Big mama bat.

Gonna tag back in here briefly to say that this whole thing is badass. Congrats!!

Done via PayPal. I tacked on a bit for shipping, and included my address in the note. Lemme know if you need anything else.

Thanks

1 XL short sleeve no pocket
Some bat rays if possible, and shipping to TX.

Do catfish or gar count for scoring?

I thought you'd like that. 

KenT informs me that it's more likely a guadalupe bass, not a SMB.

Christina and I headed over to Dinosaur Valley State Park here in Texas, which sits astride the Paluxy River.







DVSP's major claim to fame is the plethora of preserved dinosaur prints found throughout the limestone riverbed. There are two kinds of tracks, some from Acrocanthosaurs (like a small T-rex) which are shown below. There are also some from Sauroposeidon (a small apatosaur) but these prints look mostly like round depressions in the mud, so they didn't photo well.









The Paluxy river's other claim to fame (or at least my source of interest) was as an excellent bass fishing river, especially for wading and fly fishing. I still can't get bass to go on topwater, but the chartreuse bugger was slaying them this morning. I actually didn't catch the target species -- largemouth bass. I'm trying to improve on my PB 14", and didn't manage that this trip. But, I did catch three new species, so I'm pretty thrilled with how the day went.

First up was this handsome fellow, which looks like a LMB, but I think is actually a kentucky spotted bass (mouth does not reach past eye). Unexpected, but not at all unwelcome.



Next up were a few sunfish -- these I think are longear sunfish, but they're much lighter in color than any other I've seen. The limestone river bottom may contribute to that.





Next up was the highlight of the day for me -- the biggest fish I caught and my first smallmouth!





I hooked and lost a few more smallish bass as I worked back down the river. Interestingly, most of my fish were hooked on a second cast -- the fish would follow my prospecting casts back in, and once I saw them they would hit a second cast of the same fly in their vicinity -- that's the opposite of how it's supposed to work, but I'll take it. 

As we headed out to lunch, I stopped by a bush and landed another longear, though this one had a much darker color scheme.



For lunch we hit a local barbecue joint, which was delightful.



Afterwards, we headed back to the river. Unfortunately, the water temp, which was 75F in the morning had risen to near 90F by 2:00, and I think that really suppressed the bite. I was still seeing fish, but they weren't hitting the fly anymore, and I didn't catch any more bass.

Quote from: lamnidae on March 27, 2016, 12:23:42 AM
Nothing to report for us but building another raging fire. As we were packing up, a fellow PS'er, whose name eludes me, caught a smaller model Bat. I helped with the sandhand duty but it really wasn't needed. Didn't know he was a PS'er until after. Cute little Ray in the high 20 to low 30 range.
Whatever was molesting the baits weren't big enough to get the whole bait. Little things are out there. DeAnza is starting to get a vibrant green algae out there.
Better luck ,next time. Paying more dues.

Present. Good meeting you.

Had a few more short runs after that, landed one horn shark.

If you guys were curious about how late you can stay in that lot -- the tow trucks showed up around 12:45 and had someone (not me) up on the bed by 12:50.

Hell yeah.

Hopefully they stick around through this next batch of swell.

6-10 foot surf predicted at the bat cave next Saturday. Combat fishing! Who's with me?!

No whining about bouys allowed anymore.

Thanks to Tom and Steve for having us down. We had a great time meeting everyone and hanging out. Always nice to see bats on the sand.

You could also be Miami, but that would make us Cleveland. 

Quote from: Latimeria on February 19, 2015, 06:55:06 AM

Quote from: SevengillTheVC on February 18, 2015, 11:25:00 PM
Very nice Tom! But Ray's 94"er was a brute of a male, but the size guesstimates on mine look correct lol. Good idea on this list!

I'll go back and change that.  I was trying to use any information provided in the posts and seeing if I saw claspers or not.  I didn't see them in Ray's Pic, but I'm glad you let me know so I could correct that.  I also pulled old tide charts and moon phase charts to get the correct info for those days that a shark was caught.

It took me some time to get it all together, but should be easier from here on out.

Squatch, I added baits since inevitably Donfish will get one using squid or sardine... or something.  LOL  Actually a few of those you caught were on bonito, so I need to change that also.

I'm pretty sure the two he got last year were on squid.

Hoping to add my name to this list ... eventually.

Quote from: vdisney on February 15, 2015, 03:51:50 PM

Quote from: Glitchmo on February 15, 2015, 01:18:11 PM
I'm still upset that I lost mine.  I suppose that's what I get for fishing alone, with two rods, on a rocky beach, in the dark. 

Next time Ryan I will fish wherever you do, I still feel bad you down there alone.  Hopefully we'll hit it next week.............V

Meh. It was my call, and I'm glad I did. I haven't pulled on a big one in a long time. It felt good.

Not sure when I'll be able to get out again. Work is work.

I'm still upset that I lost mine. It felt big -- high 40s or into the 50s. But then it got twisted with my second rod, and took off down the beach. I think I let it get too much angle -- follow your fish!

I suppose that's what I get for fishing alone, with two rods, on a rocky beach, in the dark. 

I did rally with a 44" leopard to beat the skunk, though, so at least that happened.

Grat's to Ramon for landing his. I think those spots are starting to heat up.

Because I was bored.



Fitting Tom's data to the usual formula

(Weight = A * X ^ B). X is the length (or in this case width over the top) and A and B are constants and B is ~3.

The weight of a ray is .00053 * Measured Wingspan ^ 3.09.
So A = .00053 and B is 3.0915.

If you don't feel like raising things to the 3.09, you can use B = 3, but then A is .000638. These values tend to overestimate the weight at the higher end.

Plotted is the original data and the fitted data (Solver). Fit looks pretty good to me.