Biggest Sting Ray I Have Ever Seen, and CAUGHT!

That is an absolutely huge. A few years aggo we saw thiousands of cow nose rays out in the Chicken and none of the ones we saw came close to that size. Anyone have any idea what kind of ray that is?

Beautiful creature, insane how big they can get. Great effort landing it. That's some accomplishment.

Dakota

[beachbunker732]

I'm still trying to figure out the species.. I don't even know what to search other than "short tail sting ray"... and as luck would have it, there's already a species that is called the short-tail stingray, so my research is getting me no where, as this is not a short-tail, it just has a short tail :|

Originally Posted by dakota560

That is an absolutely huge. A few years aggo we saw thiousands of cow nose rays out in the Chicken and none of the ones we saw came close to that size. Anyone have any idea what kind of ray that is?

Beautiful creature, insane how big they can get. Great effort landing it. That's some accomplishment.

Dakota

[Garone Custom Rods]

Awesome fish man!

[tjd24]

Your pic was driving my crazy. Had to find species.
Looks like a Smooth Butterfly Ray.
Good job on a great catch & release.

[beachbunker732]

I think you're right, that looks just like it! But... I keep reading that their maximum wing span is around 3-4 feet... If that's the case, could mine, absolutely shattering those estimates at 7', have been a world record Smooth Butterfly Ray!?!

Originally Posted by tjd24

Your pic was driving my crazy. Had to find species.
Looks like a Smooth Butterfly Ray.
Good job on a great catch & release.

[tjd24]

That's 3-4 feet per lobe. Meaning 6 to 8 feet total. They call it Disc Width.
Check out www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gallery/SmoothbflyRay they show pics of some big ones.

[beachbunker732]

Gotcha. Thank you! Still, this thing was surely reaching it's maximum size!!

Originally Posted by tjd24

That's 3-4 feet per lobe. Meaning 6 to 8 feet total. They call it Disc Width.
Check out www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gallery/SmoothbflyRay they show pics of some big ones.

[tjd24]

I agree. They don't much bigger than that one.
Well done.

[lunkertaker]

Ya just never know what is lurking in the surf.

Nice catch and remarkable landing...and assuming subsequent release?

Great pics.

[kurtisb]

My daughter caught one of those in Maryland last month on a bucktail. It wasn't nearly as big, maybe 5 feet across. My grand daughter hooked a cow nose ray on the same trip, I ended up bringing it to the boat. It is an adrenaline rush when you hook up with one of those things.