Skate Whistles.......

[rob-kayak]

Well I am pleased to report the installation of my skate whistles has been a success.

So far I've seen no skates... driving around or in my backyard.

A close cousin to the famous "deer whistles" the Skate Whistles are the latest in kayaking technologies.

skatewhistles.jpg

[On the fly]

Hopefully they work better than the deer whistles

[daddyg]

Just when you think you've seen it all. Nice install but I think they should be on the bottom.

[Capt C-Hawk]

go to St Jeromes, they should attract more skates than you can handle.

[J.A. Veil]

I fished this morning with gkreps (Greg) in Ocean City near the Rt 50 bridge. We were targeting flounder, but the flounder were not biting. My only pullage for the day was catching two powerful rays (presumably cow nosed rays). At one point, I looked 1/4 mile away and saw loads of short black objects sticking up that looked like dorsal fins.


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I quickly paddled over and found hundreds of rays feeding in 2 ft of water. The black "fins" were the tips of their wings sticking out of the water. I cast out with a jighead and plastic minnow and quickly had a strong pull on the line. I fought that ray for a minute then it broke free. About the same time, I had two other rods in rod holders with bottom rigs dangling at the surface. Another strong brute hooked itself on a wing tip and gave me quite a fight. It pulled the kayak around and put a serious bend in the rod. Five minutes later, I got the ray to boat side and recovered my rig.

I made sure the other rods were no longer dangling in the water as I paddled back over to meet Greg and resume flounder fishing. The rays were so thick that as I paddled along, I periodically bumped into a solid object (a ray) with my paddle. I have never seen so many rays before -- I really enjoyed the spectacle.

Greg and I finished early due to threatening weather and a few lightning bolts.

[john from md]

I hope those damn things stay in OC.

John

[J.A. Veil]

I am not sure why rays have such a bad reputation among fishermen. The fish I hooked today gave me the best pullage I have had this year (with the possible exception of a 30" carp on the flats). I rarely take fish home to eat anyway, so whether it is a tasty fish or not has little bearing.

[DOGFISH]

Skate whistles , come on is this some type of joke?

[daddyg]

To late I've bin out 4 times in the Patapsco last two weeks Ft Armistead at least a dozen sighting. I had one hookup on a gulp grub light tackle no chance but it was a fun fight.

[rob-kayak]

Skate whistles , come on is this some type of joke?

REALLY !!!!!!!!!! of course it's a joke.....

I am a transplant... well expatriate, and then again transplant to west side of the Bay Bridge...

Last Spring... North Ocean City, I caught 25 skates... nothing else.. and my 'brothers' had no such
bettah' luck... off the surf...

Oh yeah... they got's some good pull.... that is if you likes pullin' a waterlogged phone book or the same...

And thusly.... since I have transplanted to the west side of the Bay Bridge... I certainly didn't wan't a repeat of last
Spring in OC.....

A week ago... I made the trip to Jonas Green for the first time... as of the many first "times" on this side of the "bridge".
Really cool place....

BUT guess what I caught... oh hello... Mr. Skate.... well and a couple of perch...
Darn skate attacked my weak fish jig with a trailer shad rubber thingy.....
I thought I had a snag as I was passing close to the corner outside of the Navy Shipping Yard (before Carr's Creek Road)...
So I came around and my rig released... "Cool.. I say."

And then I the pass over on my "FishBites" bloodworm rig I was trolling on the other side....
Whamm'O..... my fav' not ol' friend skate or whatever he was.... picked that up...
About 15 minutes later I get it to the boat.... as far as getting a wet phone book to your boat is exciting..
A thorough drenching by the beast trying to avoid my help from her release.... the leader failed the knot.
Probably 3 foot across....

Well so far so good.... no skates.... since the adjustment to the yak...
R.

[Shady]

Has anyone ever tried eating skate or CNR?

[J.A. Veil]

Years ago on a vacation in Paris, I had a skate wing in a fancy French restaurant. It was not horrible but was no great delicacy either. I am not rushing to try it again.

[john from md]

Here is what I have been taught about rays and skates.

What we have in the bay are cow nose rays. If you fish the ocean and the back bays of OC, Indian River etc, you can catch skates and rays. Without going into the science of ichthyology, there are some easy ways to tell skates from Rays.

Rays are larger than skates.
Skates have shorter thicker tails than rays.
Skates will never hurt you. Many rays can kill you.
Skates have the same skin as a shark, rays skin is smooth
Skate meat is light, Ray meat is dark

As far as eating goes, Skate wings taste similar to the white flank meat of sharks. Ray's kind of reminds me of Squirrel which, in my opinion, is much better in stew than served by itself.

Rays in the bay are a pain in the !#* to me when I am trying to catch perch for dinner.

Just my .02

John

[kuljc]

Has anyone ever tried eating skate or CNR?

skate is delicious and a delicacy in some asian and european food. You only eat the wings though, just cut through the cartilage. I usually eat it steamed, the skin peals off after its' cooked, then add some seasoning.

rays don't taste good.

[rob-kayak]

Here is what I have been taught about rays and skates.
What we have in the bay are cow nose rays. If you fish the ocean and the back bays of OC, Indian River etc, you can catch skates and rays. Without going into the science of ichthyology, there are some easy ways to tell skates from Rays.

Yes.. I understand... I am just more familiar with skates surf fishing for most of my life... so I call everything with wings in the water "skates." I'll clarify more correctly in the future... it's all good John, thanks.
Either way they suck...

With that said... last year I was catching so many, and I knew people did eat them.. found a bunch of vids on
YouTube about cleaning and cooking them... still didn't try the task with skinning them and or soaking them in buttermilk for a couple of days etc etc etc...

There is a restaurant just south of the Indian River Inlet called Matt's Fish Camp that boasts "Chincoteague Skate" on their menu. Personally... I don't think the name "Chincoteague" to skates, quiet lends it's name the same way it does to oysters. But Matt's Fish Camp is part of the group of SoDel Concepts that has emerged in the last 10 years and pretty much everything they represent has been top notch.

Yummmmmie.... SKATE... it's just not for dinner... it's for.... well, at least not yet.