
Photo: Tomas Willems & Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Hypanus americanus
How to catch Southern stingray in Florida
Southern stingray feed in 66–92°F water and bite best at 74–88°F.
10 pts · trophy at 40"Feeds 66–92°FBest 74–88°FIn season nowGrass flatBeach / surfChannel edgePass / inlet
About
The big brown ray of the flats and the surf, a hundred pounds across in the passes, that takes a bottom bait meant for a redfish and tows the boat. The cobia ride on its back; the sharks eat its wings.
How to fish it
You catch them by accident on the bottom. Heavy gear if you mean to; cut the leader at the water and mind the barb. Legal, and better released.
What it eats
cut baitshrimpcrabs
Live bait for it
Live shrimpUnder a popping cork or free-lined, hooked under the horn on a #1 to 2/0 circle hook; on a jig head for the bottom. The universal inshore bait.
Blue crabsWhole and small for permit and tarpon; halved or quartered on the bottom for black drum, redfish and cobia.What to fish it with
the sizes that fish itLeader80–150 lb mono
Hook8/0–16/0
Braid65–150 lb
The rule
not confirmed hereNo size limit; general bag — confirm at MyFWC.
The current rule at MyFWC →Month by month, water by water
When southern stingray is the story
The Panhandle
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The Big Bend & Nature Coast
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Tampa Bay & Sarasota
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Charlotte Harbor & the Islands
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The Ten Thousand Islands & Everglades
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The Florida Keys
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Miami & Biscayne Bay
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Palm Beach & the Treasure Coast
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The Space Coast Lagoons
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The First Coast
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