Fishing For Bat Rays

Fishing for Bat Rays
By Bryan Friedman

Bat rays are the neglected fish of the ocean. Pound for pound they fight as well as any fish out there and can be caught at any beach in California! These bat rays can grow as large as 6 feet wide and over 200 pounds each! The best thing about them is that they are fun and easy to catch! You can hook up into several of these monsters in a single outing. Little skill is needed to hook up into a bat ray. However, landing them is another story. You could hook up into several bat rays any given night and never even see the skin of one. Bat rays thrust themselves at high speeds with their wings and produce unbelievable fights. If you do somehow land a bat ray, be very cautious of their stingers. If struck, you will be in a world of pain!

Fishing Pole:
Medium/ Heavy action rod is highly recommended while fighting a bat ray!

Fishing Line:
6-30 lb

Fishing Reel:
Medium conventional reel
6-30 pound line rating

Where To Fish:
Bat rays hold in bays, harbors or stretches of water that contain sandy bottoms.

When To Fish:
Bat rays bite 24/7 all year round!
Best bites occur at night

Fishing Baits:
Bat rays love whole dead squid
Whole small mackeral
Mackeral chunck

Basic Fishing Techniques:
Sliding Sinker
Thread a 3/4 - 1.5 ounce sliding sinker onto the line and tie directly to a medium sized swivel. Proceed by tying an additional one to three feet of line to the opposite end of the Swivel. Now tie the 3/0 to 5/0 circle hook or small bait holder hook to the end of your line. Cast out as far as you can and hold on!!!

(Thread whole squid onto the hook)
(Thread a whole or chunk of mackeral onto the hook)

[mamoo]

Sometimes you have to use up to a 4 oz sliding egg sinker to keep the bait from rolling aroung in the current.

[PlatinumHooks]

Originally Posted by mamoo

Sometimes you have to use up to a 4 oz sliding egg sinker to keep the bait from rolling aroung in the current.

do you let the sinker contact with the hook / bait or is it rigged above a swivel on a leader?

[DementedFish]

Originally Posted by Tony"PltnmHooks"Z.

do you let the sinker contact with the hook / bait or is it rigged above a swivel on a leader?

Some people just put the sinker directly on the line. Personally, I think it's best to tie a carolina rig, but with this there are more knots, so there is a bigger possibility of it snapping when you're on a big fish.

[PlatinumHooks]

Originally Posted by DementedFish

Some people just put the sinker directly on the line. Personally, I think it's best to tie a carolina rig, but with this there are more knots, so there is a bigger possibility of it snapping when you're on a big fish.

Yeah, I tie a Carolina rig myself, but I was just curious how he did it because I know some guys just put it straight on.

[frederick7816]

thank you for the information! it's very interesting!
I'm new in the fishing business - so I'm happy about any information

greetz

[GeneralDink]

Took the shock paddles to this one eh? lol. Wherever you live near the coast you can catch some Mud Marlins, they are one of the most plentiful fish off our coast. Thank someone for that as they are the easiest large fish to hook onto this time of year that have any weight and fight, at least for me. Just go out at night and bring some chairs and relax and wait for your rod to go bendo. Make sure your drag is set light while waiting as a few days ago I got my rod stolen by one since the drag was too tight. Squid is the most consistent bait I've used, and you'll probably hook up to some sharks too.

[cst]

Yeah all you need for Bat Ray fishing is squid, chairs and some beer

[Wahoo!]

This is the biggest one I've caught so far. Out of the CI harbor -

[JSAUCE818]

that thing must of fought like hell.

[johnlgarrison]

The best bait for mud marlin I have found is the dark meat from Yellow Fin tuna you usually throw away. A great rig is use a heavy bank sinker and tie it to the end of your line, cast it our as far as you can with nothing else on your line. Make a heavy leader 4-5 feet long with a HD snap swivel on one end, snap it on your line and let it slide down the line. This is a great way to get a big bait way out from shore. It also makes it easy to NOT cast a big bait off. This rig works really great off of a pier.

[Walt]

Has anyone ever eaten one?

I hear that some restraunts take cutters and punch out round chunks and sell them as Scallops. Mabe I am missing something by not cooking them up.

[cst]

I drenched them in milk overnight then tried cooking them two different ways. They both ended up tasting like piss.

[NulodPBall]

There's a very special way to prepare them...I think someone posted on that subject somewhere on HUSF.