# Have any of you tried making your own ray guards?



## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Shuffle and don’t back pedal and you’ll be fine. Stingrays will follow your mud trail and eat bait that is following your mud trail so NEVER take a step backwards. Ray guards end up rubbing your shins raw then you run the risk of contracting vibrio. I wade more than I am in the boat and have never been hit.


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## fjmaverick (Sep 18, 2015)

I dont wade fish as much as you guys but I used to go swimming with rays all the time and I never got hit. I have a picture from when I was a kid in the middle of a school of dozens of them up on clearwater beach.


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## Capnredfish (Feb 1, 2012)

Some heavy boots and 6inch pvc pipe cut to fit up to knees should work. Or follow above advice.


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Same here as with Smackdaddy. I learned to shuffle when I was a boy and knock on wood, never been hit. I have a spot where trashcan lid size rays will come right up to me and even slide all around me, but never been stung.


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## jhreels (Apr 20, 2017)

I think I'll take y'alls advice and just perfect my shuffle game. I just got on a tangent at work reading peoples stories about 'the worst pain of their life' and the giant bullet holes in their legs.

Sounds like a pistol off ray can shoot that thing right through a ray guard though


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Make sure tho you don't get carried away with the shuffling of your feet or you'll spook the fish too.


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## Gatorgrizz27 (Apr 4, 2015)

If you’re that worried about it I’d wear some Cordura wading boots and a pair of these. 

https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/Pr...ebagKHUSD1LCmeur9CKVK29NqGCdQpe4aAoQUEALw_wcB

Cheap and saltwater won’t affect them.


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## KurtActual (Sep 25, 2017)

I havent seen reports of the Crackshots being defeated, but I'm sure with enough use, anything could fail.
I have only gone wading 3 times, twice without guards and once with. I likely wont go again without them. Not worth the risk, especially when it's an hour+ run back to the marina.


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## Rick hambric (Jun 24, 2017)

Shuffle properly. If you’re wearing pants, then strap on some snake guards.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

I have a brand new set of Crackshot ray guards if anyone is interested. I paid about $60 for them and never used them.


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## KurtActual (Sep 25, 2017)

@Smackdaddy53 I may bother you about those before I go wade fishing again this fall


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## Outearly (Oct 20, 2015)

I got popped 15 years ago, and wear ray guards. They're no hindrance, I wear neoprene socks, no problem with abrasion.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

KurtActual said:


> @Smackdaddy53 I may bother you about those before I go wade fishing again this fall


Hit me up whenever, jhreels is second in line so if you want them jump on it!


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

Raydogs suck. I’ve been “hit” one time. Luckily, it some how hit the side of the sole of my shoe. Damn near knocked me off my feet and put a pretty good gash in the sole. 

With that said if you shuffle you’ll be fine... just don’t slide your feet down in any holes to quickly. They tend to layup in them.


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## KurtActual (Sep 25, 2017)

@Smackdaddy53 You can put him ahead of me. I'm full of excuses right now. (Building a house, being a 33 year old in my last semester of college, kids, etc)


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## sjrobin (Jul 13, 2015)

Wade barefoot if in a no oyster/rock zone and you can feel the bottom and what ever is on the bottom.


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## yobata (Jul 14, 2015)

Ive also been told the whole point of shuffling is so the rays feels the shuffle and get out of your way. It makes sense, if they know you're around... they're prob more scared of you than you are of them


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## State fish rob (Jan 25, 2017)

sjrobin said:


> Wade barefoot if in a no oyster/rock zone and you can feel the bottom and what ever is on the bottom.


Ive been cut up too much w random junk ( oyster shells to broken glass ) to wade bare foot. Not much water clarity in the pamlico sound. Wading boots for me. No bare feet ,no sandles either. I wear an old pair of canvas dress gaitors as well . USN issue. Military surplus


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Guys, guys.....guys.... guys.... How do you think you get hit/stung by a ray?? You step on it! Duh! Getting hit is a defense mechanism to say "Get the F_ _ k off of me... Boiiiii!!!

Lightly shuffling your feet kicks up just enough silt (and I ain't talking about pushing sand and plowing grass flats with your boots either) to say to them "hey, I'm coming your way!" They're smart and will move out of your way. It's the dumb tourist stompin around the beaches that get hit by little juvi rays, but the bigger ones you see out on the flats are a little smarter than that. I've actually come right up to big trash can lids and just moved them over with my foot with no issues, just to see if I could do that. Otherwise, don't be some dumb idiot and carelessly stomp thru the water like you don't know what yer doin! Do you do that in the woods? Hello!!! Snakes!!! Hello!!! You're spookin all the game and eventually gonna get bit!!!  No, you look down were your going and where you are stepping, right? 

So use your head out there and you'll be fine. If your one of those paranoid kinda guys and have to wear snake guards to go into the woods, then so be it. But if you move thru the water like you are moving thru the woods stalking deer, looking down where you are stepping, instead of being ignorant and looking all around except for what you are coming up on, and stepping on, then you've got more issues than that and you may want to have a serious look on how you go thru life.  Yes, I'm preachin at cha!

Personally, I'd rather be slowing sliding my bare feet on a flat, full of rays, than easing thru woods full of copperheads with boots and snake guards on. That being said, I wear wading booties (not those hiking looking boots) because there are too many things to get cut on (random oysters, pieces of shells, barnacles, sticks, junk, etc.) and in some areas, there are bacteria in the water that can get into a fresh cut that can cause more damage than the cut itself.

Anyway, quit being paranoid! Take your time and ease on the flat like you don't want to spook deer in the area, or in this case, the fish you're trying to catch. In other words, stalk, not walk! Slowly slide your soles of your booties/wading shoes with each step you take where you are not digging dirt, but just at the surface so that if you come up to a ray without you seeing it, or it feeling/seeing you and then your toe bumps into it, it'll move outta your way, cause it just doesn't want to get stepped on. Get it? So move quietly like your stalking something and you'll be fine. A lot of timea, with a good pair of polarized glasses, you'll see them way ahead of where you are heading before you come up on them. But most of the times, they'll see or feel you coming long before you see them! Be smart out there and you'll be safe, I promise you! 


Ted Haas


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## LowHydrogen (Dec 31, 2015)

Been wading around in FL my whole life, just gently slide my feet as I put them down, never been stuck. I've had more than my fair share of encounters with oysters and barnacles though.

Cheap converse style hi-tops are my choice if I know I am going to do a lot of wading.


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## Sabalon (Aug 16, 2016)

Backwater said:


> Guys, guys.....guys.... guys.... How do you think you get hit/stung by a ray?? You step on it! Duh! Getting hit is a defense mechanism to say "Get the F_ _ k off of me... Boiiiii!!!
> 
> Lightly shuffling your feet kicks up just enough silt (and I ain't talking about pushing sand and plowing grass flats with your boots either) to say to them "hey, I'm coming your way!" They're smart and will move out of your way. It's the dumb tourist stompin around the beaches that get hit by little juvi rays, but the bigger ones you see out on the flats are a little smarter than that. I've actually come right up to big trash can lids and just moved them over with my foot with no issues, just to see if I could do that. Otherwise, don't be some dumb idiot and carelessly stomp thru the water like you don't know what you are doing. Do you do that in the woods? Hello!!! Snakes!!! Hello!!! You're spookin all the game and eventually gonna get bit!!!  So use your head out there and you'll be fine. If your one of those paranoid kinda guys and have to wear snake guards to go into the woods, then so be it. But if you move thru the water like you are moving thru the woods stalking deer, looking down where you are stepping, instead of being ignorant and looking all around except for what you are coming up to and stepping on, then you've got more issues than that and you may want to have a serious look on how you go thru life.  Yes, I'm preachin at cha!
> 
> ...


Ted, do you fish Texas?


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Sabalon said:


> Ted, do you fish Texas?


Florida mostly, but have also waded many other places and I've found the same scenario.


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## Ben (Dec 21, 2016)

Shuffling works but the one time I got hit was standing dead still in grass. Luckily it was a smaller one and hit the inside of my sole in the soft spot. Was wearing those cheap water shoes from Wal-Mart.


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

yobata said:


> Ive also been told the whole point of shuffling is so the rays feels the shuffle and get out of your way. It makes sense, if they know you're around... they're prob more scared of you than you are of them


This! ^^^


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

yobata said:


> Ive also been told the whole point of shuffling is so the rays feels the shuffle and get out of your way. It makes sense, if they know you're around... they're prob more scared of you than you are of them


Correct on the first part. Second... no. 

Unless you kick or poke them with your rod I’ve noticed rays tend to either slowly pull away and lay back up or turn and watch you. 

It creeps me the hell out to watch rays turn and face me as I wade around them and even come up to follow me.


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

Then again maybe the rays in my neck of the woods are just bigger assholes than other areas....


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## yobata (Jul 14, 2015)

lol I don't think they are "stalking" you... just feeding on whatever you kick up as you walk around

Sorry to detail but that post made me think of


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## Surffshr (Dec 28, 2017)

We should all knock on wood.


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## Sabalon (Aug 16, 2016)

While I agree that the practices discussed above will keep you mostly out of trouble, I don’t agree that people wearing protective gear are paranoid. If people feel safer wearing them, they should. 

Different water clarity, bottom material, and even a person’s proclivity for excitation with a fish on they just sight casted and fly stuck for the first time may mean that the practices above are very difficult or forgotten.

My dad shuffled into one about ten years ago now. Hurt him really bad.

He wears those guards now because he doesn’t trust a stingray to keep up his end of the agreement about leaving when someone is shuffling. He either found the ONE that didn’t follow the protocol or sometimes shit happens. In the case of some shit happening, the guards may save you some of the worst pain I’ve ever seen someone endure.


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## sjrobin (Jul 13, 2015)

Regardless of which stingray barb avoidance strategy you chose while wading, the probability of getting barbed is highest when first stepping out of the boat/skiff and wading uneven or soft mud bottom when the bottom of your foot loses contact with the bottom. As perspective, old school Texas waders like Rudy Grigar and Louis Peaks would barefoot wade whenever possible, stingrays or not.


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## jhreels (Apr 20, 2017)

Dang. I was MIA for a few days taking care of a few things. Proud to come back and find out I started one of those self sustaining threads.

Read through all of yall's posts, thanks for all the good input. I think I'm gunna take a hybrid approach to this. When sightcasting to reds in relativity clear and shallow water, I'll go in with just the booties, but when wading murky waist deep water for trout, Ill throw on the rayguards.


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## POCtied (Oct 19, 2016)

I always wade barefoot if I can see the bottom or if it's sand, but if it's muddy it's just too easy to get cut and I'll wear some simms sneakers. Can't walk for shit in 13 wading boots in the mud, more dangerous than going barefoot imo


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## yobata (Jul 14, 2015)

ray and shark proof wading suit $1200


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## jhreels (Apr 20, 2017)

yobata said:


> ray and shark proof wading suit $1200


Does it have a UV protection factor?

Can we have Chittum look into providing a carbon fiber version?

Will it protect against nailing myself in the ear with a fly?

I have so many questions...


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## Guest (Oct 2, 2018)

jhreels said:


> Does it have a UV protection factor?
> 
> Can we have Chittum look into providing a carbon fiber version?
> 
> ...


Hell, Chittum invented it!


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Boatbrains said:


> Hell, Chittum invented it!


No, Chittum invented the one with the kickass rippled texture...wait, who was first!


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## Surffshr (Dec 28, 2017)

Why am I thinking of this thread 1/2 way back after finding tails at dark about a mile from my boat?


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## fjmaverick (Sep 18, 2015)

Because thinking about Ray's is better than thinking about sharks.


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## Guest (Oct 4, 2018)

fjmaverick said:


> Because thinking about Ray's is better than thinking about sharks.


But sharks only bite when you touch they’re private parts!


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## jhreels (Apr 20, 2017)

Surffshr said:


> View attachment 43772
> Why am I thinking of this thread 1/2 way back after finding tails at dark about a mile from my boat?



You gotta wave your rod around in front of you. That or maybe bring a guide a dog lol.


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## Bill_Nosan (Dec 14, 2008)

I used to wade a lot many years ago. I found a pair of slip on snake boots and bolted them to plastic snowshoes. The benefit was that you didn't sink as much in the very soft bottom areas of Mosquito lagoon, that I used to frequent, and you could cover more ground than shuffling.


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