Hooked a Stingray - What Now?

[TimmyT140]

What do you guys do when you hook a stingray? I hooked one today out in the yak, they just make me nervous. I had a carolina rig on, I just held him up and cut the line above the hook. I figger I got plenty of hooks, he can have that one... he was whipping that tail all over the place.

[yell0wcat]

What do you guys do when you hook a stingray? I hooked one today out in the yak, they just make me nervous. I had a carolina rig on, I just held him up and cut the line above the hook. I figger I got plenty of hooks, he can have that one... he was whipping that tail all over the place.

Haha. Turn them upside down tail pointing away from you and you can remove hook easier. You can put your foot over there tail if you like to hold it still but they really are not very a aggressive with there stinger. In my experience

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[Neumie]

I cut the line as well.

[Jigawatt]

I've been handling stingrays for years. I unhook stingrays, but I understand why others don't. A mishap would be a major interruption to life. The thing you need to understand about stingrays, they stick you like a scorpion. Not many people know this, but stingrays can arch their backs and stick a person standing at the ray's nose. Always position the stingray so that you are behind the ray. The best way to safely unhook a ray (without disarming it by filleting off the stinger with a swipe of a knife) is to flip the ray onto it's back. The tail doesn't bend under the ray. That's how I unhook a ray in my kayak. I roll the ray over in the water, then slide it into my lap upside down while holding the tail at the barb with one hand, and unhooking it with the other. The tail of the ray is over the side. When I'm done unhooking it, I slide the ray back into the water. The tail is the last thing I let go. If you aren't comfortable with this (or aren't crazy enough to try), cut the line.

By the way, stingrays are very good eating. I fillet the stinger from the tail, then slide the ray into my cooler. At home, I slice the skin along the top of the wing near the spine, then fillet the meat from the top of the wing by slicing down the wing away from the spine. Then roll the ray over and fillet the bottom of the wing. The ray wings have cartilage that separates the top meat from the bottom meat. The meat of the ray is stiffer than typical fish, and tastes a bit like scallops.

[kickingback]

Yeah they make great snack bites on a pier when someone lands a big one and wants to cook it up. Did it once at a pier I fished when i was little.
Easy to unhook a ray. Take your time and think about what was posted above. Some people cut the "barb" off the tail before letting them go. Not sure what the ramifications are for the ray after he loses his stinger but I would think it would not hurt them. It is made for protection I thought and the worst that will happen is it will get eaten easier by other fish since it cannot protect itself with the barb.
I just let them go as they are. They are part of the eco system so I don't like harming any fish I don't plan on eating.

[LOOKN4REDS]

Several professional snake handlers are bitten every year. Can you unhook a ray...yes. Can you unhook a shark...yes. Make a mistake and you are NOT going to have a pleasant day. Go ahead and get a release on a big ray and a big shark get it all out of your system and then you can get back to catching fish.

[Zackthefisherman]

I'm not trying to hijack this thread but this post brings up another question. What would you do if you catch a Stingray while wade fishing? I don't get to fish the salt as much as I would like but I have caught a few Stingrays over the years. Like others, I will just take a loss and cut the line. With that said, it seems that wading with a Stingray on the end of the line would create a hairy situation.

[TimmyT140]

Do they have two barbs? One at the base of the tail and one on the tail itself? I guess I could have examined more closely yesterday, but I seem to go into some kind of freakout zone when I catch one.

[Grier_M]

I learned this from a marine biologist a bit back and he said that you just flip them on there back and put a wet towel down while you take the hook out


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[Yaklash]

Do they have two barbs? One at the base of the tail and one on the tail itself? I guess I could have examined more closely yesterday, but I seem to go into some kind of freakout zone when I catch one.

Just one.

It is very difficult for a stingray to stick you without being pinned to the bottom by your foot - no leverage. Doesn't mean they can't. Turn them on their back if in a boat or kayak, or if wading, grab the tail near the barb with your pliers, grip down hard and then try to get the hook out with your other hand. They have tiny mouths, so it's rarely inside the mouth.

[Mulligan]

Stingray has one barb. The tail is longer than the barb and the bar is in a way "hidden" under the tail. So when you use pliers to hold the tail, make sure you pinch the barb with the tail and not just the tip of the tail.

Whether I'm wade fishing or from kayak, I always catch sting rays since I use live bait 99% of the time.

What I do is carry two needle nose pliers. I use the first one to hold/pinch the barb end of the ray's tail. I grip that tight so it doesn't slip. Keep the ray inverted (tail end up) while I unhook it. Sometimes they swallow the hook and their skin is pretty rubbery so sometimes it's very hard to unhook it. So that's when the second pliers comes in handy. Once you hold it from the barb/tail, you can hug it, kiss it, or whatever you wanna do with it as it does no harm to you.

Here's my thought on "cutting the line". I feel it's my responsibility to unhook what I hooked. I don't believe the hook "falls off on its own" as some people state. If it does, it may take a while and I'm not comfortable with that. This goes for sharks also. I will unhook them as I feel responsible. That's just my feeling about it.