Hi again, Druid. The question you have raised is an interesting point. If I were fishing a sandy beach, where the depth of water shallows out to the shore, then no I would not use a gaff. The beach I fish, whilst not what I would call steep, does shelve considerably, and breakers are a huge problem when trying to land a large flatfish.

The biggest problem by far is the undertow. It is one thing to have a large ray trying to get free, it's another thing entirely when the undertow is doing its very best to pull the fish back to deeper water.

Where I fish it's rather like the opposite to the ninety-mile beach: there you watch for the seventh wave as it can be a big one, where I fish with patience you can wait for a smaller wave, then once it is in the shallows, the gaff finishes the job.

I always endeavour to gaff the fish in the wing, trying hard to miss the gut cavity. I have never experienced a fish that didn't swim away, whether happily or not is anyone's guess. Where I fish, on most days a gaff is vital. The breakers are the area where you at most risk of losing the fish, therefore the gaff eases the percentages a little more in the angler's favour.

My son-in-law is a relative newcomer to the sport so his description of the take and what happened next fitted perfectly with a large ray. I believe the part you can see in the distance is the wing of an eagle ray. These give an entirely different fight to a stingray, I have studied this in some depth.

I stingray is dogged, brute force and ignorance and they generally tend to hug the bottom - this is where a softer rod can help. Rather like a fly rod, it can absorb the extra pressure put on when the ray makes short but sudden runs near the surf, a firmer rod is not so good at handling this.

An eagle ray is a different proposition. At times during the fight they can become very active and it's not unusual for one to actually take off and heave their bodies out of the water. In the case of what my son-in-law hooked, his description was perfect for a large eagle ray: a long, very powerful run, then come up to the surface.

I am 99% sure it was an eagle ray and the speed and power of events shook my son-in-law rigid.

This is a film clip I put on YouTube last night, this happened about ten days ago. You will see the difficulty the breakers bring into play and where a gaff is essential. I urge you to look at the rod during the latter stages of the battle, you will see the rod absorb the powerful lunges.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR6iEjAJZ9k

The rod I was using is an Okuma XF1503SFM, a cheap rod as surf rods go, from memory it cost me $140.00. However, this handles a large ray far better than the other rods I have at double the price. The Okuma rod may not last long, especially with the work I put it through but should it snap tomorrow, it owes me nothing. In the last three weeks it has landed five rays over thirty pounds up to forty-five and several smaller models.

Sorry about the sound on the clip, that morning the wind was really blowing.