 |
Big Cobia on the Marks
Capt. Fred Everson
June 13, 2009
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
The hot trout bite continues for Southshore anglers, and in 15 years of guiding on Tampa Bay I have never seen bigger trout in this neck of the woods. There seem to be an abundance of fish over 20 inches, and that really makes for exciting fishing. I was never much of a trout fisherman before this, but there is a world of difference in the way big trout pull drag compared to their little brothers. 15 inches is the minimum length for trout, and fish that size do not put up much of a fight. But once they get over 18 inches they begin to act a lot more like snook once you hook put a hook in them. And the fish over two feet are a real treat. The last trout I caught was 24 inches and I thought I had hooked a jack crevalle – a high compliment to the fighting qualities of any trout. They have sure come a long way back from the devastation of the red tide outbreak a few years ago. Trout are fast growing, hence the liberal limit of four fish between 15 and 20 inches. One fish in the limit is allowed to be over 20 inches.
I saw Spanish mackerel, threadfin herring and a few tarpon on my trips last week, and also a 50-pound cobia. I was fishing with one of the best lady anglers on Tampa Bay, Keli Emery, and with Jeremy Johnigean in his dad's boat. We were trying to outrun a squall in the middle of the bay doing about 50 miles per hour when I spotted a cobia cruising around a buoy. I swung the boat around and headed back into the teeth of the storm. Emery baited a hooked with a scaled sardine and pitched it to the buoy while the fish was on the other side. Soon as it made the turn back toward us it saw the bait and charged it. We had a hook up and it was game on.
When I first saw the fish I guessed it to be in the 40-pound class. The way Emery's rod was bending and the way the line was peeling off the baitcasting reel I knew my estimate was close. Luckily the fish ran away from the buoy. If it had gone back to the can, there was nothing she could have done to stop it, and it would have cut her off on the buoy's chain. That's one reason I have more success landing cobia on buoys than I do on range markers. There is simply less structure to worry about.
That said, there is still plenty of other stuff that can go wrong. Big fish have a way of finding the weak link in your angling chain. Your knots better be tied well, your leader in good shape, tipped with a sharp, strong hook. And you don't land such fish in a couple of minutes. The longer the fight drags on, the greater the potential of something going wrong.
After 20 minutes she finally had the fish to the boat. Keli wanted to net the cobia, but I preferred the gaff. After a couple of misses, I finally got the net around the cobia's head. The hoop broke off the handle, and then the fish fell through the net when I tried to pick it up. I had to cut the net away from the line with a filet knife. Risky business for sure, but I did it. The next time the fish came up around the stern, I lowered the gaff below its head and struck it just behind the jaw. When I tried to lift the fish out of the water, I was shocked by the weight. We had to cut it up and weigh it piece by piece as my scale only went to 26 pounds. After removing the filets, the carcass still topped out the scale. The fish weighed 50 pounds and probably a little more and measured 54 inches. It had also been recently gaffed below the dorsal fin and managed to survive that encounter.
More Fishing Reports:
|
|
|
|
