Mud Marlin/Leopard Sharks

[SFHOGWILD]

This week I fished both from the shore and out of my good friends boat for rays and sharks. I started out tuesday for leopard sharks at San Quentin prison. At the top of the high tide our surf reels were screemin' with non stop small sharks and what I thought at the time was decent size rays.
http://img478.imageshack.us/img478/2299/mud001xl0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

My perception of what big rays "mud marlins" are will be forever changed by a great day on the water with my friend Jason Alex and his girlfriend Jen. The wind swells kept us in the bay today so we broke out the stand up gear 170# test wire leaders 9/0 hooks with anchovies and squid for bait. As soon as we hit anchor we started soaking bait the first bite came within seconds. The action did not slow down all day we had to pull the lines out of the water so we could eat and rest for a few minutes I was impressed with Jen who went the distance with the biggest ray of the day. I lost count after ten and we released all the rays today. You can't beat a hot day on the water and it was nice to use my stand up gear which got taken to task on multiple occasions today...http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/4643/mud009uh3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/9249/mud010ye3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)