I have noticed that a number of the chaps reading the South African posts have taken a keen interest in the variety of Rays that we target. I thought I would share with the forum the Royals Royce of them all!

We target a species in SA commonly known as the Black Ray or Black Stingray. They go under a number of alternate names less flattering, but only after them have managed to smash gears, empty reels or part line after noteworthy battles.

Its every big shark fishermans dream to hook into one of these monsters, it’s even a bigger ambition to land one. They have a firm reputation as one of the hardest fighting fish in the ocean. The strength of these rays seems alomst endless and the entire battle they move with slow powerful determination…to top it all off they are the most dirty fighters you will ever come across. In the final stages of any fight the Black Ray will dive for any cover they can find!

The fishermen along the Southern Cape have managed to tame a number of these beasts over the years, but this past Winter they hit the bonus…big time! Along the East Coast, where I fish, Cape St Francis is home to many Balckrays and we tangle with these giants on a regular basis. For our sins the location is rocky and there are many ledges and rock pinnacles to contend with. Although a good many Blackrays have been caught, they would never size up the the monster flatties of the Southern Cape!

The fish pictured were caught over a 4 month period. They were all taken on Rock and Surf tackle. Rods vary from 9 – 10 oz tips, Shimano Trinidad reels, casted sinkers using the non-return clip, line diameters of between .55 – .65mm and 10/0 – 12/0 hooks.

[b]First of the Winter Giants[/b]

[b]Second of the Winter Giants[/b]

[b]Third of the Winter Giants [color=red](630 lbs)[/b][/color]

I have not landed a Blackray yet, but it’s number one on my HIT LIST!

Regards,

[color=blue][b]Trophy (aka Brett Harris)[/b][/color]

The Sealine Lorranine Social Gang left arrangements very late this last week and by last night we were still on about where to go and whirl a rod.

The Brighton Pier seemed out of the question as it seemed every man and his dog had seen the activity of recent weeks and was planning to fish the spot. In hindsight I sometimes think back to Noweeds post, “Do we shoot ourselves in the Foot”?

Anyway…with scatty last minute arrangements it was now decided to fish the St Francis as we had not ventured down there since our last Winter sessions when we hunted in vain for the giant Black Ryas which frequent the area.

The venue choice meant that guys like KT, neilg and others could not make as they had commitments later in the day in PE. For others like Mango, Aqua and Roland30 is was just to short notice!!

Getting up at 3am I soon stopped and picked up Havoc, Albatross and Son and the four of us were off the hunt some big nunu’s at St Francis. The drive there was quick and were in the parking 04H45 and just in time to see the sun starting to rise.

The easterly winds have been blowing strongly in the area and the sea was full and large…biggest Ive ever see. There was a low wet mist everywhere and for a moment I thought we would get a bit wet at some point in the morning. The water was ice cold and for a minute I thought I was back in CT chasing Cow Sharks along the West Coast!

The walk to the point was bad…first of the season is always the worst. Getting onto the spot we wasted no time in getting some lines into the water. Havoc sporting his new rod wasted no time in getting his line setup. We had a great spread of baits in the water which included Yellow Tail, Horse Makkies, Bonito, and Chokka Tubes.

We did not have to wait long and I was busing sliding my second rod when I got a nice hurd pull and the reel took off on the first rod. I set the hooks and held onto what felt like a very good fish! The Raggie came in very qucickly and then did the typical hard fighting right off the front ledge area. In the process I managed to tangle with my second rod and line and there were a few tense monents until thank Neptune the other rods line brunt off and I was able to land my catch in the RHS gulley.

Albatross and Havoc got hold of what was a lovely, big and fat female Raggie. In not time at all we have the hooks removed, pics take right at the water and had her sent back and swimming strongly to fight another day!

It all went very very dead after this inital madness. Albatross Jnr hooked and landed a Smooth Hound which had got itself in a complete mess and tangled in the slide rig steel and leader. Albatross later slide out the head and guts, but had no takers.

This bit is just for TEAM GP! (*Wink*)

Well because we have not kept up to date with alternative fishing skills we all took along our SCRATCHING and FLICK sticks. We thought we would start brushing up on these skills as we may well need them to compete at next years Birthday Bash! Ha Ha…Heee Heee!?!

We got so into the Blacktail and Streepies that we never heard or saw Havocs rod getting a bite. By the time he got to the rod there was alot of line out and about. When he lifted and set the hooks the Nunu was already right over the top of one of the many reefs and the line parted!

On the bell at 12 while we were packing up my reel took off a at serious pace, but then dropped the rig before I could get to the rod. After reeling in, it was clear to ee a nunu had bitten the Horese Makkie body in half just missing the bottom hook…next time!

All in all still a great day…the black tail were savage!!

Regards,

Trophy