Author: Riley

One cobia 38 inch (throwback).

Went out with Scott at about 8 am. Clearer and less wind than expected. The seas were mostly flat with some slow rollers on the way out. Went to our new honey hole 197, got setup and went through our ritual of a “first beer set” meaning as soon as we sit back after getting the gear in we drink one beer regardless of hour.

The gear and bait we were running. We had four boat rods out with 6 oz bullet weights with about 6 ft of 60# test leader on 7/0 circle hooks. Had a frozen chum block 1 gallon from Butlers, some fresh cum from the dock and about 15 bunker. We usually cut the head and tail off sending the rest of it down to bottom. Had an IV drip of menhaden oil off the middle of the boat. On one of the rods we had a small crab and one other with a live eel. I usually hook through the last 3 inches of the tail so they live longer.

Had not been there more than 20 min and saw lots of pairs of cobia just swimming on top. Of course, even after telling myself I would bring some casting equipment I did not. I did have one long line live eel swimming. They coasted by  the live eel so they were not extremely hungry. Finally just before slack tide we caught a 38 inch but again had to throw it back.

We left early around noon because we had Stella’s pool party to attend.

Conditions: about 80 deg, winds from the south at about 5mph, incoming tide to slack, water was clear, skys 85% clear.

Ron, Sharon, Chuck, and I went out on Ron’s boat for Cobia. Nothing! We left Ron’s dock about 9:00 under great conditions but we could not get back to the spot we had yesterday, too many boats. Caught one skate and tangled a few times. Fished with cut bait and eels. Saw some cobia swiming on top but couldn’t get a bait to them. But…we did have a good time fishing with friends.

Chuck and I set out for Cobia around 1:00. Went south towards Dividing Creek. The day didn’t start out as planned because the “turn bouy” has been removed and “R4” has been moved so it took a bit to get my bearings. Saw the menhaden fleet coming in so avoided that mass of 6 boats. A great weather day, 80ish, very clear, no humidity, winds from the north at about 6 knots. The waves were 1 -2 but not bad at all.

We got set just above a pool shelf hoping on an outgoing tide. So we had the tide and the wind working for us. Overall it was a busy day, got all of our gear stuck in the chum bag (likely from skates) a couple of times. I feel like we lost a couple because I didn’t show her how to set the hook so while I was untangling the bag and lines it appeared based on how it took off it was a cobia.

Finally, we had a “screamer” at about 3 maybe 1.5 hours after high tide and hooked up a cobia. I set the hook and handed Chuck the rod. It turned out to be 37″ 3″ short of legal so we didn’t play with him just got the hook out and released.

Scheduled to go again Sat. morning with Ron and Sharon will report regardless of catching. Sat is the NNAC tournament so we will see.

 

Easily one of the best days we had on the water. Scott, Virgil, and I head to Smith Point Lighthouse early. Very cold about 12 degrees but clear and sunny. Circled into and out of some birds on the east side of the shipping channel. No luck then around 10 am birds went crazy at about 60 feet. We were already on the way and when we got there 3 of our 4 rods bent at the same exact time. Everyone was on a rod and no one was driving the boat. Of course, mine was about 17 inches so I just threw it back without any thought. Scott had a nicer fish but Virgils we could tell it was big. When Scott got his in it was close to a keeper but he was so excited he threw it back to help Virgil. We did get Virgil’s in and it was a 28 inch. The next 2 hours we gave Scott heck for throwing away his fish and Virgil told him to hand it over to measured that he could not be trusted.

Later we got a call from Henley that things were going well at 59 (Leroy) center bouy. It was well we caught everything in one run of the birds. Two on one tandem. Could have caught many more but we limited out.