Yesterdays trip produced about a 7' Bull for me and a much bigger one missed the hook in my friend Bill's ray. The bull took a large live lady fish.
Got the idea of hooking the ladyfish in the opposite way from the way I have always hooked ladyfish. It came to me in a dream, I think or maybe I was just nodding off after lunch last week.
For ladyfish I use 10/0 heavy duty 00419 Gamakatsu live bait hooKs on 275# cable. I always use a tandom rig with the front hook going through the bottom jaw and out through the top of the head and then the trailer behind the dorsal. This time I put the leading hook back by the tail and the trailing hook up behind the head. We were drifting in the boat and the lady fish swam the whole time (30 minutes) till the bull picked it up. Seemed to work better and the ladyfish stayed alive much longer than any I have ever fished. I plan to try that method again.
Nice Bull partner. When free lining from the pier .I aways hook the fish from the tail .That way he swim out away from the pier . From the boat its the same. Way to go .Like to see more pics. The one that hit the ray might have been bigger. 
Nice Bull Keith ,,,love the action shot.How deep were you drifting and were you over a wreck or structure of some kind? Thanks for the report.
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Hey Jd and William,
Yea JD they do try to swim away but when drifting, if they die, you are dragging them tail first and they don't track well usually. Like to spin and tangle the line.
JD, you're probably right about the size. It might have been about the same but isn't it always the big one that gets away. Had to be a lot bigger 'cause it got away.
I was fishing on Gandy bridge one night and had a group of "sharkers" there tell me that they could tell the size of the shark just from the sound of the run. They told me the one that had just dropped their bait was about a six fotter. I guess they had a lot more experience than I did because it only sounded like a four foot black tip to me. How did that come out? Oh, I guess we were talking about the size of the shark based on the bite in the ray. Dang, it's easy to get distracted when you get old.
William, the bait seeks it's own level. I seldom use any weight. Water was the ship channel about 28 feet where we were. No structure or wrecks. Based on the angle of the line , I would say that the lady fish was down at least 10-15 feet.
Got another bull about that same size about a month ago in the same place. We were anchored that time. Caught a 10" silver trout and put it on for bait. A three ft black tip (spinner) ate the trout so I put him on for bait. Caught the 7' Bull on the spinner but by then it was time to come in so I couldn't put the Bull on for bait. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. I foul hooked the bull in the pec. Put a tail rope on him since he was a little unmanageable and had enough slack in the line that the spinner carcus to drift by in front of his mouth. He bit it twice, sucking in about half of it, while his tail was in the air tied to a cleat.
It was awsome to see that at close range and I was glad it wasn't my arm. It literally happened in the blink of an eye.
Oh, all but the spinner were released unharmed, and the second bull was a she not a he.
Nice Bulls Keith
I have never seen a bat ray hooked like that before, it looks a little too deep but then again I do not know how soft the skin is in that particular spot of it. If you are into experimenting and you don't mind your live bait being straight below the boat then try hooking it right on top of the back near the head like before the "dorsal" of the ladyfish and leave the other hook hanging or use a single hooked rigging, just an idea.
Just an average fisherman.
Bro, nice catch...... 
Way to get it done Keith.Its been that way with the cow nose rays all summer long for Jeremias and myself.Put the hooks in the head they eat the back end.Move the hooks to the back side and they eat the head?????????????Nice to see you pull one of those bad boys in.......Dave
Thanks Dave,
Just wish he was a little bigger.