A Dang Manta Ray - 3/24/08

[Uncle Buck]

Took my step-father and a family friend out fishing yesterday off Boynton Beach, FL. (Monday 3/24/08) Stiff, cold, wet, NW winds were on the menu, but the seas stayed fairly calm inside of 2 miles. Tried getting some of the big sardines that were boiling in the 40-70ft range, and then tried for some bonito that seemed to be nearly jumping into the boat... but no takers on either species. So we set up our drift. Nothing. Moved. Nothing. Moved again. Nothing. Even tried on the 50ft dive reef for some grunts... nothing. Had a live blue runner on the surface for over 2 hours. Nothing. It was just a terrible bite that day.

After 2-1/2 hours, my step dad finally snagged a small kingfish on the flatline. Released. 30 minutes later, our friend sees something swim by and says, "is that a stingray?" I immediately think COBIA! And suddenly his line starts zinging off the reel. As I'm quickly clearing a few of the lines, I see a manta ray launch 10ft in the air doing cartwheels about 50ft from the boat! Hmmm... that didn't look right. Is it? ...oh no...NO! My thoughts of cobia dinner vanished when I realized the manta had gotten snagged as it swam by our friend's line.

Well... about 20 minutes later, we finally chased the manta down and got it to the boat. It had about a 3-1/2 foot wingspan. I grabbed it by a fin and dislodged the hook while it was still in the water. It also looked like it had a #6 sibiki hook imbedded in the top of its mouth, but it was partially grown-over, and I didn't want to hurt the manta by trying to remove it. I sent the little feller on his way. Pretty cool to see one up close like that.

[livin once]

If all fish in the ocean could pull like a ray/skate, we would all need bigger gear. Thanks for the post, story and photos.

[WAHOONBOX]

GREAT JOB ON THE RELEASE......COOL PICS AND ANOTHER COOL STORY!

SORT OF ODD ALL THE RAY STORIES THAT HAVE HIT THE NEWS LATELY DON'T YA THINK

[Finesse]

Uncle Buck .... Real nice on getting that ray back to the wild
They are pretty neat creatures, even more fun to swim with and watch from underwater !!!

[hotshot1]

Still a very nice adventure, I have swam with Mantas before but never caught one

[Uncle Buck]

I am 100% committed to releasing creatures that I do not wanna eat. It would have been really neat to drag that Manta up onto the gunnel for some glamour shots... but I chose the higher road. I'll tell ya... the brief sight of that manta going skyward was fantasic, and is etched into my memory.

By far, the most interesting creature to have been caught aboard my boat.

[Nauti Natured]

Crazy .... I caught a skate once while tarpon fishing in FL and could not believe how hard those things pull. I couldnt imagine a Manta