BATRAY!

[peach]

caught a bay rat yesterday with friends out of leo carillo
pretty good size i guess, ill post pics later
was wondering if anyone had any good recipes for these things
i cut off the wings and cleaned them up and soaked them, then put em in the freezer till i can put them to good use

[Mugu]

Best way is to stamp out cookie cutter sized pieces, remove the cartilage and cook 'em as you would scallops.

[dgoff]

I have a book that describes Rays and Skates as having much the same flavor as scallops. It talks a lot about bleeding and icing immediately like shark to prevent deterioration from the urea in the blood. Marinating the wings in a brine or acidic solution should be done to remove any excess urea. Lemon juice is used if it's to be broiled, and milk soaking if deep fried. You can also soak in a brine mixture of one cup salt or one-half of a cup of white vinegar in a gallon of water. Soak in the vinegar solution for 4 hours or 4-8 hours in the brine. After soaking, scrape the skin with a knife blade and rinse. Rays should not be overcooked because they become extremely dry. They can be boiled, BBQd, baked or broiled. The meat contains a lot of moisture, so take care when deep frying.

That's as far as it goes, hope that helps. I caught a fairly large one a couple of weeks ago at Malibu. I cut it loose at the hook because I didn't know if they have barbs or not. But I figured, in a kayak, my heart was just about a tails distance from the water. Now, tell me, does it really have the infamous stinger or was I just being stupid?!? 
Dennis Goff

[Spike]

Hopefully a marine biologist will respond.  I think all rays have some type of stinger of varying degrees of lethalness.  They also have raspy tails that can cut, burn and grow a nasty infection.  Most of the big rays we catch in Malibu are bat rays and take a good look, they have an awesome stinger.
There are also electric rays that are small, round and black.  You don't want them anywhere close to you.  The wound is like a lightning strike and I've seen both those injuries.  Small, round and black-cut it off.

Lots of skates have points too.  Take a good look before landing or handling species you are not familiar with.  In the field a lot lately, it seems like the newest generation of California kayak anglers is unaware that they need a landing net onboard the kayak to be legal.  It also helps in landing and releasing.

[peach]

Thanks a lot for all the feedback guys. Really helped a lot. Spike when are you gonna be fishin in malibu again?

[Spike]

It looks like a mid October flatty for me. 
The flats around the pinacles at Dume can load up with halibut in the summer and fall months.  Definately worth targeting once in a while to see if the fish are in. 

[surfsup]

Hopefully a marine biologist will respond.  I think all rays have some type of stinger of varying degrees of lethalness.  They also have raspy tails that can cut, burn and grow a nasty infection.  Most of the big rays we catch in Malibu are bat rays and take a good look, they have an awesome stinger.
There are also electric rays that are small, round and black.  You don't want them anywhere close to you.  The wound is like a lightning strike and I've seen both those injuries.  Small, round and black-cut it off.

Lots of skates have points too.  Take a good look before landing or handling species you are not familiar with.  In the field a lot lately, it seems like the newest generation of California kayak anglers is unaware that they need a landing net onboard the kayak to be legal.  It also helps in landing and releasing.

Spike does a game bag qualifiy as a landing net?

[peach]

thanks for the info spike!
i have yet to land a good halibut so my friend and i are gonna go try this weekend. ill let you know how it goes.
and thanks for the info about the net and legal stuff, we got that covered now.

[Mugu]

Spike does a game bag qualifiy as a landing net?

Watch Spike's Video you must...for the answer is there.

[peach]

my friend got his video! we watched it on our lunch we were very excited. Mugu, when do you usually go out, and whereabouts? we should have a little kayak fishing pow pow somewhere

[Spike]

Thanks you guys.   Most landing nets are not legal by definition of the size of the opening and I've never seen a warden cite someone who at least had a net.  The green game bag is close.  I watched Howie slide a 40# flatty into one at deep hole.  In 55' in front of the second house south.
whack `em!