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If you're a tree hugging, anti-violence hippy or squeamish about blood, stop reading now.
I launched late afternoon thinking I had the perfect conditions. 3 mph winds. The Bay looked like a lake. Haven't had a day like this in awhile. I was going to have a great day, right?
Well, I didn't have a boring day. About an hour into trolling I slowed down to adjust the fish finder. As soon as the kayak dropped down to 1mph or so, my right poll bent violently and drag started to burn. No head jerks, just a dead pull. This wasn't the big striper I was looking for, but rather the dreaded Cow-nosed Ray. I had planned for this. This past winter, I decided to carry a 6" Buck knife in my yak with me so when the rays attack, I could try a recipe that my friend has for their wings. After a fairly long battle that was shortened significantly by the ray swimming straight towards me for about 40 feet, I finally get the ray to the side of my kayak and see that my lure, a 5" Windcheater Bomber, was lodged in one of the its wings. As soon as it surfaced, it flapped it's wings and soaked me. I tired it out some, got it close to the yak and stabbed it near it's head. The blade went all the way through. The ray was none too happy. It dove deep and nearly yanked me out of my seat. A few seconds later, it was at the side of the yak again, and again my knife struck. Now it was gushing blood from two places. Surely the battle was nearly over, right? 10 minutes later and a dozen stab wounds later, I'm still at it. The ray would dive, come back up, and I'd stab. Only now, it's tail was whipping into the kayak. Me no likey. I wanted to get it into the boat, but I wanted it dead first. The ray didn't get the memo. Finally, it gave me a clear shot to end it. I raised the blade one last time, it twisted and shook and threw the hook!
I felt awful. The ray was able to swim away, but there was no way it would survive. I fished in the same area until sunset hoping it would float, but it never did. Moral of the story is, rays and kayak fishing don't mix, even if you have a big knife on board. At least not for me.
I launched late afternoon thinking I had the perfect conditions. 3 mph winds. The Bay looked like a lake. Haven't had a day like this in awhile. I was going to have a great day, right?
Well, I didn't have a boring day. About an hour into trolling I slowed down to adjust the fish finder. As soon as the kayak dropped down to 1mph or so, my right poll bent violently and drag started to burn. No head jerks, just a dead pull. This wasn't the big striper I was looking for, but rather the dreaded Cow-nosed Ray. I had planned for this. This past winter, I decided to carry a 6" Buck knife in my yak with me so when the rays attack, I could try a recipe that my friend has for their wings. After a fairly long battle that was shortened significantly by the ray swimming straight towards me for about 40 feet, I finally get the ray to the side of my kayak and see that my lure, a 5" Windcheater Bomber, was lodged in one of the its wings. As soon as it surfaced, it flapped it's wings and soaked me. I tired it out some, got it close to the yak and stabbed it near it's head. The blade went all the way through. The ray was none too happy. It dove deep and nearly yanked me out of my seat. A few seconds later, it was at the side of the yak again, and again my knife struck. Now it was gushing blood from two places. Surely the battle was nearly over, right? 10 minutes later and a dozen stab wounds later, I'm still at it. The ray would dive, come back up, and I'd stab. Only now, it's tail was whipping into the kayak. Me no likey. I wanted to get it into the boat, but I wanted it dead first. The ray didn't get the memo. Finally, it gave me a clear shot to end it. I raised the blade one last time, it twisted and shook and threw the hook!
I felt awful. The ray was able to swim away, but there was no way it would survive. I fished in the same area until sunset hoping it would float, but it never did. Moral of the story is, rays and kayak fishing don't mix, even if you have a big knife on board. At least not for me.
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