The Sharkey finally gets a workout: PB smooth ray

So I have had my Loomis Sharkey around 9 months now, and I was starting to wonder what this rod is made for. Even the exmouth sharks never REALLY tested it. Tonight it finally got a workout.

After getting an ass kicking from a big ray on sat night I was telling everyone at work I was goin back tonight for revenge. Went down about 8 after the rain had cleared and found my usual spot empty, which was great since it really only leaves room for a couple of people to fish the gap in the reef. With very little wind, conditions were good and the first cast sailed a good 90m out I reckon. Rigged up a nice fresh tailor head and start sliding it down to my sinker.

After this the next hour or so was quiet till I start seeing some herring in the water not far out, quickly pull out the bait rod and use a small pieve of tailor to catch a herring. Reel in the heavy gear and by now the wind has dropped off to nothing and the next cast flies a good 110m out, Im finally getting the hang of casting this broom stick and 8oz grapnels! Rig up the live herring on a single 9/0 gama occy and start sliding it out, by now I think the tide has just turned and the bait moves out fairly quickly.  

Again the waiting game begins and I have a chat to a nice old bloke that walks past the spot often. maybe 45 mins later I hear that amazing sound zzzz.zzzzzzzz.ZZZZZZZZZ quickly grab the rod and knowing how much reef is in the area I dont wait, thumb the spool n BANG BANG BANG, 3 quick strikes to set the hook, tighten the grag down to around 8kg and hold on. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ this thing just keeps running, at first I call it for a shark, must have been the tail or the wings hitting the leader cuz it felt like some decent shakes. 30 seconds later the rest of my mono dissapear as my PR not goes through the guides and the braid backing gets its first use in a while.

When I lost my ray on sat night I was convinced I had over tightened my drag too early, so I stayed patient and sat on around 8kg as at least another 80 or so metres of line dissapeared, by now my spool had emptied a bit so perhaps the drag had increased slightly. By how much I have no idea. Slowly but surely the fish started to slow down. At this point I grabbed my phone and called my bro to see if he was keen to come down and help land it/take some pics. Luckily he obliged.

So after about 40mins and climbing across some rocks I had him 30m out. This is where it got tough.... doing the typical ray move he was covering himself in sand and just sitting.... by now my arms are almost giving up so I repeatedly try every move i know to get him out of the sand and through the shore break. At some stages thumbing the spool and putting all my weight into him, other times giving some slack line then once he moved giving it stick, and my go to move of reducing pressure, running 40m down the beach then trying to hammer him from there, this last one never works I dont know why I keep doin it lol...

Anyway, another 20 mins or so and he was right in the shore break, working with the waves I get him as far in as possible, back the drag off a bit and give my brother the rod, run down to the shore and use the leader to get him another 2m up the sand. Pliers in hand I lift the front of him and feel around for the mouth. The hook is pretty deep down the throat so decided I had to cut the steel trace at the mouth. I hav heard stories of south africans putting half their arm down a rays throat to remove a hook but I dotn have that kinda experience, so it was cut off. A few happy snapps courtesy of my bro then I reached under, grabbed the jaw plate (knowing from the lenth of my slide trace that the hook was a good 10cm further down) and pulled the fish back into the shore break to watch him swim away.

Awesome night, and good to get my PB ray in a spot where they have been giving me hidings since I first went tailor fishing as a little kid.

Cheers,
Adam
 

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Posts: 912

Date Joined: 23/07/10

 What a beast! awesome work

Thu, 2011-02-17 01:09

 What a beast! awesome work man.

Posts: 317

Date Joined: 16/12/09

That's GIGANTUS! Must have

Thu, 2011-02-17 01:54

That's GIGANTUS! 

Must have been one heck of a workout session!

Posts: 256

Date Joined: 25/12/10

wow dude ive never seen a ray

Thu, 2011-02-17 02:03

wow dude ive never seen a ray that big! amazing effort

cuthbad's picture

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Date Joined: 22/04/09

Thanks guys, a workout is an

Thu, 2011-02-17 02:17

Thanks guys, a workout is an understatement. Was on my knees in the sand on more than one occasion. 13'6 rod plus that much drag pressure = pain lol

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Date Joined: 27/12/06

Awesome

Thu, 2011-02-17 05:36

Nice catch mate. I can imagine the pain that beast inflicted

Heinz's picture

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Date Joined: 20/06/07

That is massive mate! I'd be

Thu, 2011-02-17 08:37

That is massive mate! I'd be calling the chiropractor after that fight

dkonig82's picture

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Date Joined: 06/07/10

Great work mate - absolute

Thu, 2011-02-17 09:17

Great work mate - absolute beast of a thing.

 

Hope you had a few well earned recovery beers after that one

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Vander72's picture

Posts: 433

Date Joined: 20/10/06

now thats a ray

Thu, 2011-02-17 10:14

coulda just locked up ya drag and gone for a ski..... he'd of slowed down sooner or later!! but awesome to see you landed him and he swam away..........well done on ya pb

woody's picture

Posts: 615

Date Joined: 27/02/08

Great stuff Adam, thats a

Thu, 2011-02-17 13:18

Great stuff Adam, thats a beast of a ray!

 

What rod/reel/line did you get him on?

cuthbad's picture

Posts: 1266

Date Joined: 22/04/09

Thanks mateLoomis Sharkey

Thu, 2011-02-17 14:08

Thanks mate

Loomis Sharkey rod, Torium 30, 50lb mono with braid backing

shanedm's picture

Posts: 153

Date Joined: 25/06/09

holy crap that thing is huge!

Thu, 2011-02-17 13:38

holy crap that thing is huge! well done mate!

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Blue Whaler's picture

Posts: 382

Date Joined: 05/10/10

Thats a beauty - well done!

Thu, 2011-02-17 13:44

Thats a beauty - well done!

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benno208's picture

Posts: 47

Date Joined: 07/08/10

thats HUGE!!!!! good write up

Thu, 2011-02-17 13:44

thats HUGE!!!!! good write up too...

PattyT's picture

Posts: 1025

Date Joined: 15/08/10

Jesus mate, well done!! That

Thu, 2011-02-17 15:25

Jesus mate, well done!! That is an absolute beast of a ray.. how much you reckon he would of weighed??

cuthbad's picture

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Date Joined: 22/04/09

the South African tables

Fri, 2011-02-18 12:39

the South African tables dont include a smooth ray, but the black ray and short tail stingray of 175cm are estimated by the tables to be around 150kg. I think this weighed much less than that, maybe 120?

aussie_breamer's picture

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Date Joined: 24/08/10

wow

Thu, 2011-02-17 16:43

that is a bloody hage ray mate....

congrats!!

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Posts: 912

Date Joined: 23/07/10

 That ray is honestly close

Thu, 2011-02-17 17:18

 That ray is honestly close sized to the one i landed in Eagle Bay long time ago on 40lb except mine was a thorntail, the conditions were like the background quite flat but honestly dont think would landed it if the waves was huge its the small waves along with shallow water that help beach it with little pressure, much like sitting in the shallows and theres a little amounts of wave you end up moving towards the beach.

bungeye's picture

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Date Joined: 10/06/09

thast a

Thu, 2011-02-17 18:41

Thats a monster mate well done ,,

Dale's picture

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Date Joined: 13/09/05

Hope you let it go after

Thu, 2011-02-17 19:44

Nice ray, good to see you let it go after taking pics

Cheers

Dale

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young_yakker's picture

Posts: 261

Date Joined: 05/09/09

finally cracked it hey big

Thu, 2011-02-17 20:12

finally cracked it hey big ray for sure

sea-kem's picture

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Date Joined: 30/11/09

Bloody hell.... thing's like

Thu, 2011-02-17 22:05

Bloody hell.... thing's like a giant vacumm cleaner.

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big john's picture

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Date Joined: 20/07/06

Snapped

Thu, 2011-02-17 22:10

Would have snapped the 'Official FW Ray & Shark Chaser' in half that fella.

Top effort cuthbad.

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