Nik and Bob went stingray fishing off the coast of Africa in Guinea-Bissau.
Most anglers would prefer to avoid catching a stingray due to the obvious danger in terms of the often lethal, poison covered, serrated barb at the base of a stingray’s tail. Stingrays do not use this to attack; they only use it for defence.
They do however put up an incredible fight as they are incredibly strong and are able to suck on the bottom to resist the pressure of the line. However Nik did describe the fight as “more like reeling in a pool table!”
Below is a picture of the 550lb beauty that Nik managed to reel in…
A 550lb Stingray caught off of the coast of Africa
For the bait a small tuna that was caught earlier was cut in half and placed on the end of what can only be described as a very large hook.
A balloon was used as a float and the fish took one hour and forty minutes to reel in.
Prior to the stingray being brought on board the people who charter the fishing snapped off the stinger. This apparently doesn’t harm the ray (however we doubt the ray was too pleased about it!) and it’s important to reduce the chance of being injured by the fish.
The barbed stinger was presented to Nik as a trophy.
Freshwater Stingray Fishing
Continuing with the theme of stingray fishing…
Below is an interesting video displaying another large stingray being caught in Thailand. German angler Peter Lipah is fishing on the Maeklong River at Samut Songkran.
This freshwater giant stingray is thought to be one of the largest ever caught weighing approximately 180 kilograms or 400 pounds and therefore quite a bit smaller to the saltwater one that Nik pulled in.
This particular video was shown on National Geographic’s Hooked Monster – fishing giant stingray television show.
Notice at the end when they release the fish how careful they are with the stinger!
