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

[Straight Shooter]

Fishing off of Guadalupe Island, Mexico back in the 90s, I hooked what I thought was a 100 lb-class Black Sea Bass.  After a 15 minute battle, turned out to be a big Bat Ray.  Man, was I disappointed.

[PA BEN]

Thought I had a 100+ lb halibut last Saturday, until I finally got it to the boat. No pictures but it was 70 to 80 lb's. Very nice fight.

[bearpaw]

A big bugger for sure, looks like fun anyway....

[DOUBLELUNG]

Skates are one of the most-favored species in England for classic fish and chips.  Firm, dense white meat.

[Rob]

Pretty sure the skate in the top photo is a longnose skate, not a big skate.  the Big Skate have a huge spot on each wing.

I ran into a big skate up at Mukilteo while diving one night.  It was pushing 5 feet wide and the body was a good 10 to 12 inches thick in the middle.  I was able to touch it as it swam off.  I was not able to get in front of it and touch it's nose-sometimes they go immobile when you do that and you can lift them up off the ground.

Very neat animals. 

[dirty24d]

Skates are one of the most-favored species in England for classic fish and chips.  Firm, dense white meat.

   took the words out of my mouth, they are pretty good fried up have had them before, no complaints from me at all.

[YoterHunter]

skate is a very good tasting fish .they call them a poor man scallup.they use a peace of pipe and stamp the wings.   fishing nea bay years ago with my dad.  off the garbage dump. thought i had a monster halibut we got every thing ready .then when it came up it was a skate. it went from one side of the boat to the other.when it went under the boat it was wider then my boat which.was 7 ft. it was hooked in the wing pulled to the boat. pulled the hook and let it go.was prety cool seeing a fish that big.

[h20hunter]

You know whats funny Rob is my hundred or so dives at Muk, tdock, wall, crabbing over at the oil dock, hell, paying homage to troll down there...never once remember seeing any skate. Strangers things happen I guess. I was glad to let that one go and get away with no broken off gear. Also, i agree on the longnose classification.

[fisheral87]

Nice skate! You can always tell the difference between a skate and a halibut cause the skate doesn't give you those big head shakes. They make you pucker up for a while though. 

You could deep fry a skunks a$$ hole and it would probably taste just fine. 

One minute youre just flying along and then -BANG- gravy

Now that is funny.

[Rob]

You know whats funny Rob is my hundred or so dives at Muk, tdock, wall, crabbing over at the oil dock, hell, paying homage to troll down there...never once remember seeing any skate. Strangers things happen I guess. I was glad to let that one go and get away with no broken off gear. Also, i agree on the longnose classification.

Yeah, I have well over 100 dives there too-my favorite north end dive site for some reason even though it is not that exciting.  I'll do that over Cove 2 ANYDAY.  the shrimping is fantastic there too.

That is the only Skate I have ever seen there as well and it was several years ago.  I see them all over Three Tree point though.

Muk always seems like a cool spot to see unusual things.  I have seen true cod there more than once too.  Saw a pair of Six gills too.

Did you hear about he electric ray someone saw down at Redondo a few years back?  They got photos.  I snagged them as I figured no one would believe it...

[Rob]

Oh yeah, is T.O.M. still down there on the mound???  I have not gone to see Tom in a long long time.  I think it's probably about time to go do that again.

[phishisgroovin]

YUMMY!
Those Skate taste like Scallops! just cookie cutter cut the wings and deep fry!
Nothing better than dragging up a 100lb LOG to the boat lol!

[thinkingman]

We played that game outside of Sitka a few years back....never did get it to the boat.
The current was too strong and the thing was so wide, we could see it 50 yds off the back of the boat, just hanging in the current.
Broke off 100lb mono after about 20 min.
The guy that reeled it up from 330 ft was done for the day.

[h20hunter]

Regarding the troll. I'm not really sure. It has been a few years since I made the trip. I would assume so.