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I had an experience on Wednesday 6th July that is worth relating.

I have had to fish in the Ohiwa harbour almost exclusively for the last couple of months due to on-going bad weather leaving the sea very rough. 

There are a lot of sting rays in the Ohiwa harbour at times. I have caught  are 2 varieties, Short tail and Eagle rays. Eagle rays are more numerous and can be spectacular to catch. They will leap from the water – and they put up a massive fight. Short tails just tend to stick to the bottom and can be almost impossible to move.

I was fishing at night – about 8pm – and all of a sudden my reel started to scream, and there was no prize for guessing that I had hooked an Eagle ray. It took about 300 metres of line – I wound in most of that in and off it went again – and this was repeated over and over.

Kayak fishers I have met tell me that they will cut the line quickly with these beasts because they pull so hard you either loose a reel full of line  – or if you can apply enough drag to stop these things you can capsize your kayak easily.

I wanted to get this fish to the W500 –initially because I didn’t want to lose all my line. and later because I just wanted to see how big it was.

It took me about 1-1/2 hours to get it to the kayak. I had my cell phone with me and tried to get some photos, but because it was so dark, and I was holding the line with one hand to hold the rays head at the surface of the water, it was very difficult. I only really got head shots of the thing.
This fish was much more than a metre across and this link will give you an idea of what these things can weigh
http://www.fishingmag.co.nz/surfcasting-raglan-ray-kingfish.htm
http://www.fishingmag.co.nz/surfcasting-nelson-eagle-ray.htm

I would guess that the one I caught was well over 50kgs, and I didn’t give the stability of the W500 a thought even when I had it alongside and was holding its head up so I could get a photo.

As a matter of interest, I was using and Emmrod Kayak King rod with a 6 coil tip.

Dennis,
Whakatane, New Zealand