Catching some rays

Fished the Hillsborough river at lunch today. The river was teeming with fish--mullet were everywhere.

I also saw a few BIG jacks swimming around, so I was hopeful that I might hook up with one if I was persistent enough.

I started down by the docks and didn't get any action, so I started working my way down the seawall towards Kennedy Boulevard. About halfway down the seawall there is a submerged oyster bar. I usually don't fish near it because there is only 6-8 inches of water to work with, so it is snag hell.

I fished it today because the jacks I mentioned before were circling the oyster bar. There is also a tree on the seawall there, so I can cast in the shade for a bit. Still, despite the jacks and a hundred or so mullet, no bites.

The oyster bar:

About 50 yards from the bridge, I cast out and hooked up with a real rod bender, but unfortunately, the giant fish ended up being a cow nosed ray that I had foul hooked through a fin. I was pretty nervous about getting the hook out, as the ray was thrashing its tail and stinger around like mad. Thankfully, just as I began to hoist it out of the water, the hook slipped out and the ray fell harmlessly back to the water.

After that incident, I worked my way all the way down to the bridge, but even there, I couldn't entice any fish to take a bite out of my Yo-zuri.

The bridge over empy waters:

Back to work, but I was feeling better about the trip since there were actually some fish present.