Capt Aron Blaisdell of the Everglades Angler had freak and terrifying experience happen to him while on a charter yesterday. He was driving his Hewes flats boat with a client sitting on either side of him, and one seated in front of the console. A huge Leopard ray free jumped out of the water, coming at them from the port bow toward the starbord stern. Luckily the ray narrowly cleared all of the people in the boat but couldn't clear some of the rods that were in the console holder, leaving them broken. The boat was not spared however as the poling platform was the last obstacle between the ray and freedom. The ray which was probably close to a couple of hundred pounds, ripped the platform right off of the back of the boat. Aron and his customers hopefully went out and bought some lottery tickets, because luck was definately on their side to be able to walk away un harmed from such a freak and dangerous incident. Be on the lookout for a message from Capt Aron to fill in some of the details, as well as some pictures of the aftermath... .

Henley you summed it up pretty good. It was unbelievable. It could have been much worse. One or all of us could have been seriously Injured. Here are some aftermathh pics. Thw wing span of the ray was as wide as the boat