Flying Rays

[ronaultmtd]

Fished the lower western shore in St Mary’s County yesterday...had a interesting encounter with flying rays...launched in the dusky dark of pre-dawn, lots of grass mats coming out of the launch...had to pull my Mirage Drive several times to clean the mat of grass...get out to fishing grounds and start tossing top water...still a good 15-20 minutes before sunrise...big explosion of water near my kayak gets my undivided attention...then I see commotion in the water...big swirls. Then out of the water comes a fifty-pound Cow Nose Ray leaping up in the air...not me! Off those flats as fast as I could pedal! Did not want a ray jumping in the cockpit! So I had the irritation of lots of loose floating grass and an abundance of CNRs to contend with, but...big but...it was my absolute best day fishing of 2020 to date...it was an epic catching and release day I will cherish...Flying rays, who would have thought?

[HJS]

Dang.... I've seen jumping rays on nature programs, big ones too. But never have I seen them anywhere in the Bay. I'da gotten outta there too...only bad things will happen. Only thing worse would have been kayaking in the middle of a herd of whales coming up to feed in herring on the surface with mouths wide open. That spooks the heck outta me just watching that. Wonder if that how Jonah got swallowed by a whale.

[ronaultmtd]

They must be mating...chasing each other round and round...breaching...

[john from md]

It seems like the scientists don't know why they jump but they sure do. This video would be a Chesapeake fisherman's worse nightmare.

https://www.spotmydive.com/en/news/w...r-scuba-diving