Incredible Day

 

It was an incredible day, for sure. One of those days when you do all the right things and find the life. It was an 85 mile run for us, and with $4-$5 a gallon gas we had to make it count. We ran out the night before at about midnight and started fishing at dawn about 70 miles out. By 3:00, we had limited out on dolphin and Wahoo, saw two white marlins, had a big blue eat one of our hooked Wahoo, and started passing up huge dolphin because we had caught so many. What a day!

The dolphin were not responding to trolled baits that day, so we used lived bait with light tackle and had a blast. Definitely my favorite way to catch Dolphin. Later in the morning we found some really good debris and limited out on Wahoo trolling by it with only three passes. After that, we caught a bunch of Wahoo on spinning tackle with jigs and poppers. The dolphin were so hot we took the hooks off our poppers and it did not matter how fast you reeled, you just couldn’t keep it away from them.

 

  

• 19 dolphins, 9 of which were bulls in the 30-40lb. range. One with a hole in its' head from a possible earlier encounter with a Marlin or Sword Fish


• 6 Wahoo in the box with an additional 10 or so caught and released.


• Triple tail


• 98 miles from the pass


• 19 Hours on the water


• 42 Hours with no sleep

Reggie Lawrence

Atlanta GA

New Community Website

Stripers and Anglers is a new online community site that we like. The site is not limited to the dedicated striper crowd as the name would imply. There are forums from cooking, political, sports, regional subjects and Bunker Joe’s Trading Hut, which as the name implies, is an online classified for garage flotsam and jetsam. Check it out. It is worth your visit and support.
www.stripersandanglers.com

Winter Fishing 08/09

This great shot of an Atlantic sailfish attacking a trolling lure was sent in by my friend Joe Yeni of MarineMax in Stuart. Joe took this picture on his birthday last December 10th. Joe, it was that beautiful new Cabo 52 Express and those quiet MAN engines that did it. The boat is a sailfish (and chick) magnet without a doubt!

SOUTH FLORIDA SAILFISH ALLEY

The waters off Palm Beach north to the Treasure Coast are some

of the most productive Atlantic sailfish grounds at this time of the

year. The strip, not too far from shore and between 90 and 250 ft of

water is frequently called Sailfish Alley. For the looks of it, this

promises to be a banner season for sailfish in the region and I am

sure we will be posting many more sailfish shots this winter.

 

These beautiful fish can be finicky and unpredictable. The style of

choice for seasoned locals is to live bait with circle hooks on a free

line where there is a confirmed sailfish presence. When specifically

targeting sailfish, we prefer the local method as circle hooks dramatically

reduce fish mortality. Sailfishing is strictly a catch and release activity.

As Joe’s photograph proves, a motivated sailfish will go for a plastic

trolling lure just as well. Such by-catch is common when trolling for other

species that visit our sunny South Florida at this time of the year.

 

BTW. If you need a boat, Joe at MarineMax Stuart is the man!

 

LATE FALL STRIPERS

Jimmy Z from Rhode Island and one of those
big stripers the area is known for.  This one caught

on an Ming reel.

 

PHOTOS

Send us your photos for posting and bragging rights. If you show one of our products we will reward you with a gift certificate. Send photos to ray@stingraytackle.com or use our file trasnfer site below.

 

    

 

 

 

Fall Fishing

Well, it has been a busy and rather short fall season. We missed most of the early fall traveling in China and although we are still a couple of weeks from officially welcoming winter, I do not think we will have time to do much fishing between now and the first days of winter. So I decided to post some of these photos. The girls were able to meet us for the weekend and we headed out of Oregon Inlet aboard the SeaNote (www.seanotecharters.com) with our friends Capt Benjie Stansky and William for some offshore fishing on a very cold November day. Things were slow so we decided to try our luck at bottom fishing. It was a great success and the girls had a lot of fun landing 17 good size tilefish. It is always great to spend time with Benjie and William, so the fish were just an added but welcomed bonus. Melissa and a double header Michelle and Will and a nice tilefish Melissa, Michelle, Debbie and Ray with the day's catch Our next trip was out of our winter home in Palm Beach. The nice late season Dorado found us and Debbie had the honor of bringing it home for dinner. Colette bagged the nice opportunistic cobia after it cleaned a couple of hooked snappers on the way up. It turned out to be a perfect South Florida day and not a bad fishing weekend. Debbie and a nice dorado (Cockpit Chaos) John manning the downrigger (Cockpit Chaos) Colette and a Cobia (Azul) A nice cow West End (Cockpit Chaos) Last weekend we crossed over to the West End hoping to find some of those wahoos that make their way from up north. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and it turned ugly from the get go making our weekend trip an overnighter. We stayed Friday night at Ginn’s Old Bahama Bay (www.oldbahamabay.com), a first class resort in every way. Our friend Janice Thompson went out of her way to welcome us with her characteristic Bahamian charm. Our short stay was memorable and I can assure you we will be back,Janice. David Onesty and a very decent striper (Azul) Here is a picture sent in by our great friend Neil Drumheller of Severn Wharf Rods in Gloucester Point, VA. Neil emailed me this nice shot of a Chesapeake Bay striper this afternoon. It was caught on a StingRay Azul rod by Neil's fishing buddy David Onesty. Neil, I am looking forward to joining you in late December for some serious striper fishing. (http://www.thenakedchickenflyshop.com). HAVE TROPHY SHOTS? STINGRAY EQUIPMENT IN ACTION? We encourage you to share your fishing pictures and stories with us. There are gift certificates and free tackle waiting for your contribution Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyways. – Anonymous

LOOKING FOR CONTRIBUTORS

WRITERS

 

If you have some good fish stories, techniques, experiences etc that you want to share with our visitors, please send your articles and pictures to
ray@stingraytackle.com.
We need your help making this blog a diverse and informative (entertaining?) destination. Contribute your article and pictures and we will send you gift certificates for StingRay products. How much? Well, it depends on how good your story or article is.

 

PHOTOS

 

Send us your fishing photos and we will post them in the new photo section of the blog. Show us a StingRay rod and you will get a gift certificate. Send photos to ray@stingraytackle.com or use our file transfer site below:

 

Cockpit Chaos Custom Rod Series

Inspired by Charles Perry’s (nauticaldreams.com watch in YouTube) amazing marlin chasing video filmed off Madeira, our Cockpit Chaos series is a cut above. Showcasing a patented stainless steel roller bearing guide and strong yet lightweight composite blanks, these rods are at home aboard the big multi-million dollar canyon wagons but are affordable enough for the weekend warrior.

If you are looking for a set of custom rods, you must look at the Cockpit Chaos. Available in eight matching models, the Cockpit Chaos present a unique opportunity to own a set of custom top-notch fishing rods.

Cockpit Chaos are available in limited quantities as they are handcrafted to our specifications by a boutique rod manufacturer.

Click to visit : Cockpit Chaos Rods

StingRay Caliente Hot Pink Fishing Rods are in!

Price breakthrough…. $ 49.99 to 59.99

 

The Caliente pink fishing rods are simply hot.!

 

Our best seller and highly popular Caliente pink fishing rods are back in stock.

 

The series consist of  four saltwater models ranging from a 2-60 lbs stand-up to casting and spinning models.  Handcrafted with the latest balnk technology, these rods are amazing.

 

As with other StingRay rods, they are backed by a 2 year warranty and a liberal after-warranty trade in policy. And you have two weeks to examine and decide if you want to keep the rods. If not, simply return them to us for a full refund.

 

For a limited time (till December 31) you can receive an additional 10% discount by entering the code : ‘HOLIDAY08’ at checkout.

Nag's Head Committee Proposes Funding for Tournament Data Gathering

According to the Associated Press, a committee has recommended that revenue from saltwater fishing licenses go toward projects that include a data collection system and youth fishing programs.

The North Carolina Coastal Recreational Fishing License Advisory Committee has agreed that 12 of 19 programs requesting should get a grant. Its recommendation goes to the state Marine Fisheries Commission, which meets in November.

The advisory committee has collected about $7.9 million since the licenses were required as of Jan. 1, 2007. After deducting costs for other obligations and fisheries projects, the fund has about $4.3 million.

The North Carolina Coastal Recreational Fishing License Advisory Committee has determined that at least 12 of 19 requested programs should be funded from the nearly 8 million dollars in licensing fees collected since Jan. 1 2007.

One of the projects listed is a text messaging system for collecting catch and effort data on South Carolina King Mackerel tournament anglers.

A Sacrifice

The continuing saga of Capt. Christopher Garlington



The John Gone’s usually full of happy Captains taking shots between runs, playing poker, smoking cigars. The good life.

Not today.

On any other day, you strike out in any direction you’ll hook Marlin, Wahoo, Yellowfin, drink some beer, come back at sunset for a dockside picture.

But today we’re at each other’s throats. All hope bleached out by fifteen days without fish. Fifteen days of trolling, chunking and chumming. Fifteen days convincing our clients a shark’s as good as a Wahoo. Fifteen days without that beautiful, terrible sail vaulting out of the water. Fifteen days.

“The water demands sacrifice!”

Rubber Chicken Lures

© 2008, StingRay Tackle Co. May be reproduced with prior permission.

Fishing The WMO

This year we entered the White Marlin Open, the premier-fishing event that is held in Ocean City MD every August and makes claim to the world’s largest billfish tournament. Over 300 boats participated and the payouts totaled $ 2.2 million. Three days out of five fishing within 100 miles radius of OC means one can hit some of the most productive fishing grounds on the East Coast during the tournament. A circle hook tournament emphasizes releases but requires landing of qualifying fish.

 

Our team consisted of my friends John Tobias and Doug Talbot, my son in law Mike Kress, Orazio Nastaze, owner of the famous Jake’s Bar in West Chester PA, and me.  We fished aboard the ‘Sea Note’ out of Oregon Inlet captained by its owner the legendary Benjie Stansky, mates William and the infamous ‘Fog”.  Charles Perry was scheduled to join us but unfortunately came back from the Azores with a bad back and had surgery a week before. Joey Stansky, Benjie’s brother and captain of the Flow Control out of Sailfish Marina in Palm Beach FL joined us for the second and third day of fishing.

 

The first day we headed south to the red-hot Norfolk Canyon, which has been consistently producing monster fish this season.  It is a long ride to the fishing ground and the destination pushes the envelope on the allowed fishing range.  Ironically, it is closer to our home base in Virginia Beach than it is to OC. 

 

The day went rather slow but Mike managed to fight and release a very nice white mid day.  However, it was not big enough to get us on the board. The rest of the day was uneventful except for a nice mahi that stumbled in.

 

After a great dinner at the Marlin Moon Grille that night, the team decided that Wilmington Canyon was to be the destination for the next day.  A shorter run to the north, Wilmington is a consistent producer and have delivered quite a few tournament winners.  

The next day (Tuesday), John found his white and had a lot of fun bringing it boat side. As William released the feisty fish, John had a fit, as he was sure it was a record white of at least 100 pounds. The crew begged to differ and assured him that it was not a money fish.   In the afternoon, we ran into a school of very decent sized mahis.  Fog showed us the Outer Banks jigging technique that he claims is taught at the Outer Banks School of Dolphin Fishing. We landed thirteen 12+ pounds mahis in no time. The rest of the day was fun as we relaxed and Fog continued to provide live entertainment with his impersonation of Darth Vader and non-stop one-liners.

 

As we headed back in, we heard that a big blue was landed so we rushed to the weight in area to see this magnificent fish.  The blue was shy from being a grander but weighted in at 935.5 pounds (paid $ 600,000). It was landed by Robert Lockwood aboard the Last Run.  We all agreed that it was a sad sight to see such a magnificent animal loose its life  but at $ 641 a pound, we also agreed that we would have had no problem landing her.

 

We sat out the next two days and used the time to enjoy the good food and sights of Ocean City. The family came in to spend time with us, as it is a relatively short drive from Virginia and New Jersey. 

 

We hit the water the last day of the tournament. The seas were still a little rough but the Sea Note, with its deep Carolina hull had no problem handling it. We headed once again to Norfolk Canyon. These are familiar waters for the Oregon Inlet fleet and Benjie feels quite comfortable hunting in his backyard.      

                            

Early on, Orazio hooked a white and the consensus was that this one promised to be a money fish. After a great fight and beautiful acrobatics, the fish was landed and measured. Just short of the money by 1 ½ inches, it was quickly released.  The rest of the day was non-eventful as we settled into the reality that we were not going to have a weight in.

 

As we wrapped the exciting week, we all agreed that it was a great experience and an awesome week. Obviously, a trip to the scales could have added some more excitement but we had enough action to finish 60^th in points out of a field of 300+ boats. The crew was fantastic and we enjoyed the camaraderie and the insights they all shared with us.  Ocean City is a great venue, albeit somewhat touristy tacky, it has its share of fun places and activities. We look forward to next years WMO as we will be fishing under the StingRay banner.

     

We spend our life looking to where we have been while disregarding where we are going.

Ming Yang Casting and Fly Fishing Reels

StingRay Tackle is now Ming Yang's exclusive distributor for the US and Canada. Ming Yang is an up and coming fishing reel manufacturer with an excellent reputation in the OEM/Private Label marketplace. Moderately priced, these reels have a great reputation for performance and value. We carry Ming Yang's full line, including a fantastic series of fly reels. All with 2 year warranty.

In addition to distribution, StingRay is stocking parts and providing repair and support. You can find links to parts schematics at the Ming Yang US website. While there, check out the text of the warranty that allows you to trade in your old Ming for 50% of the cost of a new one. Beat that Abu! 

By the way, if you are interested on reselling Mings, please contact our sales department.
www.mingyangreels.com

www.stingraytackle.com/dealers

The Rubber Chicken Lure

A true (sort of) story by Capt. Christopher Garlington

 

I left Richardson drunk in a boat at the Marina del Sol on the backside of Fiji three days ago to hunt for granders. Damn Hemmingway. Ruined it for everybody. Now you can't take anybody out on the water to fight Wahoo or a Yellowfin. You get one of those, the guy's disappointed. Polite--but not happy. I hate that crap.

I looked out at the blue water. I knew they were there: Black Marlin, Blue Marlin--thousand pounds if they're an ounce. But the sounder just showed baitfish and debris.

I rolled my Cohiba from one side of my mouth to the other, looked back across the boat to my man from Ohio. Guy’s paying me $500 a day for a tan. I looked up the other side of the boat to my tackle box, the ugly plastic one with Ron Jon stickers all over it. People ask me what's inside, I tell 'em flare guns. Flare guns are in the wheelhouse. That box was where I kept the sure thing. And now, three days gone and no big picture fish to speak of, I needed a sure thing.

I killed the engine and hauled the box up to the chair where my man from Ohio was deep into his fourth Margarita.

"What the hell is that?"

I didn't say a word. I went through the locks and opened the box, reached deep inside, and pulled out a miracle, I pulled out a
Rubber Chicken Lure

© 2008, StingRay Tackle Co. May be reproduced with prior permission.