Shelter Island trip today

[Jimmyz123]

So anyone who knows me knows that I always have a camera on me when I go fishing. Well, the batteries were dead so the camera did not make the trip.

I met up with Old Rookie at Shelter Island today to get in on the incoming and out going tide for some Kayak fishing. Day started out bad with the fish finder not working right, but I could see the water temp, other than that I think the transducer went out. So I drop a bait down and start getting tapped on the first cast, yup, lizard fish. Not a good way to start the day. So we drift down to one of the bay markers and I catch another lizard fish, this time I chose to try something. This 6" Lizard became bait. I pinned the thing on and dropped it to the bottom. 10 minutes later the rod goes nuts. I feel the head shake, and the weight and I start to see color so I grab the net thinking I have a huge Halibut, WRONG. Turns out I have one of these

Now if you have ever caught one of these or have done your homework on them you know they have some nasty teeth. I usually like to hang my feet in the water when I Kayak fish, this thing was trying to get them. So I pulled my feet back into the Kayak, get the pliers to release the shark and he starts to go after my hand. Heart pounds trying to prevent him from taking a bite I finally get the hook out.

About an hour later I hook a pretty good sized bat ray. It was fun because this thing towed me around a little bit. Finally he was released. I ended the day with 1 Angel Shark, 1 Bat Ray, 1 Spotted Bay Bass, and 4 Lizard fish. Not as good of a day as I would have liked, but I got to be out on the water fishing.