# what might I have hooked into



## anglerdavidm (Feb 12, 2009)

I was fishing the west side of the Escambia basin this am and hooked into a monster fish on cut pinfish and the bottom. I'm not sure what it was. It took line off open bail quite slowly, unlike the usual cats or reds. I fed line for almost 30 seconds because I had missed 4-5 runs of 15 seconds which I usually do. I got a good hook up and the fish just slowly moved away. There was no fast run like a red. It came up to the top about 5o yards out and just wallowed on the surface befor my line snapped. Whatever it was was about 4 feet long and gray in color-the color of sharks that I've caught down at shoreline before. The Blacktips I've caught made strong runs and jumped. Is there some other more lethargic kind of shark that might have found it's way all the way up to Hwy 90 or flipper ( I would assume a more lively run with them also) or any kind of sturgeon? If any body has any ideas, I sure would appreciate it. Thanks!


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## P-cola_Native (Feb 5, 2008)

Maybe a bull shark.


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## fisheye48 (Sep 28, 2007)

maybe a big ray?


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## Splittine (Nov 24, 2007)

Whale Shark?


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## biggamefishr (Oct 26, 2007)

4', gray, lethargic, rolling around on the surface...I'd say a baby manatee


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## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

Foul hooked manatee?


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## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

> *biggamefishr (9/21/2009)*4', gray, lethargic, rolling around on the surface...I'd say a baby manatee


yep josh beat me to it


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## Garbo (Oct 2, 2007)

Black Drum.


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## jigslinger (Sep 30, 2007)

flipper


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## anglerdavidm (Feb 12, 2009)

It was much too thin to be a Manatee. Just moved here in March from Orlando and fished the coast area around Cape Canaveral a lot in my canoe, so I know what they look like. I've also caught some black drum in the Mosquito Lagoon and they ran a lot harder (at least the smaller ones that I caught did). Any one ever catch sturgeon in there? That really is what it looked like (I've seen some caught on film in Hell's Canyon, Idaho).


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Sounds like a big ray to me. I know it would sound better to say "I hooked a sturgeon today", but from your description of the bite especially the slow part which is nothing like a sturgeon from my understanding of them, I'd say it was a big old serving of imitation bay scallops.


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## Jighead (Feb 11, 2009)

Where did your line break?(just sounds like a good question)


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## anglerdavidm (Feb 12, 2009)

The line broke right at the hook. There was no curling at the end like when the knot comes loose and the line, if frayed, was very minimal.


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## timman (Oct 3, 2007)

Big ray...


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## Power Wagon (Jun 9, 2009)

I fish the upper end of the bay and have hooked a number of rays. The smaller ones seemed to run pretty hard at times making me think I had a red at first. The larger ones seemed much more laid back. Caught one that was probably 2 1/2 - 3 feet a few weeks ago that hit cut bait on the bottom and pretty much fought like an old car tire. Just a thought - hope you figure it out.


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## Jighead (Feb 11, 2009)

My fishing buddy hooked one about 3 feet wide and it ran like a top fuel dragster for about 100 yards. Then it just stopped and we thought he was hung so we troll over on top of it and started pulling like we were trying to break the line, but there was a something pulling back. I believe it found something on the bottom and latched on. It took us pulling strait up on 30lb braid finally it came to the top. We were disappointed to see a ray we were hoping for a black drum because we've never caught one.


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## Silver (Jun 18, 2009)

I hooked up on a 4 ft gar the other day and it did the exact same thing you described. Hit, ran slowly, i dragged him up to the top of the water, he just chilled there til i got a look at him then snapped my line.

my guess is a Gar


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## Deeplines (Sep 28, 2007)

I'm going ray also.


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## TCGrimsley (Apr 10, 2009)

maybe a nurse shark that didn't know it was hooked? Catching them is like catching a slow moving freight train.


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