Soupie and Soupie Imposter

[Kam_Walsh98]

Headed out with Steven again to the same spot. Arrived at about 1:30am and fished the incoming. Conditions were pretty good; minimal salad and mild surf. About an hour or so in Steve hooks up with a piece of surfperch as bait. Wasn't feeling like much at the start but it then started to go on some strong runs. As it gets closer and I wade out to tail it I see its a soupie and the excitement level rises. Steve did a good job helping me land my first surf sevengill a couple weeks ago and I didn't want to screw up on his first surf soupie! It gets within grabbing range and I tail it. A nice 6' soupie! We get to work releasing it as quickly as possible; Steve takes plenty of pictures and gets an official measurement while I unhook it. it goes back and we keep fishing. A couple hours later I hook up into a fish that fought exactly like a large soupie; lots of direction changes and head shakes. Somehow ends up being a decent sized bat. I'm never truly disappointed to catch a nice fish but that one was a bummer. Bat Rays seem to have mixed opinions on this board but I don't mind catching them unless they fight like sharks. I stuck it out a little longer until the sun came up but by that point the surf and salad had gotten worse and there were seals in the water. Had a couple baits get neatly bitten off behind the head too. I usually use single circles because I like how securely they (usually) hook the fish and how easy they are to take out but they do seem to get a lot of missed bites if the fish don't inhale them all the way.  Good session overall and hopefully I'll get another session or two in before I leave for the summer. Tight lines!

Photos are here: https://karenpan.smugmug.com/Soupie-and-Bat/

[Pinoyfisher]

Nice! You guys are the only SD guys having any luck! Keep it up!

[xjchad]

You guys are doing great!
If you use imgur, you can post your pics in the thread.

[vdisney]

Outstanding job guys! Fishing from 1:30 to sunrise......you are dedicated  :)min

[BackBayMan]

Hardcore guys, hardcore