Giant Australian River Monster

I'm going to catch the biggest stingray I've ever seen from a dock. The smooth stingray is one of the largest and most venomous rays in the world. These massive creatures roam the Mercy River in Tasmania, Australia, where they can grow as big as a car. I'm fishing with my friend Jet, who's been filming fishing shows in Australia for over a decade, and his friend Jarvis, who is known for catching these giant stingrays. We drove over 300 miles to a dock just outside the city, where we started chumming for these river monsters. So to get these stingrays up here towards the boat ramp here, we've got two types of chum. We've got this, which you've got in a burley pot, which is a burley log. We put that on the bottom, and as you can see, when you shake that, all that minced fish just goes out real slowly and fine, so they come, they can find it, and they don't get too full. And then over here, we've got our second type, which is red pellets, and what that does is it creates a really good, oily, real fine mixture on the surface, which all the bait fish come for, and that can attract the stingrays. So what we've got, a whole heap of stuff. They're not that fussy, but nice big baits. We'll cut a fillet off one of these yackers. Yellowtail scad, yeah, yackers. We'll cut these open. Sharp knife, dude. It is a sharp knife. Do you use a fillet, or do you use a fillet? Yeah, we'll use a fillet. Do you use the carcass? No. You can use both, but we'll just use a fillet for now, so what we'll do... You don't think the little fish are going to rip it to pieces? Nah, there's nothing in here that should be... Let's get right... Went straight through that knife. He's so sharp. Yeah. That'll be fine. We'll just cut the tail off. So for these big boys, we're going to use the Mustad right here, Demon Perfect Superhook in 9-0t. It's a 39943. Smaller hook, heavy gauge, 4X strong. Crimp it on. 300-pound monoliter. I'd literally pin it right to the nose. Bottom jaw, top jaw. Yeah, that's perfect bait. Look at that. Right there. If you show that side, all these juices are going to leak into the water, and that's what he's going to come for. Yep. All right, Jarvis, hold this. I'm going to pull some line out. Toss it out there. How far out do you want me to toss it? All right, here we go. Bait is going out. So here and wait. And are they dangerous? Yeah, if you don't handle them carefully, they can be, yeah. I noticed that their barb's way back in the tail. Like a scorpion over the top of their head. Yeah. You know anybody that has been injured by them? Yeah, I know a bloke. It was about a year ago. He got stabbed through the forearm. Ended up in hospital. Lost his... Lost his forearm. He cut his arm off? Mm-hmm. Yep. Got blown down south. Pretty serious. Yeah, they're no joke. How big's the barb normally? On the smooth rays, maybe that long. It's like a sword. Massive. It's a dagger. It's definitely a dangerous weapon. You don't want to get near it. No. Yeah, you've got to be extremely careful with them. Oh, slimy mackerel. Yeah, yeah, that's what it was. Slimy mackerel. Yeah, let's catch him. There he is there. You ready? Get him, get him, get him, get him. Oh, it's a giant slimy. That's a big slimy. That's a big mackerel. Here he comes. Mullet's eating it, mullet's eating it. Catch the mullet, dude. Yeah, I will if he eats. He's got it. Oh, my gosh. That's a good bite. Dude, look at that mullet, bro. That's a yellow-eyed. Yep, yellow-eyed mullet. Oh, my gosh. Look at the yellow eye right there. Wow. We're using froze berry now. That's going to be our fresh berry there. Look at that thing. Oh, my gosh. Is this what they're normally eating? The smooth rays? Yeah, that's what they're normally catching. Wow. Boom. That is a pristine bait. All right, Jarvis, put me in. Free spool. Give me some. Yep, clicker. All right, Jack, get us another bait, buddy. Get us another bait. Oh, he's got it. Sonny's got it. Oh, my gosh. Yes. Oh, my gosh, dude. Look at that. Are you kidding me right now? The tinker mackerel. That is a great bait for everything. Marlin eat those. Wahoo eat those. Bluefin tuna eat these. Everything eats this fish. It's one of the best bait fish in the world. Oh, my gosh. Giant stingray. Holy moly, dude. Oh, my gosh. He's here. Great. Good spot, Josh. Good spot. He's right underneath the dock. He's underneath the dock, dude. Kill it. Not the whole thing. Kill it. There you go. He will smack that. He won't leave. He'll stay around. He's not leaving. He's probably on that burly bucket. He will sniff that out. He's here. Oh, my gosh. He's here. How big is that one, dude? That's a little one. No. No, that's a big one, Jarvis. He's a massive. He's massive. He's huge. I'd say he'd be 300 pounds. That's him. That's a giant one. He's big. He's coming back around. Oh, my gosh. He's coming back around. Get your bait ready on the bottom. He'll come back around. Here he is. Right here. He's looking at you. He's going to go over your bait in two seconds. Oh, my gosh. He's right there. You're right. Just do it. He'll sniff it out. He'll take his... No, he's eating it. He's eating it. Oh, my gosh. Let him eat it. He's eating it right now. He's suctioning the bottom. He's going to eat it. See how he's doing this? He's just getting it in. He shouldn't drop it. There's two baits there, so just let him have his time. Grab the other one. There's two of them, bro. That's a smaller one. You got the big one. You sure? Yeah. Mate, this thing's twice the size. He's eating that. He's going left to the pole. Do you want me to pass it around? He's got it. He's got it, man. He's got it. Take your time. Let him swim out. He's going there. Maybe he doesn't have it. I think he does. There's one here. Drop it. The bait's gone. Here. He'll eat it. You're going to have to let him have it for a long time. He'll get it down. Oh, my gosh. It's the giant fish. He's going to eat that. That's him, right? Yeah, that's him. He should stop. Look at the barb. Look at the barb, Josh. He's got it. Let's just keep trying. You've got him. You've definitely got him. You've got him. Yep, you've got him. Watch him around the jetty. You've got him. Josh, Josh. Do a pass. Grab it, grab it. I've got it. You've got him. I've got it, I've got it. We're good. Yes, Josh. You've got him. Is that the big one? Yes, it's the monster. Right. Yeah, yeah, let's clean this out of the way for you. Well done, Josh. All right, we are hooked up. Got him on. Well done. This thing is a tugboat, bro. I might have to put more drag on him. You put the carb on it. I mean, that's 30 pounds of drag in there and he's pointing like nothing. Tell me if you need a harness, Josh. I would just wait until he's settled because if he didn't have the harness, he might go back around the pole. Yeah, great point. And we can always get on the rocks to land him up here. Yeah, that's the plan. We'll drag him up there and put on his barb. This is crazy. There you go, brother. That's a monster. I've been wanting to catch one of these short-tailed stingrays for... Listen to that. It's actually smoking. Oh my God. I've been wanting to catch one of these for a long time. Dude, this is a monster. I don't know how big a one... Oh, look at him on the surface. Look at the boil. This thing, Josh, I could be wrong, but I'm going to say it's in the vicinity of 500 pounds. You think it's 500 pounds? I think it's in the vicinity. We'll have a look when we get him up, but this is a monster. Okay, so how do you handle these things? Would the barb be enough far from the tail? We're going to have to be careful. He can whip you and get you. Yeah, like Jarvis said, he knows people have lost arms to him, so they're a bit dangerous, but we'll be careful. We'll put a towel on him. Yeah, or a little rope or something. We don't want to hurt him, so we'll just take our time. Oh, my gosh. He is so strong, dude. Look at the boil he's leaving. It's like a car. He's a massive fish. This is like as big as you could hope for. Once you see him up close, you're going to be shocked how big this thing is. I'm going to tell you straight up. I haven't fished for a stingray. It's one of the first things you catch as a surf fisherman. Yeah, yeah. Fish on the beach. And I've always loved catching stingrays. And when I found out that these short-tail or the smooth stingrays were here... Yeah, biggest in the world. I've always wanted to come here and catch one of these. I'm not joking you. Yeah. They thought I was crazy. That's like... I'm not crazy. Do you reckon he's six foot across? Oh, comfortably. He's huge. That's about as big as I get. And he's probably this tall across the top of his head. You couldn't get a bigger one. Really? It would be massive. You can't really tell until you get him up near the surface, but he's a monster. There's no doubt about that. You said your biggest was 250 pounds? 250 pounds. This thing's double. This would be like 200 kilos. Really? More. 200, 250. We'll have to have a look. No, look at him going. He's going. Look at the water. Oh, my gosh. He's going to jump. Did he jump? No. They're too heavy. When they're little, they can, but these ones are too heavy. They just can't get out of the water. At least that circle looks like it. Bro, this is going to take like 30 minutes. It could do. It could do, yeah, but it could also be five. We don't know. He'll be very stuck. No, bro. That's a big, big fish. Oh, the barb just hit the surface. Holy moly. Do you want to bring him around this pole, Josh? There's a tail. That's what I reckon. Yeah, Josh, let's bring him around the pole and we can get on the rocks. Yeah, exactly. Go now. Yeah. Go now. Ready? Yep, just back there. Yeah, that's all. Yep, perfect. All right. Yep. Good? Yeah, I got it. You got it? Yep. I'm here if need be. I'm in the water. What are we going to do about the tail? Put the towel on it. Put the towel over his barb. Yep. And if you get it go from the front, he won't get you because he can't, he can't get his, he can't spike his head. This thing is a, take that, like a tank. Yeah, I'm not getting close to it. Look at the, look at the cloud of smoke. Oh my gosh, dude. Or we can start walking down the beach, Josh. So I'm going to let him swim out. I'm going to, he's going now. I'm going to let him go. Because that cove up there is really hot. Okay, so he's going, he is going this way, right? Look at that. Yeah, he's just going to keep changing. Guys, all this brown, all of that is from the stingray. That is a monster animal. That's how much water he's moving. It's unbelievable. Okay, ready? Yep. Sorry, Davis. All right. Thank you. All right. Yeah, I got him. Okay, so here's my thing I should do. I think I should run down these rocks. I'm going to hand this down to you. Ready? Yep. So I can get down. And start walking. Let's walk quickly so it doesn't go near the pole. Let's go that way. Holy moly, these rocks are sketchy if I'm going to fish on. Yeah, just go gentle. Yeah, look, he's coming with us. I can come to about here if you can. Josh? I'm trying to. Yeah, all good. Don't rush. There's something pulling on the other end, you know? Yeah, oh yeah. And these rocks are slippery. Just watch that line angle. He's coming with us. That's good. That's the line you wanted. Look at the boil, man. And if it's not, we can always go back and catch the other one. Yeah, you can get multiple. No, let's catch them all. If you're happy to get stretched by stingrays, go for it. Watch that barb. Josh, watch out, please. Watch out. Be careful. Let him do it. Wait until his head comes around. Oh my gosh, he's big, dude. Yeah, he's huge. Don't grab that later when he's... Look at the barb. Do you want the barb? He needs to spin around. Yeah, he needs to spin around before we can touch him. Don't go near that, Jarvis. That's... Oh, he won't know you're there, though. All right, we're good. Oh, watch that barb, man. He's gone. He's not happy. Man, he's done. How big do you think this thing is? I can't tell yet, but I'm going to say it's 150 to 200 kilos. 450 pounds. Yeah. 450 pounds. Pounds, yeah. Overweight, dude. Look at the barb, Josh. It's a foot long. You need to spin him around. Be careful, dude. Be careful, bro. Careful. It's stuck under his back fin, so we just got to get it out the front. No, we got it. We got it. He got it. He got it out from under there. Yeah, that's good. Perfect. Oh my... Look at him. That's a monster. Oh, wow. Look at the size of that. I'm just going to hold him. He can't get back any further. Oh, yeah, yeah. Watch that. I've never had a sword pull this hard on my face. No? Maybe Josh can. Good. There you go. Make the cinch line now. That's good. That stays there. So if you lift from the flaps or wherever... Oh my gosh, this thing's huge, bro. This is locked down good. This is unbelievable. This is the biggest stingray I've ever caught in my life. Look at the size of that thing. It's got to be at least 400 plus pounds, 200 plus kilos. Look at that thing. It's six feet across. This thing could fit on... Paul, I don't think this could fit in your truck, dude. It's that big. Holy moly, this thing's massive. And now we're going to let it go. You ready? Here we go. Give it a yank. There you go. Holy moly. Here we go. He's free. He's good to go whenever he wants. He's good to go. Wow. That is a monster. There he goes. We're in the Demerse River, and we just caught a stingray that's half the size of a carp. Oh my gosh. Congratulations, man. Wow. That was crazy right there. And there was more than one there, so I think we should go catch another one. We've got to catch another one. Let's go get another one, dude. Thank you, Josh. Look at this guy. It's on the mustad hook right here. Look at that. Mustad's 180 kilos. You think 180 kilos? 400 pounds. That's what it is. So that guy that got stabbed through the arm. What was his name? I'm not sure. He was actually a friend of a friend. So there was a guy fishing right here? No, this was over in a different river close by, but yeah, they had to amputate the arm to stop the spread of necrosis. Oh my gosh. That's how dangerous they are. Okay, so not to be played with. No, very dangerous. Very dangerous. It was just a scratch, so we're good, right? Yeah, you'll be fine. You're certified doctor, right? Okay. You lose your hand, don't blame me. So we tried catching another stingray, but they didn't come back. That evening, we drove back to St. Helens and met Paul, who was Jet's dad, the host of iFish TV, and an Australian legend. The next day, we headed offshore to catch more giant stingrays and hopefully some new species. We're just chopping baits for the shark on because when you get there, you want to set it as early as possible and you don't want to be mucking around chopping baits while you're ready to put your line out. So if we do it all now while we're waiting for dad to come back from the car, when we get there, we can literally pin them all on and drop it straight away. There's an old saying that proper preparation prevents poor performance. That's why we always have everything ready in time. So I'm just baiting up the long line. Today, we're using 30 hooks. You'll see a nice long chain hook there, a bit of octopus. We're going to use octopus, squid, freshwater eel, and salmon. It's important to mix it up because you just never know what the fish are going to be feeding on. So our main target space on the long line today is a gummy shark, also known as a smooth hound, and we're using very, very smelly baits. The reason for that, the smooth hound, hence its name, has an incredible sense of smell. And they'll swim from two, three miles away when they smell this stinky salmon or a bit of eel. So we leave the line there for two hours and we come back and see what we've found. We're going to catch some undesirable fish as well, but that's half the fun. It's like a lucky dip. You never know what you're going to get. Paul, the gummy sharks are actually good eating? They are absolutely incredible. One of my favorite fish that comes out of these southern waters. Come on. As a kid, the reason I fell in love with fishing, I could look into the woods and I could see a bird, I could see a kangaroo, and I could see it was there. But if I look at the ocean, I have no idea what lies beneath. And for me, that's the joy, being able to catch a fish and go, wow, look at that beautiful rainbow trout. Look at the colors. Mahi, mahi. Wow. So to be able to pull it from the ocean and see it, I reckon it's a pretty special thing. Absolutely. So to be able to put a line down with 30 hooks, which is legal in Tasmania. So I've got a license for 15. Jet has a license for 15. We've joined them together. We've put 30 hooks down. Who knows what we're going to pull up. How cool is that? It could be crazy. It's going to be crazy. Now, we have a backup plan as always. If we can't manhandle this thing over the side, my friend Gary's here. He has a hauler. He will come. We'll put on his hauler and we'll hydraulically lift him up. All right. Okay? If that happens, it's going to be kind of crazy. We've got about 500 feet of rope and 30 hooks. Let's see how much trouble we can get into. All right, let's do it. Let's do it. So where's our first buoy? There's one buoy. We'll put that buoy over there. And this is our big buoy. So that's attached to our rope. Okay, so here we go. First buoy. Feather that in. Feather her in. That's a lot of rope. Yeah, I think we've got about 40, 50 meters on the first join. So just whack it on the side for a sec. Oh, yeah, there you go. Yep, just need to be careful. You like that nice artwork I did last night over there? It's fantastic. So if you put that over the side. Don't drop it yet. I will now drop this like this. Just watch that rope. And that will take our rope to the bottom. Are you ready with baits, Jeff? Yep. When do you want with the first hook? When we're ready. And now, yep, keep going. Keep going. A bit more, mate. Go hard. Hard, right. Yep, go hard. And back that way. That's it. Keep going. We've got a mix. We've got fresh octopus, fresh salmon, and some eel, which has been frozen, so you never know what they're going to eat. Eel is normally pretty good because it doesn't fall off the hook, but you just never know. Oh, that's the one. The big tenny juice. That's the swordfish bait right there. Beautiful. Well done, team. So now just keep driving, Jeff. Boom. Our buoy line is out. All right, here we go. Chuck this carpet on the gunwale just so we don't scratch everything. We'll come alongside it. You've got the atomic ones. I'll put some black paint things on. It's going to be heavy, especially if there's some big stingrays on there. Can you imagine? Oh, it's going to be painful. You get the stingray cannon on the buoy. It's going to be so painful. Is it heavy, Paul? Yeah. Is that our first brick here? First brick? We're going to have to definitely take turns here. Yeah. No, you'll be all right. Did I go? You'll be fine. I'm ready to go when you are. I'm doing all the heavy lifting at the moment. I'm doing nothing. There's something big on here, guys. There's something massive on here. It could be that, but it could be... Oh, it's pulling in line. I reckon we'll have a flathead, a gummy shark, a stingray or skate, and a draft board along the line. What's a draft board? Like a little wobbegong. Really? Oh, my gosh. That would be crazy. Oh, what is that? We don't know. It's a gummy shark or a sturdog. That's a little gummy. A little gummy? Look at that hook out. He's nice. He's got heaps on him, man. Is that a better one? That's a better one. It would still be on the edge, but it's a nicer one. He could be legal size, this one. Okay, can someone just grab this rope for me? There's something big on there. We've got a big shark, boys. Oh, this is big. I need someone to grab this rope under my feet. Hang on, Jeff. It's a skate. We've got a skate. Yeah, it's a skate. He's right. There's another gummy shark. Oh, my gosh. Look at this guy's escape. Dude, that is epic. Wow. That is so cool. Look at that. Oh. Look at that. Oh, my gosh. He ate the octopus. Bring him in the boat. Oh, yeah. Watch it. Watch it, Jeff. Move. I got him. There we go. Big white spot skate. Wow, dude. Let's get him back. We can't have these in the boat for too long. You happy to get him back in a release video? Yeah. Here. Put him right there. You ready? Yeah. Put him on there. I've got stuff kicking in. We've only had two bear hooks, I reckon. Oh, there's a bear hook. No way. Come on. Oh, we've got a draft board coming up here. Oh, my gosh. What is that? Drafty. Yeah, draft board. Draft board. Bring him in the boat. What is that? That is a draft board shark. Here, let me grab that thing. Also known as a sleepy shark, swell shark. Here comes a gummy or something. There's something bigger on the end. Oh, this could be a spur dog here. I don't know what it is. Very big. Oh, it's got a skate or something and a gummy as well. A gummy as well. Wow. Look at that. Oh, my gosh. Look at the size of this thing. Bring that thing up. Put him in the boat real quick. It's a boy. He's got two willies. Yeah. Oh, there's another gummy shark. Another nice gummy shark. Wow. That's one of your favorite eating fish bowls, I think. That is. It's a gummy shark. So you would rather eat that than a wahoo? Absolutely. About a thousand times. Gummy shark, you can tell he's got white spots. Two dorsal fins. You see one there, one there. And the most incredible sense of smell. These things smell baits from a mile away. They grow to about 40 kilos. But that's about the best eating fish in Tasmania. Oh, wow. Look at that. Here. Let's put him in the live wall. That's so cool. Boom. So that is the other end of our little bit of fun. But how cool was that? We saw some awesome stuff. Look at that right there, guys. That is the gummy shark. Never held one of these before. Looks very much like a dogfish. A little different. Look at that eye. That eye is incredible. We pulled up our remaining gear and headed inshore to a stingray sanctuary where I got to hand feed monster stingrays. All right. See if these stingrays will eat. Oh, here we go. Here we go. Right here. Come on. Oh. Oh, hello there, big boy. Hello. He's going crazy. Oh, my gosh. They're everywhere around me. I can't see them. Okay, here he comes. Here he comes. Oh, my gosh. You've got the biggest ones right here. Come on. You've got to watch that tail. They've got barbs. Holy moly. Here he comes. Oh, my gosh. Look at that. Crazy. They're barbing this one. Let's see. Gosh, look at the size of that animal. That is a massive animal. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, he's got a barb. Watch out. Come here, you. Oh. Oh, you want it? Come on. Oh, look. Look, look, look, look, look. Let him get out of the water. Come on. Get him. Oh, shoot. He's coming after me. Watch out. He's getting aggressive. Oh, my gosh. Look how aggressive he is. Come on. Oh, my gosh. That one's got a barb. Watch out. Holy moly. This is so crazy. 400 pounds. Three 400 pound stingrays. Hand feeding them right here. This is unbelievable. He knows I've got food. Watch. Wow. That is so wild. Pick up another one right here. Look at that. That is crazy. I had so much fun feeding those stingrays. It was an amazing experience. I have to give a huge shout out to my buddies Paul, Jet, and Jarvis for showing me Tasmania's amazing fishery. Go give them a follow on Instagram. Their links are in the description. If you want to catch a giant stingray like the one you saw in this video, Jet and Jarvis are offering stingray trips. Hit them up on Instagram, send them a DM, and book your trip today. I caught my giant stingray on a Mustad hook, and to celebrate this, we are bringing back our limited edition Mustad hats. There are only 100 available. Click the product tab on this video and get yours today. I also want to let you know that our Black Tip H Signature Rigs built by Mustad are now available at Bass Pro Shops, Walmart, and many of your local dealers. Go check them out. They're going to help you catch your next giant fish. I just want to thank you guys again for supporting our brand, and I'm looking forward to making more amazing products to help you have success on the water. Click here to watch our most recent video, and if you haven't already, click that subscribe button, like this video, write a comment, and we'll see you next time.