Pier fishing inquiry -- please privately message me!
- Thread starter thesharkymarinebiologist
- Start date
Interesting question and I hope our members respond. I know there have been sporadic reports or large numbers of small bat rays at piers but I would need to do some research in our archives to find the specific piers.
It's one reason I put in the following on my write up of bat rays:
https://www.pierfishing.com/bat-ray/
For some reason Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara sees a lot of small, immature bat rays and they're usually called monkey face rays.
Scientists report that bat rays move into inshore waters to breed during the summer then tend to move offshore in the winter (so guess when they are more likely to be caught from a pier). While inshore, they are sometimes found in large concentrations. At times these bat ray gatherings contain several thousand individuals. The sea bottom holding these creatures must look a little weird and would certainly have a somewhat alien feeling; not sure if it would be more like a black-cloaked Darth Vader convention, a Raider Nation convention, or something even more outlandish (and scary), a political convention.
It's one reason I put in the following on my write up of bat rays:
https://www.pierfishing.com/bat-ray/
For some reason Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara sees a lot of small, immature bat rays and they're usually called monkey face rays.
Scientists report that bat rays move into inshore waters to breed during the summer then tend to move offshore in the winter (so guess when they are more likely to be caught from a pier). While inshore, they are sometimes found in large concentrations. At times these bat ray gatherings contain several thousand individuals. The sea bottom holding these creatures must look a little weird and would certainly have a somewhat alien feeling; not sure if it would be more like a black-cloaked Darth Vader convention, a Raider Nation convention, or something even more outlandish (and scary), a political convention.
Most of the baby bat ray baiters I knew would wait until the mamas birthed their pups and then just set cut bait lines out to capture the little ones. I never used them when I targeted the big cow sharks. Stickleback was a better bait, and in my view, more ethical. I quit fishing for sharks a while back. Not my thing.
nope, graduated and working on publishing a paper. I've seen some that are 6-8 in in wingspan (i don't have a ruler with me when i freedive and it's hard to get an exact measurement haha.) My post meant to say around 6 in or so. Baby bat rays, Myliobatis californica specifically, have a disc width of 8-12 in. at birth.
I took a look at the old Mud Marlin Derby results from Berkeley Pier and the smallest bat rays. It's a fair indication that not too many really small bat rays are caught from that pier (but many large ones).
2002 — One 4-pound fish, 20 inches & two 5-pound fish, 22.5 in. and 18 in.
2003 — No small bat ray
2004 — One 5-pound fish, 20 inches
2005 — One 7-pound fish, 23 inches
2006 — No small bat ray
2007 — No small bat ray
2008 — One 2-pound fish, no length
2009 — No small bat ray
2010 — No small bat ray.
2011 — No small bat ray.
2012 — No small bat ray.
2013 — No small bat ray.
2014 — One 4-pound fish, 12 inches (?)
2015 — No small bat ray.
2002 — One 4-pound fish, 20 inches & two 5-pound fish, 22.5 in. and 18 in.
2003 — No small bat ray
2004 — One 5-pound fish, 20 inches
2005 — One 7-pound fish, 23 inches
2006 — No small bat ray
2007 — No small bat ray
2008 — One 2-pound fish, no length
2009 — No small bat ray
2010 — No small bat ray.
2011 — No small bat ray.
2012 — No small bat ray.
2013 — No small bat ray.
2014 — One 4-pound fish, 12 inches (?)
2015 — No small bat ray.
Okay, I remember once in my over 50 years of fishing SF Bay seeing 1 8inches. I was kid and a guy caught a gravid female near the end of Berkeley Pier that started giving birth on deck. I distinctly remember him throwing back an ejected ray and seeing it swim at the top for a few seconds before it swam off.
I have never seen 1 that small caught on a hook. I held a very small newborn in both hands of about a foot. They are very fast/agile at that age and that is the one and only time that I got stung slightly (1 drop of blood 🩸) from the hundreds of bat rays I’ve caught over the years.
Granted, you do see witness as a diver that you’ll never see from land,
Hats off to you as marine biology 🧪 is something I explored at one time as a career.
I have never seen 1 that small caught on a hook. I held a very small newborn in both hands of about a foot. They are very fast/agile at that age and that is the one and only time that I got stung slightly (1 drop of blood 🩸) from the hundreds of bat rays I’ve caught over the years.
Granted, you do see witness as a diver that you’ll never see from land,
Hats off to you as marine biology 🧪 is something I explored at one time as a career.