I got in Tyler's Sunday paper yesterday for my stingray trip! :hb:
On Target With Virginia Stingrays
By STEVE KNIGHT
Outdoor Writer
Near the site of the Battle of Yorktown in Virginia, Whitehouse's Mary Thornton was waging her own war recently.
It wasn't a revolution, but a fishing war against the stingrays that swim where the York River flows into the Chesapeake Bay. In this skirmish Thornton was armed with bow fishing equipment, something with which she has become adept in the last two or three years fishing for gar and carp in East Texas waters. On vacation in Virginia, Thornton eagerly sought to expand her resume with a saltwater trip for the nuisance stingrays.
“They want them gone. They are very invasive,” she said, referencing the state's no limit on the fish whose stingers pack a wallop for unsuspecting wade fishermen. A saltwater fish, rays move into the bays and make a living on oysters and muscles.
Using an Internet forum for bow fishermen, Thornton and her boyfriend, Tristan Knight, became acquainted with local fisherman Zach Meyers.
“He is in the Air Force stationed at Langley Air Force Base. He is from Iowa. He was kind enough to invite us to go fishing with him,” she said.
While bow fishing in Texas is primarily a nighttime activity, for Virginia stingrays it is fishing with the sun up.
“You can fish for them at night, but most do stingrays during the day. I think they move more during the day,” Thornton said.
Another difference is that the saltwater fishermen have to worry about tides, and a dropping tide made the trip more difficult.
“One of the spots he took us the first day, when they were there over the weekend while we were driving up, he said (stingrays) were so thick you could walk across them. When we got there the tide was low. On the third day it was lower,” Thornton said.
With the dropping tides, Myers explained, commercial fishermen were running nets. When the stingrays would try to move into the bays they would encounter the nets, turn around and head to deeper water.
Bow fishing is a cross between hunting and fishing. Fishermen use a bow similar to those used by hunters, but typically with fiberglass arrows attached to a heavy fishing reel by heavy line. In this case they used 400-pound test. Most of the line is stored in a plastic bottle-like device holding about 75 feet of the line that can be striped to the end by bigger fish.
Water clarity initially made the shooting more difficult for the visitors.
“It was hard to see them. It looks like blue water in the pictures, but it is like Lake Tyler water, very muddy. They are brown also, so it was hard to get used to shooting at fish the same color as the water,” Thornton explained.
Learning how the different species acted was another early obstacle.
“The longer we stayed out the easier it got. The southern and Atlantic stayed more to the bottom. We got to where we saw the movement. On the second day I was picking out more on seeing their eyes. The water was a little clearer,” Thornton said.
She explained the cownose rays tended to stay in deeper water, but would sometimes give away their location by coming to the surface and exposing their tails. For some reason the vibration of the boat's trolling motor would draw them into range.
Initially they were attempting to stop the bigger rays with a single arrow. It wasn't always successful.
“The closest comparison would be a gator gar. The minute you shot them they would drain all the line out of the bottle in just a few seconds. They would always run for open water. We would let them take all the line out, set the bow in the bottom of boat and try to ease them in,” Thornton said.
That technique resulted in several lost fish so they began adding a backup shot as soon as possible to ensure the fish was retrieved.
The technique resulted in six rays the first day and five the second. Thornton claimed the largest cownose with a fish estimated to weigh about 45 pounds.
Nothing was wasted on the trip. The rays, or at least parts of them, are edible.
Myers had friends who fry the fishes' wings, considered excellent meat. A nearby research center also accepts the kill for research.
Comparing Texas' bow fishing targets to the Virginia rays, the two decided they preferred the rays.
“We decided we would go with the rays. It was that much fun. It might have to do with the fact we can't shoot them in East Texas, and you see a lot more so it really sharpens your bow fishing skills. They were fast and it was quick shooting all of the time,” Thornton said.
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Whitehouse's Mary Thornton took a side trip during a vacation to Virginia to bow fish for rays in Chesapeake Bay.
On Target With Virginia Stingrays
By STEVE KNIGHT
Outdoor Writer
Near the site of the Battle of Yorktown in Virginia, Whitehouse's Mary Thornton was waging her own war recently.
It wasn't a revolution, but a fishing war against the stingrays that swim where the York River flows into the Chesapeake Bay. In this skirmish Thornton was armed with bow fishing equipment, something with which she has become adept in the last two or three years fishing for gar and carp in East Texas waters. On vacation in Virginia, Thornton eagerly sought to expand her resume with a saltwater trip for the nuisance stingrays.
“They want them gone. They are very invasive,” she said, referencing the state's no limit on the fish whose stingers pack a wallop for unsuspecting wade fishermen. A saltwater fish, rays move into the bays and make a living on oysters and muscles.
Using an Internet forum for bow fishermen, Thornton and her boyfriend, Tristan Knight, became acquainted with local fisherman Zach Meyers.
“He is in the Air Force stationed at Langley Air Force Base. He is from Iowa. He was kind enough to invite us to go fishing with him,” she said.
While bow fishing in Texas is primarily a nighttime activity, for Virginia stingrays it is fishing with the sun up.
“You can fish for them at night, but most do stingrays during the day. I think they move more during the day,” Thornton said.
Another difference is that the saltwater fishermen have to worry about tides, and a dropping tide made the trip more difficult.
“One of the spots he took us the first day, when they were there over the weekend while we were driving up, he said (stingrays) were so thick you could walk across them. When we got there the tide was low. On the third day it was lower,” Thornton said.
With the dropping tides, Myers explained, commercial fishermen were running nets. When the stingrays would try to move into the bays they would encounter the nets, turn around and head to deeper water.
Bow fishing is a cross between hunting and fishing. Fishermen use a bow similar to those used by hunters, but typically with fiberglass arrows attached to a heavy fishing reel by heavy line. In this case they used 400-pound test. Most of the line is stored in a plastic bottle-like device holding about 75 feet of the line that can be striped to the end by bigger fish.
Water clarity initially made the shooting more difficult for the visitors.
“It was hard to see them. It looks like blue water in the pictures, but it is like Lake Tyler water, very muddy. They are brown also, so it was hard to get used to shooting at fish the same color as the water,” Thornton explained.
Learning how the different species acted was another early obstacle.
“The longer we stayed out the easier it got. The southern and Atlantic stayed more to the bottom. We got to where we saw the movement. On the second day I was picking out more on seeing their eyes. The water was a little clearer,” Thornton said.
She explained the cownose rays tended to stay in deeper water, but would sometimes give away their location by coming to the surface and exposing their tails. For some reason the vibration of the boat's trolling motor would draw them into range.
Initially they were attempting to stop the bigger rays with a single arrow. It wasn't always successful.
“The closest comparison would be a gator gar. The minute you shot them they would drain all the line out of the bottle in just a few seconds. They would always run for open water. We would let them take all the line out, set the bow in the bottom of boat and try to ease them in,” Thornton said.
That technique resulted in several lost fish so they began adding a backup shot as soon as possible to ensure the fish was retrieved.
The technique resulted in six rays the first day and five the second. Thornton claimed the largest cownose with a fish estimated to weigh about 45 pounds.
Nothing was wasted on the trip. The rays, or at least parts of them, are edible.
Myers had friends who fry the fishes' wings, considered excellent meat. A nearby research center also accepts the kill for research.
Comparing Texas' bow fishing targets to the Virginia rays, the two decided they preferred the rays.
“We decided we would go with the rays. It was that much fun. It might have to do with the fact we can't shoot them in East Texas, and you see a lot more so it really sharpens your bow fishing skills. They were fast and it was quick shooting all of the time,” Thornton said.
Whitehouse's Mary Thornton took a side trip during a vacation to Virginia to bow fish for rays in Chesapeake Bay.
