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/
Nice! You guys are the only SD guys having any luck! Keep it up!
You guys are doing great!
If you use imgur, you can post your pics in the thread.
Outstanding job guys! Fishing from 1:30 to sunrise......you are dedicated :)min
Hardcore guys, hardcore 8)