Redondo bat ray
 

I use the hand launch by the sport fishing pier. Well I got going about 7 am and headed for the breakwall. Picked up a small Mack and short calicos c.r.
Targeting halibut I dropped at 50' past the bouy. The line started peeling off fish- on. After a 30 min. fight, I have a big bat Ray along side the Yak. He's belly side up and too big to handle so unhook and he's gone.
Anyone deal with these fish.

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Redondo bat ray
 

Yep
A buddy of mine hooked into one at Newport harbor on 6lb test (we were targeting bass) on accident. We chased that thing around the harbor for 45 minutes before it finally wrapped him up on a concrete mooring

Was a fun and exciting 45 minute fight.

They can be a pain to initially get them off the bottom because they will lay flat on the sand and flutter their wings to cover themselves in sand creating a suction cup effect with the soft bottom. But once you get them off the bottom and get them heading up they can be a fun fish to fight. It's just getting them off the bottom that's the hard part.

Some people eat them but most people don't. The wings are supposed to be edible but I have never wanted to hassle with bringing one aboard to test out that theory.

But they are fun to catch


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Mud Marlins! Super fun to fight.

I really go after bats in the winter months with long rods from the surf and they're fun as heck to catch, but I think I'd hate to have to deal with one from a kayak! A big barbless hook makes the release a lot easier.

Once at Huntington Harbor. It got curious and flashed on my big hammer. I gotta say, it was the most fun I've had on 10lb in a long time. Releasing it was a pain as my buddy, and I struggled to unhook it before it bent my hook straight.