The ocean is full of massive creatures most of us will never actually see. However, a father and son fishing team from Texas recently managed to catch one of these absurdly large fish during a recent fishing competition. The duo reeled in a 600 lb. manta ray that they originally thought was a shark, and the photos may scare some off from ever going into the ocean again.
Daniel Arispe, and his son Jeremiah, were at Padre Island National Seashore last week for Sharkathon, which is a premier Texas Gulf Fishing Tournament. While the father and son team were planning on catching some sharks, they ended up with something even better on their fishing pole. The team managed to catch a 600 lb. manta ray, taking two hours to reel it in.
“Catching a manta ray on the beach is like catching lightning in a bottle. You know, it just doesn't happen. It was big, beautiful and enormous. We were both excited and kind of shocked,” said Arispe. According to My San Antonio, the manta ray was 9-feet wide from wing tip to wing tip. While it didn’t help them in the competition, the Texas duo might have had the best catch of the entire contest.
LISTEN on the Audacy App