Catching a heavy fish on a kayak? Noob question.

Hi all,
I recently started kayak fishing and have had some fun catching some shakers in the delta sloughs. I'm still waiting for my Finder to come in to complete my setup.
Last week my buddy and I went out to pt. richmond to do some peer fishing. We had live anchovies and have been pretty successful with them. Usually, with live anchovy we target stripers or sharks.

About 2hours before high tide I get a big hit  and the reel starts peeling.I set the hook, my lamiglass goes into full parabola mode... long story short, I never saw the beast but buy the way it reacted it was very likely a big bat ray.First it peeled away from the peer then it came back and peeled under the peer where I lost him because I was trying too hard to get him away from under the peer.

This lasted about 15min and my arm was pretty soar. It was like a little bulldozer doing whatever it wants underwater.

So here is my ultimate question: What would of happened to me if I were on a kayak? I was thinking about it and I sort of freaked me out. If I hook a ray that size on my kayak, I'm going for a ride into who knows what...

Can someone please explain to me what the standard procedures are?


Thanks

Sit back, hang on, and enjoy the sleigh ride!

If the fish is taking you too far away or somewhere not safe you can always cut the line.

keep the rod towards the bow and watch the GWS breach. 

I made a mistake and kept my rod towards the side once.. when it dove down the rod slipped off one of my hand and on the side of the kayak.  Almost flipped me..  I never saw the fish, but it was on there for over 15 minutes.  Felt like a ling but I never had a ling on there that strong or had to fight it that long.  I was too excited and should of wore it out more.

I agree with bpowa, don't keep the rod kicked off the side. I started out using my 9' surf rod kicked off the side at a 45. The first 2 lings nearly threw me out of the boat. Long story short, surf rod lives is retired. I keep the drag a little looser and the rods fishing either forward or back.

My son (BRDOPRY) had his yak just over a week and caught a batray about 100 lbs just of the ARW boat ramp. It took him about 45 minutes to bring it in where some friends in a small boat were able to grab it and remove the hook.  It at times was towing him about 4.5 mph according to his gps.  This happened in 2010.

Can be done, this big bastard took be an hour and 1/4 mile. Too bad I can't seem to reply with a video or I post one of him peeling my line.

The kayak gives you a big advantage over being on a pier.  Go for a ride, tire it out - you can potentially land any size fish on your yak.

Good luck and have fun.   

I caught 2 80ish lb bats at the arw about a month ago. Good thing i was on hvy tackle. Each time it took about 15-20 mins. Its fun, but it got annoying after the first time. I agree, keep the rod tip towards the bow, on a few occasions i thought he was going to flip me, so when i had then to the side of the boat i loosened the drag so i don't flip or loose my rod. They would dive a few times, but i try to keep them off the bottom where they do their suction cup thing.  At the end, they were too big to land or handle so i just wanted most of my rig back and cut the line right where the hook was and didn't even bother to remove the hook.

the lesson i learned is that on a kayak, yes there's a big advantage to fighting a fish, and the other thing is i don't need anything more than 25lbs mono leader to land something that big, unless its a rocky area where they would grind down the line.

you can straddle your kayak when a big fish gets near to prevent from flipping over. Loosen the drag too when it's close.

It works

you can straddle your kayak when a big fish gets near to prevent from flipping over. Loosen the drag too when it's close.

It works

Might as well lock the string with that post 
How much did it weight?
Did you have any assistance?
Hawaii/Mexico?
Striped or Blue?

you can straddle your kayak when a big fish gets near to prevent from flipping over. Loosen the drag too when it's close.

It works

Might as well lock the string with that post 
How much did it weight?
Did you have any assistance?
Hawaii/Mexico?
Striped or Blue?

150lb.
Unassisted. 4 miles out.
Hawaii
Blue Marlin. Striped marlin don't get that big in HI.

you can straddle your kayak when a big fish gets near to prevent from flipping over. Loosen the drag too when it's close.

It works

Might as well lock the string with that post 
How much did it weight?
Did you have any assistance?
Hawaii/Mexico?
Striped or Blue?

150lb.
Unassisted. 4 miles out.
Hawaii
Blue Marlin. Striped marlin don't get that big in HI.

That is a great photo!

Awesome pics.
Thanks all. I think I got the basics. As soon as I finish my install I'm heading out.