Giant freshwater stingray in Thailand.

[Dick Dastardly]

Rick thanks for the reply thats interesting stuff.Nice to hear of big fish being caught from their natural enviroment.I understand and respect your reasons for not weighing these fish.From a personal point of veiw I now only weigh both AG or Wells Cats that I think are going to be a PBThe rest I return in the water.Ive done tyhis for many years now with the cats.When I was guiding though most of my customers understandably wanted their fish landed,weighed and photographed.

 

I think that you must weigh some though to be able to be able to guesstimate weights of other fishs as acurately as you can. Ive come across a nunber of skippers/guides who have never weighed acurately any of the big fish they capture and their claimed weights are well out. A difficult one.

 

Are these stingray fished for from a boat or the bank? would be really inyerested in hearing anything you care to share about them.Any info on AG you would like please just ask.

[RICKTHAILAND]

Rick do these Sting rays live exclusively in freshwater or do they go between fresh and salt water?

Budgie I have it from Zeb Hogans own lips that the Giant freshwater stingray is not scientifically proven to be a true freshwater fish.It has been suggested that these living fossils might possibly enter marine waters.The truth is that not even the WWF knows the awnser to this question!We will be trying to awnser some of these questions in the coming months.Have a look at wildlifeextra.com mate.

[Dick Dastardly]

Thanks Rik.

[RICKTHAILAND]

Rick thanks for the reply thats interesting stuff.Nice to hear of big fish being caught from their natural enviroment.I understand and respect your reasons for not weighing these fish.From a personal point of veiw I now only weigh both AG or Wells Cats that I think are going to be a PBThe rest I return in the water.Ive done tyhis for many years now with the cats.When I was guiding though most of my customers understandably wanted their fish landed,weighed and photographed.

 

I think that you must weigh some though to be able to be able to guesstimate weights of other fishs as acurately as you can. Ive come across a nunber of skippers/guides who have never weighed acurately any of the big fish they capture and their claimed weights are well out. A difficult one.

 

Are these stingray fished for from a boat or the bank? would be really inyerested in hearing anything you care to share about them.Any info on AG you would like please just ask.

Budgie I would be more than happy to share information with you ,your posts are of a highly intelligent and informative nature.I would prefer to continue our conversations by email. fishsiam@hotmail.co.uk.

[RICKTHAILAND]

Thanks Rik.

Budgie,I would very much like to continue our chats.It sounds like youve got plenty of experience with big fish.Id like to hear about your AG captures(are we talking gigas or gars?).

Drop us a line mate!

[Vagabond]

I prefer to travel to the natural country of origin to capture my fish.

 

Abso-bleddy-lutely - The capture of a fish is just a small part of the whole experience - my trip to the Xingu after peacock bass, payara and trahira was enhanced by the sightings of anaconda (a BIG anaconda - 30 ft) numerous birds including a Harpy Eagle and the whole ethos of the Amazonian rain forest - armadillos snuffling along the track, rare Hyacinth Macaws sceeching as they passed overhead, the sense of "being there"

 

Catching imported specimens in a pay-lake the other side of the world from Brazil is just a pale pink imitation - just as catching rainbows from a local commercial in Britain can't compare with fishing for them in their natural Colorado streams. I took more pleasure from my one-and-a-half pounder from the St Vrain up on the Great Divide than ever I did from my 21 lb triploid from the put-and-take at Lamberhurst.

[RICKTHAILAND]

Thanks Rik.

Alright Budgie,latest giant freshwater stingray news!Two in one day one caught after 2 hour battle measured at 1.9m in width.The second caught after 6 hour battle which saw just about everyone have a go on the rod!We measured this one at 2.2m Ill let you and the chaps make your own estimations with regards to weights.

[Dick Dastardly]

Jeeze Rik thats big! I would have thought our sea fishing guys (Davey?) who fish for big Common Skate would be best to get a guestimate of weight from. Non of the species I fish for are even similar in shape so a guess would be pointless!

 

Sorry for the delay in emailing you as well Rik I will drop you one soon thiough when time permits. Ive a mate out in Thailand so may have to pay him a visit soon!

 

Looks like a species that I would love to try for on the same gear I use for my other big fish fishing. Ive only ever caught three Skate and wonder if they fight like these? Ive also caught several other types of rays including Sting rays in our esturies.These seem to fight a lot faster than the skate Ive caught but then this would be most likely due to the vast difference in depth of water.

 

Measuring is certainly a good idea but as well as length and width you would definately need a "girth" measurement and I pressume this must be quite difficult in its own?

[Davy Holt]

Hiya,

 

Ok where do you start other than it's bloody big bigger than anything I've encountered. As for estimating a weight for it, it's difficult as I don't know what the body depth is for the fish, if it's got a shallow body then you could be looking at around 300lb. If it's got a deep set body then anything up to 400lb

[Dick Dastardly]

Same as our stingrays Davey it looks like the edges of the wings are quite thin with the main bulk being in the body.Skate I suppose wasnt such a good analagy as they are quite thick in the wings by comparrison. I thought you would be able to offer a far better guess than my self though as I could only say it was in treble figures and leave it at that! Its good though that with fish of this shape you get a better impression of thge actual size as the size isnt easily distortable by the camera or composition.

Edited March 18, 2008 by BUDGIE