Why do some spectators criticize fishermen when they catch something that is not exactly a fish?

Question

I am talking about sharks, bat rays that are legal to catch and bag. I just caught a 40lb bat ray and I left it in the open , so some people who saw it started giving me a hard time and I told them to mind their own business.

Answer 1

go ahead and catch anything you can with a pole.

Answer 2

if it lives in the water its a fish to me. as for those a**holes just ignore them they apparently dont no anything about fish

Answer 3

You say you left it in the open.  Do you mean you caught it and just left it there to rot, with no intentions of releasing it while alive or bringing it home to eat?  If you just planned on leaving it there to rot and not do anything with it, I would have given you an earful as well.

Answer 4

What  happened here is that your ran across some people who went all PETA on you. Most people don't know that bat rays are pretty good to eat and make great bait for sharks as well. Whatever your intentions were for the ray, you should have told them what those intentions were and maybe in the process you would have educated them. It's none of their business in the first place but it's always better to stop the B.S. in it's tracks instead of listening to more B.S. all day. Next time you intend to keep a ray for whatever purpose, it's best to keep it in a cooler, even if you have to cut it up a bit to fit it in. In some states though, it's illegal to clean your catch until your done fishing for the day. You may have to place it in a large bag with ice to keep it fresh. A big ray like that is a tough job to keep fresh but by planning ahead you'll manage. ~good luck catchin'.

Answer 5

let me teach u how to eat a ray.when u catch them make sure that the anal is facing u when u have landed the fish Cos the fish will urinate so the smell of ammonia will not stay with that ray but take care of the sting when its anal facing u,they become very aggressive.usually I use my foot to step on that sting when dislodging the hook with left hand pressing the ray.U can steam the fish with garlic n ginger/chinese style remember just bout 15minutes after the water boiled then put the fish on a plate into the steamer.seasoned well even heavy Cos rays don't absorb the flavor well but dont take the skin off this skin is tasty when served hot.when cold the fish is quite smelly but not until the smell is foul just fishy.for those other fisherman f...them.sharks r only tasty when u panfried them but remember to pell off the skin its very rough like eating sand cos of the softbones in the skin,for sharks dont need much care bout the ammonia smell.they think its easy to target this sort of fish?ask them to fish them for u if the have so much to say.

Answer 6

Rays and sharks are fish. They may not be what some people think of as fish, but they are.

As for criticizing you for catching either one of those, not me! First of all, if you are using cut bait or whole fish as bait, you can't control what is going to try to eat it. Secondly, hauling in a ray is an accomplishment in itself most of the time. Thirdly, rays are really good to eat!

Keep on fishin!