Killing the Cownose Ray

[buzz]

Of course most of us have had our run-ins with cownose rays. Fortunately for me, I went this whole season without a single hookup. Yet I know others have lost lures, line, and even whole rod & reel setups. Heck... sometimes those critters can totally ruin your day.

Apparently this has gotten the attention of some of the same folk that hunt down the dreaded snakehead... bow hunters.

I personally have not seen this, but the following article maintains that these boats look for rays feeding on top of the water and then rush up on them. Hunters standing on a platform at the stern of the boat take aim and shoot at the rays before they dive down. With the goal being to return with the largest ray, they kill one right after another until its time to go return. If a ray they just killed is smaller than the one they already have then its dumped overboard to become crab food. If its bigger than they keep it and dump the other one down to the crabs.

The cownose is not an invasive species yet recently their numbers have increased and according to the article these ray hunts are an effort to diminish the populations that is supported by the state of Virginia.

Maybe its time to set some limits.

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014...wnose-stingray

[DanMarino]

No bueno. I've had up close experience with the bow hunters and their generator boats at Mattawoman. Those guys are turds.

[Cowpokey]

The only Ray I hooked ended with a broken rod, I unhooked it and gladly watched it swim away. Killing for the sake of killing is wrong.

[Romo]

I think this is a great idea. No limits? No problem! I snagged a few for kicks one day at CHSP when they were jumping around on top and the flounders weren't biting. They're probably devastating what remains of the striper forage species since their numbers have increased so wildly the past few years. I wouldn't be too keen on bringing a flailing cownose boatside in my hobie, though, without a better way to dispatch it. That usually ends in getting real wet, breaking your rod or both.

[Cowpokey]

I think this is a great idea. No limits? No problem! I snagged a few for kicks one day at CHSP when they were jumping around on top and the flounders weren't biting. They're probably devastating what remains of the striper forage species since their numbers have increased so wildly the past few years. I wouldn't be too keen on bringing a flailing cownose boatside in my hobie, though, without a better way to dispatch it. That usually ends in getting real wet, breaking your rod or both.

I doubt that, the bait was THICK everywhere I fished this past summer.

Both. LOL

[jhoss]

I'm in agreement with Cowpokey. Regardless how annoying it may be to hook into one and lose a lure or worse, killing it and tossing it aside seems like a waste of a life. When we become the judge and jury of which creatures are "good" and which are "bad" we end up playing God with an ecosystem whose nuances we don't fully understand. I'm still convinced that the invasive species with the worst impact on the bay is us. Let Mother Nature balance things out.

Sorry about the rant

[Cowpokey]

I'm in agreement with Cowpokey. Regardless how annoying it may be to hook into one and lose a lure or worse, killing it and tossing it aside seems like a waste of a life. When we become the judge and jury of which creatures are "good" and which are "bad" we end up playing God with an ecosystem whose nuances we don't fully understand. I'm still convinced that the invasive species with the worst impact on the bay is us. Let Mother Nature balance things out.

Sorry about the rant

I couldn't agree more.

I was going to post that it should be open season on humans; no limit, no restrictions. Mankind had done more damage to the eco system than Mother Nature could ever hope to keep up with repairing.

[J.A. Veil]

I'm in agreement with Cowpokey. Regardless how annoying it may be to hook into one and lose a lure or worse, killing it and tossing it aside seems like a waste of a life. When we become the judge and jury of which creatures are "good" and which are "bad" we end up playing God with an ecosystem whose nuances we don't fully understand. I'm still convinced that the invasive species with the worst impact on the bay is us. Let Mother Nature balance things out.

Sorry about the rant

+1

[Mark]

I don't like losing lures to CNRs either. But I don't want to see them needlessly slaughtered to satisfy the egos of some people.

Actually I have new respect for CNRs after reading the article. I had no idea they travelled so far to breed in the Bay. That's an impressive migration.

[Pinch]

We already played god and killed all the sharks. Now we have a ray problem.

[jsquare]

We already played god and killed all the sharks. Now we have a ray problem.

Yep. Much like wolves and deer, sharks keep the ray populations in check.

[surfdog]

Kill all they want but they shouldn't dump them but find a place that uses the meat.

CNRs tear up the grass beds and eat a lot of crabs not good for the bay.

[Mark]

Cownose rays were problematic in the Chesapeake Bay even 400 years ago.

History buffs may be interested in the "Cool Facts" section of this article.

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/a...es/cownose-ray

[AbuMasgouf]

I'm in agreement with Cowpokey. Regardless how annoying it may be to hook into one and lose a lure or worse, killing it and tossing it aside seems like a waste of a life. When we become the judge and jury of which creatures are "good" and which are "bad" we end up playing God with an ecosystem whose nuances we don't fully understand. I'm still convinced that the invasive species with the worst impact on the bay is us. Let Mother Nature balance things out.

Sorry about the rant

Not a rant, rather, a just statement. I completely agree "When we become the judge and jury of which creatures are "good" and which are "bad" we end up playing God with an ecosystem whose nuances we don't fully understand."

[Backdoc]

Dirty secret time: I was raised by a man who hunted and fished. My dad was born in 1933 and grew up dirt poor in Cumberland. His dad died when he was a young kid. He raised me to hunt and fish and we lived by one rule. If you kill it, you are going to eat it. It started when I got a Buck Daisy BB gun when I was five. I was not allowed to kill birds or other animals . When we hunted we ate what we killed. When we fished we kept what we needed. Long rant....the point is this. We caught a large ray near the Bay Bridge in the early 80's. My brother gaffed the ray in the wing near the head. My dad wrestled that beast into our 18 foot Chincoteage scow and home we went. We skinned the wings and used a piece of metal conduit to punch 3/4" circles of meat from the wings. My mom dredged them in bread crumbs and Old Bay and fried them in a skillet. THEY WERE EXCELLENT. Tasted like scallops. We never targeted them but our incidentals always ended up on the table.