Was fishing from my dock, double drop rig, cut shrimp, about 5 feet off the side of the floating dock prob 3-5 feet of water. Hooked something and it immediately started spooling me in a straight line making a run to the other side of the river. Could see it near the top of the water at first, looked like a shark or a big red but hard to tell, was a fish not a ray. Line was peeling out so fast it sliced my finger when I touched it. Was using 12 lb. mono. No choice but to hold the handle and line popped immediately. Guesses to what was on the other end?
Shark
Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper
Im with CL
2000 SeaPro 180CC w/ Yammy 115 2 stroke
1966 13’ Boston Whaler w/ Merc 25 4 stroke “Flatty”
www.ralphphillipsinshore.com
lots of big blacktips and bulls in the folly!
(I’d a liked to see that one) fish. 8 to 80# test…we wished we had just a look see. Got your attention didn’t it?
I’ve seen stingrays swim just like that and landed them. Ive even thought big reds were rays at just a glimps, point being it’s really hard to tell and if you didn’t get a good enough look to tell between sharks or red you probably didn’t get a good enough look to rule out a ray. Was it a pulling drag smooth and fast or was the tip bouncing, did you feel any big jerks? I wish I could get my hands soft enough to be damaged by 12lb mono, I got cut between the middle and index fingers with 150 lb braid like a paper cut on steroids. If you didn’t have wire or a big heavy rig it lessons the odds of big shark but a 12lb outfit can make it feel bigger so maybe a five ftr. Think of What you have caught and think of how it felt as comparison.
POON!!!??? 
Also what do you commonly catch there that gets big.
The line was just pulling out in a straight even motion, no slowing down or speeding up. Rod wasnt really bouncing line was going out as fast as could be. I have had similar instances one or two other times with being spooled there, but this is the first time I saw the actual fish, think because it wasnt hooked in that deep of water. Yeah, cant rule out a ray completely but it looked like it had the shape of a fish. Ive caught many small medium large rays etc. there but also a small 2-3 foot sharpnose shark or two. Know guys in boats say they catch alot of bonnetheads in the river so that was my first thought, though it could have been any type of shark. Dont think a red would have had that much force and been able to swim that fast…
Could have been a cownose ray too. Those summ*****es are strong
2000 SeaPro 180CC w/ Yammy 115 2 stroke
1966 13’ Boston Whaler w/ Merc 25 4 stroke “Flatty”
www.ralphphillipsinshore.com
On a 12 lb rod a 30+inch red, a 3-5ft shark and a about 2 ft across or larger would all feel like that. I asked about the jerks and bouncing because big fish have head shakes and tale pumps that break rhythm and are usually noticeable and are key identifying characteristics of the way fish fight compared to rays. Rays around rough bottom, with there tail cut off or hooked funny will fight a little different but generally most rays swim smoothly. A large ray has smooth fast first run and then sit down in a good area and locks down, if there’s no good areas a very large ray will go on several runs. Technically you didn’t get spooled, I had the same thing happen a week or to a go in the boat early in the trip and only brought one rod and got left with have a cast worth of line, but at least I could still fish.
What do you think pound test mono/braid would I have needed to bring it in instead of being popped like that without a chance…
Thanks to CPT Fred Rourke of Sweet Tea Charters, I now use 20-40 lb braid. Still have great line capacity, but more of chance against big reds/ etc. I do use a fluorocarbon leader, usually 30-50lbs, but it depends on species and water clarity.
ColumbiaDawgfan
Sea Hunt Triton 220