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[ronaultmtd]

After a bruising battle with an extra large CNR on my Stradic 2500 FI reel this past fishing trip, I decided maybe a 3000 reel would be appropriate...after a little research, I discovered that the 2500 and the 3000 are essentially the same reel...so I am taking the factory spool off my 2500 FI and swapping it out for a new spare spool off a 3000 FI...instant Stradic 3000...and I have 10# braid on my 2500s...I have 20# braid on my 3000s...

[mchottie]

I'm not sure if the Penn Battle are the same, but when I hold a 2500 & 3000 side my side, they look damn near identical to me.

[yakscientist]

Yeah I like the 2500 size of my daiwa BG because it might not be as light as the stradic but it does hold more line at the same size. And it was an ounce lighter than the bg3000. I think 2500s, like many have said, are the go-to size for most bay fishing.

[ronaultmtd]

The difference between Diawa and Shimano numbering is significant...they are no where near the same...a 2500 BG is like a Stradic 4000

[bignose]

After a bruising battle with an extra large CNR on my Stradic 2500 FI reel this past fishing trip, I decided maybe a 3000 reel would be appropriate...after a little research, I discovered that the 2500 and the 3000 are essentially the same reel...so I am taking the factory spool off my 2500 FI and swapping it out for a new spare spool off a 3000 FI...instant Stradic 3000...and I have 10# braid on my 2500s...I have 20# braid on my 3000s...

Of course, being a smart--s, going to a larger spool just means that you have a chance to loose an extra 50-75 yards of line when a jumbo CNR decides to head to the Bridge Tunnel and spool you. LOL
Actually, going to the stronger braid is the better idea, but CNR are first class lure stealers and rod busters.
How good are you at "palming" the spool to act as extra drag?
For those of you who have never experienced these critters, never, ever wrap braid around your hand or fingers when fighting a fish! Conceivably, the braid could cut you severely.

[ronaultmtd]

I brought the CNR up to the side of my kayak...palming the spool, but with ten pound braid you can only put so much pressure on the ray...and you are very right about braid cutting hands...never wrap it around your hand...I broke the ray off after getting all my line back...grabbed the spool, pointed the rod straight at the ray and popped it off...a foot or two less line and it broke about a foot up from the leader

[bignose]

We had a client on the charter boat two years ago insist that I net or gaff his Ray and bring it on board the boat.
I tried to explain to him that this was dangerous, (and I didn't want to kill it for no reason-plus cleaning the blood off of the deck), but he got pretty obnoxious, so as the Ray approached the side of the boat and I had the leader in my hand, I scraped it a couple of times against the boat's wooden hull, and then lifted up sharply.....oopps, the line broke.........S.O.B. didn't leave me a tip!

[Mark]

We had a client on the charter boat two years ago insist that I net or gaff his Ray and bring it on board the boat.
I tried to explain to him that this was dangerous, (and I didn't want to kill it for no reason-plus cleaning the blood off of the deck), but he got pretty obnoxious, so as the Ray approached the side of the boat and I had the leader in my hand, I scraped it a couple of times against the boat's wooden hull, and then lifted up sharply.....oopps, the line broke.........S.O.B. didn't leave me a tip!

Great story, Stu, and smart approach.

[DanMarino]

I've never had a cow nose ray on the end of my line. Do these things accidentally get snagged while you boys troll around? What do those suckers naturally eat?

[ronaultmtd]

Mostly shellfish, mussels, clams, etc...and they migrate into the middle and lower bay to reproduce in the millions...and you snag into them as they swim through the water sometimes near the bottom where you don't see them....a forty or fifty pound ray on 10# line, snagged, puts up one helluva fight and tests light tackle to its elastic limits...high sticking one guarantees a broken rod...the preferred method is once you determine what you have hooked into, decide if the lure is worth thirty or more minute slugfest to get the ray alongside the kayak tired enough for you to attempt to get your lure or just pop it off and re-tie...

[Mark]

I've never had a cow nose ray on the end of my line. Do these things accidentally get snagged while you boys troll around? What do those suckers naturally eat?

Tom,

I think we snag most of them while trolling. Only once did I catch one casting. I saw fins break the surface near a bank in the southern Bay and in my exuberance, I thought it was a redfish tailing. I laid a perfect cast in front of the fins and hooked the devil.

The one I caught yesterday while trolling in the Severn fooled me briefly. A telltale sign of a CNR is a steady heavy pull without the headshake of a striper. I honestly thought I felt a headshake yesterday shortly after hookup. But then the line started to strip from my reel in that steady CNR pull.

I rid myself of CNRs as fast I can by pointing my rod at them and holding the spool to encourage the leader to snap.

Yesterday, that process cost me an X-Rap.

[yakscientist]

Yeah the only one I've hooked is while trolling paddletails out of Jonas green. Went past a marker buoy and WHAM drag starts screaming.....I was excited about the possibility of a red drum, cobia, big rockfish, etc., but realized after about 2 minutes of the fight, that it was probably a ray. Got it up to the boat about 5minutes later, and confirmed this, and I could see the lure stuck in its wing. However, after multiple attempts of trying to get it close enough to de-hook, I had to just cut the leader really close to the lure, since it just kept soaking me over and over, and wasn't tiring. I have a lot of respect for them, they're ridiculously strong. They get a bad rap because watermen and recreational guys like to scapegoat them for eating all the oysters, crabs, or whatever seems scarce, but it turns out, after numerous studies (as is usually the case), they're a very natural presence and humans are yet again the reason for the decline of the crabs, oysters, etc. It's a shame because you see a lot of jagoffs spearing them or just needlessly killing them, thinking they're making a difference or something. Same thing with skate, and like I said in a previous thread, the days of me just walking by and not asking questions to the fisherman with 10 dead skates in front of him are long gone, now I don't mind the confrontation. Can't stand just killing skates, dogfish, and rays, because a fisherman just keeps catching them! What a terrible problem, right?

[Mark]

I'm intrigued by their lengthy migration. They come to the Chesapeake from the coast of Florida.

Their presence here is a natural part of their reproductive cycle. They're not invasive.

I feel bad when I snag one because I really don't want to hurt them.

I will actually pull my line(s) from the water if I see a school of them.

[bignose]

The Maryland DNR did prohibit the mass killing tournaments.
They were pretty brutal, as shown on TV last year.

It is very hard to change people's mentality about them since they have such a bad reputation.

[mchottie]

i've also had them pickup raw shrimp on a double drop rig when i'm bottom fishing for catfish, and i've also hit while trolling.