

Thanks for the report. Those things get a head of steam they really pull. Looks like a fun night

[gstours]

Good fishing story,  glad you went,  fun at night.  rays can be hard to move.  they can sure hold their own it seems,  That mouth make for a hard hook removal .   Devil fish.   

[ChileRelleno]

Nice ray, fun catch as they sure can put it in low gear and PULL.

Those make great shark bait too.

Drop nets average 31"-36"
Lets call the ray's wing span 28"
27" = 23lbs 1oz
28"= 25lbs 11oz
29" = 28lbs 7 oz
30" = 31lbs 7oz

[nelz]

Hey, glad to hear from a fellow fisher of the planks.    Yeah, those rays will put your gear and skill to the test! Aside from the brutal pulling power, part of their tactic also includes burying themselves in the sand.

It's hard to appreciate how challenging landing big fish from piers can be. I like to target pier snook and all I have to say is, you better be holding the rod when the big mommas hit! 

[Alto Mare]

Nice report!

Sal

[Shark Hunter]

Great Catch Chris!
Sounds like you and Nick make a good team.

[xjchad]

Great report and nice ray!  Sounds like a blast!

[ReelFishingProblems]

Great Catch Chris!
Sounds like you and Nick make a good team.

And we never would have met if it wasn't for this site.

[Dominick]

Great Catch Chris!
Sounds like you and Nick make a good team.

And we never would have met if it wasn't for this site.

Great fishing story.  I also met a great bunch of people through this site.  Dominick