No Really! I’m After the Mullet

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No Really! I’m After the Mullet

By Suwanneerefugee ⋅ September 1, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

I thought long and hard about a possible title for this post. Here’s a few that I came up with:

Who Knew Mullet Fishing Could Be So Dangerous.
Sea World Told Me Stingrays Were Nice
How Many Stingrays Does It Take to Hurt a Man?
Can’t We All Just Get Along

This picture comes courtesy of David over at Beach Hunter

I got a last minute phone call from my fishing buddies wanting to know if I wanted to go mullet fishing with them on Sunday. I knew this meant cleaning mullet on Monday, too. I really didn’t want to go because I felt that I had been on the go for a few weeks. But I succumbed to mullet fishing pressure, got my butt up at 3:30a, and took off for Bokeelia.

I should have known the day wasn’t going to end well when I came across a sting ray in the first little bay we fish. The sting ray came soaring past my legs with a wing span of about two feet. This does wonders for the ol’ anxiety after I’ve been watching Discovery Channel shows on stingrays and the damage they can inflict.

The day went on without fanfare. I stared down a few sting rays. They did the salt water limbo around me. It was a live and let live mentality.

But near the end of day, those damn rays couldn’t leave well enough alone. (Those rays are probably saying the same thing about my buddy.) My buddy threw his net over a pod of mullet. He then bent down in the murky Gulf water to break their necks (breaking their necks allows the blood to drain thus making the meat less strong tasting.) But instead of grabbing a mullet, he grabbed a ray, who promptly struck him twice, once in each hand.

The shots were glance blow not direct hits, or we’d been in trouble. You see, even though we’re within earshot of civilization, we might as well be a hundred miles away. We get tucked into these little mangrove islands in a foot of water. And to top it all off, we’re in little 14 foot jon boats with mini mouse motors.

My buddy walked away with some very sore hands, but it was a close call.

Be on the lookout for sting rays until the Gulf waters cool down. They’re not predatory, but they will defend themselves if messed with.

Kaybe

After convincing some visiting New York relatives that rays were nothing to worry about we stepped into the water with our noodles to do a little power floating. As the crowd gathered pointing at a dark cloud between us and the beach I realized I had just lied to my sil's and was in big trouble. We continued to float holding our feet up(punctuated with comments such as "I can't believe this is happening) as a hugh-mungo school of sting rays passed under us.

I usually cast net from a seawall or bridge but when we go scalloping all the critters come out. We always see rays but we had a little run in with a small shark in some turtle grass off of Anclote Bay. Jesus wasn't the only one to walk on water that day. Hope you scored some tasty mangos from Bokeelia to go with that mullet.
Dina

I wonder if you can buy a stingray kit to have on the boat just in case. For years we've never seen anyone get hit until last summer at Fort Desoto, 2 guys got full stab in the ankle. Now we always do the stingray shuffle. Last weekend they were swimming all around us.
David McRee

Kaybe, I'm wondering if the rays that swam underneath you were cow-nosed rays rather than sting rays? They can still sting, but not as easily since their barb is closer to their body. They are more likely to be seen in schools. Here's a link to a youtube video I shot this summer off Madeira Beach of cow-nosed rays:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huq5LtFX91M
David McRee

Alan, are you sure it was actually a sting ray, or was your buddy just covering up the fact that a couple of mullet got the best of him? Heh-heh! Just kidding!
Robert V. Sobczak

Last year we ran into a school of cownose rays. They looked like the sting rays, only weren't a threat … to sting us, or so they said. This year jelly fish have been plentiful (at least near us).
Tricia

That's funny. When I go stingray fishing, I accidentally catch mullet.
Dani

OUCH!
Todd

I know the rays had to hurt, but at least you went fishing.
The Florida Blogger

Kaybe-Usually when I'm down in Bokeelia its with boys who are down there to mullet fish, not do that highfalutin' stuff:) But I've been longing to do some of the stuff for a few years.

Dina-Do they make a sting ray medical kit?

DM-Good point. These definitely weren't cow-nosed. Oh, we gave him some crap all the way home, once we found out he was alright.

Bob-I continue to hear about the plentiful jellyfish population, but I haven't seen too many. But I guess you have to get to the beach to do that:)

Tricia-Maybe we can switch places

Dani-You said it!

Todd-One thing I learned or realized on this was how far we are away from help should one of us get hurt.
DouGR81

Were these stingrays in the back bays of Bokeelia?
The Florida Blogger

There were stingrays all over. In the back bays, middle bay, Burgess bay, etc, etc, etc. More than I have ever seen down there. Thanks for stopping by and raising the IQ level at TFB.

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