while fishing thousand islands area in cocoa i entered into a breeding ground (sting ray mating season) all day had the foot shuffle goin on no probs. the water was quite murky do to north east winds. found an are of calm water which looked pretty fishy. my girlfriend and i got out of the canoe and started wading in 10 inches of water she hooked a 28 inch trout i ran to the canoe for the net i netted the trout and brought it back to the boat, all of the sudden BAM! Went through my tevo leather water shoes and even as i was trying to remove my foot he kept stabbing through till he went all the way through. I YELLED OUT SON OF A B#'"H! clouds of blood filled the water.. had to paddle 3 miles back to the ramp in "hot foot" agony to my amazement as soon as i hit the hot pavement with my foot RELIEF... thankfully this ray to his barb with him and i experienced no swelling and was pretty much fine an hour and a half later.. Moral of the story EVEN WHEN EXCITED SHUFFLE YOUR FEET! ive been fishing and surfing 35 yrs first time ever! and remember use heat to soothe the pain not COLD WATER, OUCH! my girlfriend is a nurse and insisted washing the fresh wound with bottled water from the cooler SHEAR AGONIZING ELECTRIFIED BURN!

Welcome to the Stingray Club.
Maybe we can start an Association of wounded vets?

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"Fishing can best be defined as an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer."

Hello my name is Paul I've been stung three times I just can't help my self I just love to put my self in harms way Haha

I feel your pain. Hope you heal well.

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Prowler 13

I ve been in the water most my time and I can say never been hit....yet...nock on wood. But thanks to you all atleast I would know what to do. The problem would be getting there to get the hot water. Hope you fell better. I do fish for sting ray cause it is good food. But I might have to stop for the fact that I do it in a kayak and it gets closed to getting stung. I had a closed call the other day, the ray would not stop flaping, and what whent thrue my mind was all the posting Ive been reading about sting rays and getting stung.lol...So for the first time ever I cut the line. You guys but the feer in me...LOL...But I thank you all for that. Do not wish to experience or become part of the sting ray club...lol...Hope you feel better and get well soon.

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I have come here to chew bubble gum and drink rum...and I'm all out of bubble gum. Where's the rum?

i now will carry heat paks in my first aid kit on board thanks to the awesome life guards on cocoa beach they gave me quite a few extras . but glove warmers and hot patches will do the trick they even say holding the affected are over a lit candle will work wonders so i will have emergency trick candles on board since they will be unnaffected by wind. the heat actually neutralizes the venom. stingray boots are an option but i believe that if someone makes sometype of kevlar bullet proof socks that would be the key to a small fortune.. i tried on some stingray gaurds and they did not cover the area i was stung . so would have to be worn with stingray proof boots

a sailcat barb actually did me in worse a few years back . i caught a large 15lb sailcat and released it on the flats and it was to shallow for it to swim and i kicked at it (all the while that split second into the kick i though"what the heck am i doing"? ) but my kick had followed through and BAM!!!!! it barbed me right on top of my foot, again a bloodletting cursed laden shout released from me! my foot was unable to fit into a shoe for 4 days and the pain was irritating for 2 weeks i finally dug out the barb a month later.. NO FUN! the craziest thing though was how the stingray actually pinned my foot with its tail for five excruciating seconds and i was unable to move it.! LITTLE F#^X#R! OK SO NOW! NO KICKING CATFISH! AND SHUFFLE FEET!EVEN WHEN EXCITED!

I'm in the club and so is a cousin of mine.

None of the physicians, even at the local ER I spoke to, knew to apply heat first as it was a heat derived protein. Thank gosh for the local lifeguards who helped you in that situation. That was good to know for future reference. The water was used to examine the entry/exit wound for evidence of a barb; I'm sure not to electrify you, lol.

i as an idiot kicked a 12lb sailcat (or let me rephrase forcefully nudged one )two years prior to the stingray and he shoved his barb in the top of my foot into bone i let out a howl that the calling bigfoot cast wished they could replicate! the pain was fierce but it was more of a localized pain very different from a ray more like a nail with minor burn! but my foot swelled worse 5 days no shoes ( i can only imagine of the ray hit me in bone how it would of swelled) the stingray wound leaked blood and puss for six weeks allthough i was able to wear shoes with a half hour wound dressing and saline foot bath daily! crazy thing was when the stingray wound happend i felt the catfish barb wound from two years prior must of not dug out the whole barb! it all sucks!! but the ray pain takes the pain cake!!!

I stepped ALL OVER a ray recently, I thought it was a piece of slimy wood or something, then I stepped back and looked down... I had pushed him down into the sand lol. I cant believe he didnt tag me. I know better... but I guess I just got over confident in the shallow clear water

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TARPON 140