My 100lb Wa halibut...until it got to the boat!

[h20hunter]

Get the harpoon! Get the gaff! Get the gun! I am pulling...it just isn't coming up! Shut it..I'm not being a sissy!

It's a what? Are you kidding me? A skate? Are you sure?

Yep.

[Cap.Silver]

Oh man,I feel bad for you .....I would throw my rod into the water after that 

[h20hunter]

It was a b***h I tell you. That thing would hang in the current like a sail. Not fun. I caught one smaller one that wasn't as bad. Add the dogs and it was a chore. However, with one hali boated it was worth it. I have a bruise from the rod butt digging in while trying to drag that thing in.

[Hunterman]

You didn't throw it back did you  Skate are some damn fine eating 

Hunterman(Tony)

[bowsandhose]

at least you got a good fight out of it lol

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

We went all the way to Yakitat to catch one of those stupid fish!!!

[CastleRocker]

I can relate the that!  When I fished them commercially up north, I've hollared "FOUR GAFF"!!! many times in the middle of the night when they flash a huge white side to the lights, and have it just be an enormous scate. 

You can always tell when you have one on a sport pole though, they don't fight anything like a Halibut.

They do eat pretty good though.  I know they skin them, and punch little circles out of the wing part.  I think the consumer term is, "Sea Scallop". 

[SkookumHntr]

-One time my dad was fighting a big one he thought! Took him along time to get it in, all 4 of us were watching to see the big "Barn door" come up, and finally we see it and its about a 4 foot dog fish hooked in the side! He got alot of *censored* for that one!

[TeacherMan]

When I was a kid my dad and I went on a commercial boat out of Neah Bay, my dad had met the guy the night before when we went out to dinner. We originally where going to rent a kicker out of Big Salmon but this guy was a rod and reel fisherman and offered to take us out. Anyway we went out past the Strawberries and got into some really good fishing. My dad had bought a gross of live herring that morning and we used everyone of them that day, no limits  . One of those fish that I caught was a nice skate around 70-80 pounds and we where going to cut it loose and the commerical guy about pissed himself. He got it on the boat and said they are worth there weight in gold. They cut the wings off and make artificially scallops out of them. At the end of the day we took out limits of rockfish and ling home and the commercial guy was super happy to have a couple fisherman for the day to help fill his boat for free.

[lokidog]

We went all the way to Yakitat to catch one of those stupid fish!!!

Yeah, me too, though we caught a bunch of halibut as well.  I brought one of those about 200 pounds up to the boat in a 4+ knot current, what a let-down when I saw it wasn't a halibut.  We released it even though I knew they have good meat in the wings.  Ten minutes later, I hooked another about the same size so I passed it off to one of the other guys.

H20, We would have been happy to land anything out on Eastern on Friday....

[Seatown5]

castle rocker- Are you kidding about using scate as "sea scallops" just curious.  Had never heard that
 

[pjb3]

castle rocker- Are you kidding about using scate as "sea scallops" just curious.  Had never heard that

 

[h20hunter]

I have heard of people doing that with skates and rays. However, the only thing I wanted to do was put a few .45 rounds into it. However, I didn't.

[CastleRocker]

castle rocker- Are you kidding about using scate as "sea scallops" just curious.  Had never heard that

That's what we were always told.  It's like "Snow Crab"...there is no such thing as a Snow Crab.  That is a consumer market term for both species of Tanner Crab. 

Another is the "North Pacific Cod"...that will be either Pollack, (at Skippers), Grey Cod, (at most other fast food fish places), or Black Cod, ie. Sablefish, (at higher end restaurants).

When I was a commercial fisherman, we always heard that the Sea Scallops that are sold as "fresh" are mostly scate wings.  I don't know that for sure, but I do know that the real Sea Scallop is fished in the North Atlantic.  It would be hard to buy them "fresh" anywhere on the west coast let alone in Alaska. 

Like I said, it's just what we were told.  I have no proof.  We did eat some of the wings from skates, and they were pretty darn good the way our cook fixed them.

[lokidog]

I have heard that it is used as "scallop".  Haven't tried it myself.   Went back and looked at my pics, maybe not 200 lbs but way too big to real up for nothing....

Technically, I guess these are Big Skates Raja ocellata.