Are Stingrays Legal Gamefish?
 

New to saltwater fishing and lord knows I would just assume be no where near them but if you catch a stingray can you keep it? I can find no regulations on them. I've seen videos of people cleaning them and see that a 185lb one is possibly a new state record for us. This may be a stupid question but I would rather be safe than sorry. I definitely don't want to be giving the state anymore of my money via fines.lol

No season or limit. Have fun!

What are you going to do with a sting ray

Don't tell Duck Butter there is no limit on sting rays.

Next you know they'll be proposing a limit of 5 and a minimum size of 18" (sexual maturity.)

After all, true conservationists will want to get ahead of this thing.

Where's the CCA? Doesn't that stand for the Coastal CONSERVATION Association?

Lmao

It's the smart thing to do MathGeek

LMAO @ MG

I ate it before... actually not bad

FRY DAT!! Anything out of a deep fryer is a culinary masterpiece.

Sorry if it was a stupid question. Have seen videos of people cleaning and cookig them and they say they good eats. Just wanted to be sure we could keep em. Minus the tail of course.

definitely not a dumb question...

I've heard that the meat is good, but I haven't figured out how to safely get one into the boat and into the ice chest, much less cleaning the thing. The risk/reward thing is all wrong in my mind. We cut the line and don't mess with 'em.

(Don't tell CCA, they'll pass a law making us unhook and release them without the cruel lip piercings.)

Funny post!! :thumbup:

MathGeek is on the Warpath today! And I like it!

I've caught a couple in the lake but didn't keep. Cut the line and threw it back. Don't wanna be the next Steve Irwin.

If we catch one I was planning on using the rod to hold his tail down and do a one swing surgery with a sharp machete. Rednecks doing things for the first time can be quite entertaining.lol

Net it. Through it in the ice chest and close it. Cut the line and continue fishing. Then when you get home and cook it let use know how it's comes out. I pretty curious on how it taste.

Use a cookie cutter and cook the steaks like you would scallops

How are you going to target stingrays?

Ask the guy from river monsters, he catches the crud out of em

Im curious as to what they taste like. Enough garlic will make almost anything edible. Even if ya just lick the garlic off of it.lol

There's not a big trick to it. We've always caught then with finger mullet on the beach while fishing for trout.

Wasn't targeting them. It was more of a "what if" question. Don't know enough to target anything yet.

Guys! Please be carefull with these damn things! I've fished approx. 29-30yrs and finally got popped about 5 yrs ago in the index finger trying to cut a hook out of ones underside for a friend. Well it didn't turn out soo well. That sucker went Houdini on me and stuck me in away I never thought possible he could have.
It was some of the most agonizing pain I've ever felt for about 2 hrs straight. And I do pretty damn well with pain in general!
They get nose and mouth rings from here on out in my boat!

Here is the one Big Kahunaz caught during the salty tournament last weekend. Cut dat line! We almost brought it in for trash fish lol

wait...dont let the CCA see that comment

or it will be the SMART thing to do!!!:work:

Catch 'em all the time when fishing the ship channel and always thought about trying to cook one myself. Wasnt sure on reg.'s also so never kept them. Couple years ago my dad caught one in the jetties that took a little over an hour to bring in. It was the size of my front deck on my old kenner. There should be pics of it in my albums on here. First thing dad said was "you not planning on putting dat in the boat? thats what got Steve Irwin!!" I said hell no!! got some good pics and cut her loose.


Sent from an Apple Tree..

Here is the one my dad caught...Im sure there would have been plenty of meat on this dude...for some reason I just thing of how some sharks are bad to eat when thinking of eating some stingray??!!

Saw these guys at Cajun fast mart a few weeks ago.
Attachment 54272

I dont know how you get those in the boat...

Speargun.

.38 and a gaff

They shot those. When you eat scallops in a restaurant, there's a good chance you're eating stingray

105# and 163# in that pic at Cajun fast mart.

Are y'all sure it's legal to shoot a fish that's been brought alongside of the boat with hook and line?

That would certainly be the preferable way to do it. Finding a safe shot angle is easy enough in the places we fish, but we are almost always in a location where a gunshot will be widely heard and may well be reported. I'd hate to have a fish with a gunshot wound in the ice chest if that method of finishing them off is frowned upon by the law!

Anytime I catch a ray, I just grab the barb with a pair of pliers and break it off before i do anything with it. That way it's safe to handle.

Stick with what you know man, stick with what you know:)

Lots of people shoot them to kill them. I don't think it's against the law.

Sorry they shot them diving with a speargun, guess i should have said that

We have trimmed the meat out of the wings, fried and actually enjoyed quite a bit. Stingray doesn't taste bad at all. The worst tasting fish in Saltwater is a hard head to me. I haven't tasted bluefish, Jack Crevalle, Bonita or Banana fish, and they might give hardheads a run for their money.

They are really easy to subdue without having to cut your line. I carry a tuna stick in my boat. It is a rod about 14" long with a nice handle on it. I got it from Bass Pro. I believe it is called Tuna Tamer or something. I use it to whack hard heads. Anyway, I lay the stinkray against the side of the boat (outside) by holding the line way up from it's head. Swing that stick and hit it real hard right between the eyes. Kills that sucker cold. You could then use pliers to take the hook out. You could chop the tail off at that point and keep it.

Thanks. That provides specifics of a manageable and low risk procedure.

I cut the business end off a a broken wooden baseball bat. drilled a hole in it and put a cord. it will make them peaceful with one hit.