Ask codpiece - had one on his boat.
Common skate used to come up every now & then back in the 60's I gather.
Talking to a prof skipper, he believes large commons are suspected to be the culprit for some large lost fish, judging by the way they fight. But if you consider we don't actually fish for them round these parts and we certainly don't tackle up for the prospect of a 150-200lb skate. Anything is possible. I suspect they are here from time to time in low numbers. I rather think they eventually couldn't stand the ever increasing fishing pressure - as a low reproducing - long lived fish, and they do like the quiet life.
We all have more exciting things to do than sit out for days, even weeks at a time in the vane hope of one ....................... you know.... like what carp fishing is