Went on a carpet ride

[RoyL]

"Went on a carpet ride" Your probably asking your self what the hell that means, and Im pretty sure I would have too until the other night. A few friends of mine who I fish with and I decided to try a new spot after getting some reports in the search for a big sandtiger shark from shore. What we got was something that I have been wanting to land for years now. I have hooked into them on mono and have never been able to get them in, but had been wanting to see if with braid it was a diffrent story. There was 4 of us and kevin had never caught a shark before so he was first up as the first rod went off. The fish was definatly big but fought very odd and not like a shark. After a little while we figured it was either a shark that had wrapped it self in the line or a big ray. Well after a bit it was apparent that it was a ray. A big whiptail stingray that we estamated to close to 200lbs. Because of its size we couldn't beach it so I had to go in and wrestle it. This is where the carpet ride comes in. Just an amazing animal with so much power. It was bad enough trying to keep it from whiping me with its 8" stinger, but trying to turn this beast towards shore was even harder. Im still sore from the work out but worth every bit of sweat to get the pictures we did, so I hope you guys enjoy some of them. It was released in great shape.

[Rob Rockcrawler]

That is awesome. How long of a fight was it. A buddy of mine got a one a while back on block that was over 100 lbs. Gotta be a rush.

[Slingah]

That is pretty cool.. Magic Carpet Ride
sorry for not calling you back last week it was crazy...
see you at MSBA on Wed....

[RoyL]

The fight lasted about 15min....we really put the breaks to it, the hardest part was getting it in the last 20 feet.

No problem Matt, Things had heated up with a few fish over 30lbs, but it's over know.

[Fisherwoman]

RoyL, that is totally AWESOME< cool stuff and great pictures, Congrads to you and your buds!!!

[JohnR]

Wow, cool ride is right

[The Dad Fisherman]

That is awesome.......must have been one hell of a fight.

I'll tell ya..of all the things I've read about, the one that intrigues me the most and is on my must do list, it is the Sharking from shore. One of these days

[ProfessorM]

Roy you never cease to amaze me with your fishing skills. Nice catch.

[Mike P]

A "Magic Carpet Ride" is what happens when you step on a big ray while wading.

[bart]

i don't think i'd wanna go in and wrestle one of those things

[Saltheart]

wow , that's a big one.

[american spirit]

weren't you scared of dying steve irwin style????

Originally Posted by RoyL

"Went on a carpet ride" Your probably asking your self what the hell that means, and Im pretty sure I would have too until the other night. A few friends of mine who I fish with and I decided to try a new spot after getting some reports in the search for a big sandtiger shark from shore. What we got was something that I have been wanting to land for years now. I have hooked into them on mono and have never been able to get them in, but had been wanting to see if with braid it was a diffrent story. There was 4 of us and kevin had never caught a shark before so he was first up as the first rod went off. The fish was definatly big but fought very odd and not like a shark. After a little while we figured it was either a shark that had wrapped it self in the line or a big ray. Well after a bit it was apparent that it was a ray. A big whiptail stingray that we estamated to close to 200lbs. Because of its size we couldn't beach it so I had to go in and wrestle it. This is where the carpet ride comes in. Just an amazing animal with so much power. It was bad enough trying to keep it from whiping me with its 8" stinger, but trying to turn this beast towards shore was even harder. Im still sore from the work out but worth every bit of sweat to get the pictures we did, so I hope you guys enjoy some of them. It was released in great shape.

[johnny ducketts]

Nice Roughtail Stingray

[The Iceman 6]

As usual, great report Roy L

[Rockport24]

freakin' unreal Roy!! keep this stuff coming!

I would have liked to see that in an episode of OTW! although your shark episode was pretty cool...

[Moses]

You truly are f'n nuts!!!!

[davisd]

Hopefully we will hear the story at Weds night meeating of the MSBA,
can't wait

[RoyL]

Originally Posted by davisd

Hopefully we will hear the story at Weds night meeating of the MSBA,
can't wait

Im actually adding it to my presentation on Wed night.......this year im going to be showing some Sponge Bob videos should be good night for laughs.

Thanks guys, It was a great night with friends and a little danger involved. You got to love NE fishing. It has a lot to offer if you know where to look.

[Fish_Eye]

Roy,

Nicely done! I filmed some monster rays off Block Island last week -- 10' long and over 3' thick.

When I got too close to one of them it demonstrated its ability to drive a barb into anything or anyone that made the mistake of being directly above it. That particular ray had a stubby tail (no doubt eaten by some shark) yet it still had the leverage with a short tail to whip its barb equipped ‘bat’ over its back in an instant.

Another equally large ray, but with a full tail, gave an interesting defensive display that had "Don't mess with me" spelled out in unmistakable body language. It lifted its tail straight up with a slight bend at the tip and then maneuvered the tail around just like the spaceships in “War of the Worlds”...it almost seemed as if the tail had a mind of its own. I’ll probably put together a short YouTube video showcasing the rays...stay tuned.

[MarshCappa]

Dude you are sick(in a good way)! You need to have your own show on the tube. "Monsters of the Northeast"

[RoyL]

Originally Posted by Fish_Eye

Roy,

Nicely done! I filmed some monster rays off Block Island last week -- 10' long and over 3' thick.

When I got too close to one of them it demonstrated its ability to drive a barb into anything or anyone that made the mistake of being directly above it. That particular ray had a stubby tail (no doubt eaten by some shark) yet it still had the leverage with a short tail to whip its barb equipped ‘bat’ over its back in an instant.

Another equally large ray, but with a full tail, gave an interesting defensive display that had "Don't mess with me" spelled out in unmistakable body language. It lifted its tail straight up with a slight bend at the tip and then maneuvered the tail around just like the spaceships in “War of the Worlds”...it almost seemed as if the tail had a mind of its own. I’ll probably put together a short YouTube video showcasing the rays...stay tuned.

Thats awsome mike, I had the same reaction from that one. I was very surprised that it felt more comfortable it seemed trying to defend it's self in a scorpion manner over the top then whiping it's tail from side to side. The tail alone with it's small spikes was enough to harm anyone with one good whip let alone the 8"spike if I had not had gloves there would have been no way I could have held on to it's tail. Now I just hopping that a few small hammerheads are following these up this way since it's highly on there diets as well as many other sharks...........

[Raven]

my oldest brother Bob told me this story
and he swears it's absolutely true

he and a bunch of crazies were jumping off
this bridge and he was the last one to go

he finally got up the nerve as it was a long
drop and he JUMPED....

Only to see this huge ray suddenly appear
right below him just as he was hitting the water

He said it scared the life out of him
but luckilly nothing bad happened .