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[Dos Pescadors]

In the summer I would gig stingrays in the flats fairly easy. Does anyone know if they move to deeper water or if they should still be there in the current conditions? Or if there is an easier to get a hold of them? Thanks.

[carlb]

Dos,

What's a keeper size, and how are you cleaning and cooking them? Tyler has an article in the "Tips and Recipes" link off the homepage. Is that the basic strategy? There's an Urban Myth going around that most or all of the "scallops" you get in Chinese restaurants (near the Coast, anyways) are really stingray. If so, I'll take a couple pounds of fillets, please.

Regards,

Carl B.
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"Hooks shined while you wait; no charge." - Mr. BaitRobber

[am3]

thats what i have heard too, is that true??

[Guest]

CarlB,

There was an article in Texas Fish and Game by Chester Moore if I remember correctly. He verified the myth, and stated that several 'Scallop' serving restaurants are actually serving punched out ray wings. I believe the article was in the May issue, but I could be wrong.

Are you gigging these guys for food or bait?

[Dos Pescadors]

Gigging for bait, hope there is no regulations size's, if there is someone let me know. I also heard about the ray's for scallops, came from a friend who worked at a local resturant. Never tried them myself. Carl if I ever get some extras they got your name on em.

[Kyle aka Kcon]

Ray meat and scallop meat look completely different. In fact, ray looks different than anything else. It has a texture like a bunch of tubes all packed together. I've never seen anything but scallops at the fish market or at any restaurant. It's a myth.............Kyle

If they wanted to imitate a scallop they could take any white meat fish and punch holes out of the fillets. ta Daaa! Scallops!
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I fish, therefore, I am................Happy!

[Guest]

Remember the scene from "Jaws" where Richard Dreyfus' character, the marine biologist, mentions that many of the so-called scallops served in restaurants are actually cut from the wings of skates, which are related to rays and sharks?

I agree, there's no way ray meat would be mistaken for scallops; when fried, our local ray meat looks and tastes like fried clams. I've never butchered a skate, so I can't personally verify that it's a surrogate scallop source. However, if we get the kind of cold winter some are now forecasting, keep an eye on the beach for lots of numbed, but still living, pen shells. Their aductor muscles actually do resemble scallop meats in size and taste. We also get real bay scallops in the Upper Laguna Madre in numbers large enough occasionally to make collecting them worthwhile, but their muscles are relatively small when compared to what you usually see in the restaurants.

[Vern]

I have been wanting to try it for a while, but is ray meat good? I had a guy tell me one time to cut the wings off, skin it, marinate, and fry. Any thoughts?

[tyler]

[Guest]

The southern stingray I've eaten really did taste like clam strips. I didn't do anything except to filet the meat away from the cartilage in each wing, remove the skin, and separate the meat fibers a bit, which tends to happen anyway when you clean ray meat. I soaked the meat over night in plain water because I understand the meat of the whole order of sharks, skates and rays tends to be loaded with urea. Anyway, when dried, dipped in flour and fried the next day, it wasn't any different from a nice pile of fried clam strips. In other words, there were no leftovers.

I looked in Euell Gibbons' "Stalking the Blue-eyed Scallop" just now and found he didn't have any special recommendations there for soaking or marinating either rays or skates. As to skates, in fact, he verified that, fileted and cut into 1-inch squares, skate meat can be used in any of the scallop recipes in his book, and even went so far as to claim that some of his guests preferred the flavor of skate to that of scallop. I revere Euell's memory, but I've tasted some of his other wild foods and wasn't in total agreement with his findings. De gustibus non disputandum est.

[Kyle aka Kcon]

I've had skate sushi before. It was better than southern ray(which is fishy tasting), and had the same texture, but I like salmon and tuna better. Heck, the best sushi is the marinated eel! (fresh or salt). MMnnnn! ..............Kyle

Good idea JF, I would think if you separated the "tubes" that , when fried, you could end up with dip sticks. Just like calamari(or clams)
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I fish, therefore, I am................Happy!

[SA Donald]

I've heard for years that rays make great shark bait but have never put one on a hook. When using rays as bait, I would assume you wouldn't use one whole unless you were baiting a 12/0 or 16/0. If you have a 9/0 or even a 6/0, how would you divide a small ray (10 pound)? Will part of the wing by itself be a good bait? Should I even be using rays on the medium size reels?

Donald

I promise its not revenge towards stingrays for sticking me on my last trip in September that I ask these questions. I've healed nicely and now was just reponding to the topic at hand!

[Guest]

SA Donald.

If you dont get an answer, Go here:

http://www.extremecoast.com

And ask the same question.

Lots of ray baits used by the fisherman on that site.

[Kyle aka Kcon]

Donald, sharks, especially Bulls,(definately not limited to) love rays for breakfast. It can be a whole 40#er or just a piece of that ray , or just a little pie sized ray whole. They like it all, no matter how you slice it. But that is key, no matter how you do it, slice it up a bit (break the skin) to get the smell out there. Good luck.............Kyle
_________________
I fish, therefore, I am................Happy!

[Big John]

Between and my wife she has caught the biggest red and speck. The red went 45"!

It was her first over size red, and didn't seem like it would make it if released, so we tagged it. When I cleaned it, its stomach was full of little southern rays. All about 5" wide. All of them still had their barbs.

So if you catch a little ray while pompano fishing, it might make good bull red bait.

As far as the post about the eel above, yuck! But to each their own! I prefer the Ahi tuna!

I wonder if pompano make good sushi? If so, they better watch out!
_________________
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish, he'll be broke and hungry the rest of his life!

John Sullivan
Native Corpus Christian
Currently Displaced in San Antonio