Bats out during the day, again!

[Dark_Knight_9C1]

My wife took me to the beach for Valentine's day. We got there about 7:30 with our pop up trailer. It was cold and windy. By the time I made breakfast and we ventured out again the wind had stopped and it was starting to warm up.
I set up our chairs and umbrella, and then got to fishing. I used mackerel and squid to see what worked. Tide was coming in until  10:45 or so. Got one slack line bite which returned a smashed piece of mackerel.  Between 9:30 and 10:30 was when the fish seemed to become active.  First up was a clicker screaming bite. Started hauling it in and seemed like a small batray.  Once I got it towards the beach it made several more drag screaming runs up the beach. About 100 feet down the beach later, I got good size batray to shore.

That one was followed by another bite in which the line went completely slack. I ran over and started cracking in the slack only to crank 5 or 6 times before I felt anything. It finally loaded up with a smaller model batray.  Funny thing was when I threw it back into the wash it kept swimming back up and beaching itself. Must have been confused from the start when it headed for the beach when it got hooked.
Later in the day managed a nice perch on a piece of mackerel. 

At the end of the day while my wife and I watched the sunset I thanked my wife for the great Valentine's day present. 

-Keith

[Latimeria]

My wife took me to the beach for Valentine's day.

That may be the best Valentine's Day I heard yet!


As for the slack line thing.... I can't tell you how many big sharks have done that to me.  Not a nibble, but the line was just laying straight down and I would have to reel in 20 or more yards to catch up with it or where it spit it out.
Thanks for sharing and excellent VDay with us.

[Tim524]

Bat ray on Valentine's Day = 

[sasquatch]

Killer day.

[Dark_Knight_9C1]

My wife had reservations at a Carlsbad beach campground for my Birthday the end of December but it got closed by Covid.  I was hoping for my first toothy shark then.
I'm still trying to beat my daughter's 56" leopard shark.   

I need to make a trip out to the soup kitchen soon.

-Keith

[KogaHead]

My wife took me to the beach for Valentine's day.

That may be the best Valentine's Day I heard yet!


As for the slack line thing.... I can't tell you how many big sharks have done that to me.  Not a nibble, but the line was just laying straight down and I would have to reel in 20 or more yards to catch up with it or where it spit it out.
Thanks for sharing and excellent VDay with us.

You are the luckiest Bastid alive!!!

[jrodda]

Sounds like an awesome day!

[Latimeria]

My wife took me to the beach for Valentine's day.

That may be the best Valentine's Day I heard yet!


As for the slack line thing.... I can't tell you how many big sharks have done that to me.  Not a nibble, but the line was just laying straight down and I would have to reel in 20 or more yards to catch up with it or where it spit it out.
Thanks for sharing and excellent VDay with us.

You are the luckiest Bastid alive!!!

hahahahahaha, I have to find that picture with you and the tiara!

[vdisney]

Bat ray on Valentine's Day = 

That's what I was thinking   

[Dark_Knight_9C1]

Went out Sunday afternoon for a short session.  I managed to find a spot without too many people.  It was tee shirt weather. Waves were maybe 1-2 with some bigger sets. A little salad but manageable.
Since I knew the batrays were there I hooked on some big prime pieces of mackerel and waited. After about a half hour, I saw some tension on one pole so I picked it up to see if some seaweed had caught up on my line. The line slowly started going slack. There was a little wind so I thought it was just the bow from the wind at first. Finally got some tension, on my line and it just felt like the Sputnik doing its job... until it figured out it was hooked and headed out. Definitely felt like a bigger model batray.
I managed to at least turn it parallel to the beach and started to chase it down. 50 yards later I get it close to shore and it made several runs out and moving even further down the beach. This time I didn't follow it. I decided I wanted to turn it so I could get back where my spot was. It finally turned after running down another 25 yards and started heading out deep again.
All this time I'm noticing my drag wasn't running smoothly as it should. I hadn't done my usual maintenance on it since I hadn't used it for a while, so it was doing the bouncy pull.
I finally get it back in front of my spot and it seemed to be loosing steam. I got it into the wash but the waves  were breaking on the shore and the shore was pretty steep. I made several attempts without being able to get it even partially out of the water. By now I had been fighting it for 10 minutes or more. It was tired. I was tired. I waited for the next big set and gave it one last try by holding the line slightly to get the last little bit of tension needed to get it landed.... as you have probably guessed by now the line snapped. It's been a long time since I snapped my line from a fish. I thought I had 40 lb monofilament topper but I later found that I had switched to 30 lb for better casting. 
All I can say is it was a fun fight and I'm glad it happened with a batray and not a good size shark. Now I have my tackle proofed out and I'm ready for the toothy kind.

-Keith

[Latimeria]

It was tired. I was tired. -Keith

Well said! Looks like this might turn out to be a good Saturday Night Bat Fight year after all!

Excellent on the catch.  I used to go bat ray fishing to test out my gear, tackle, casting, and fight all the time.  Definitely brought up my confidence when I hooked the right kind.
Bravo Keith.

[Dark_Knight_9C1]

Went out for another try for batrays Friday sunset. Waves were mostly 1-2, manageable salad, and incoming tide. This time it was very quiet. Not even bait thieves. Last cast after it got dark I thought I saw a bounce on one rod. Ran and picked it up and pulled in a little slack and nothing. Left it set for another 15 and decided to pull it in and found two empty hooks.  At least there was something out there.
Went out for mackerel at Newport jetty on Saturday sunset. It was a h as of hour after  low tide and the water was coming back into the channel.  There was bait hitting the surface everywhere.  Threw out the sabiki and got light taps as soon as it hit the water. Waited for a mackerel size hit but was only getting small taps. I reeled it in to find two 6" mackerel and my sabiki tied in knots. Put a new one on and for the next hour and a half pulled in more small macs and a few big ones.
About a half hour into it the dolphins came in for their fair share. At one point they were circling what was probably a bait ball and diving into the center of it. It was quite exciting to watch as they jumped out of the water and drove into the center. Funny part was they were right in front of me but I kept catching fish.
I managed to get thirty, which only equated to about a half a gallon freezer bag of small ones and half for the few bigger ones.

Question... would you guys use the small ones hole or is it better to cut them in half so the juices come out?

-Keith

[sasquatch]

I would cut the tail off and make several cuts in each side to let out some scent. Or save for catfish bait.

[Dark_Knight_9C1]

Funny you should mention catfish bait. I'm heading to Lake Cachuma next weekend and I was getting the  macs in preparation for some catfish. 

-Keith

[jrodda]

x2 on Steve's suggestion. Good luck at Cachuma! The last cat I caught was over there in August. Might check it out again for crappie this spring.