one for the books.....

[ak man]

Headed down last Friday afternoon with my good friend Dave for his first trip to the flats. We went out around 7pm and got the kinks out, and were ready to go early Saturday morning. 5:45am found me in waste deep water at the ramp helping a poor ol' boy flip his capsized boat back over. We got it righted, dragged it up on the ramp and helped him bail it out. He was not having a good morning Off to catch some reds. Dave caught 3 on a top dog and I went skunked..... on out to get on some trout.... started picking up a couple, one here, one there...

I had a live pinfish under a CT out the back.....I noticed a large swirl about 4 ft behind the CT and then it dissapeared.....I told Dave......I don't know what I'm about to set the hook on.....but it is BIG......

I then proceeded to come about 3 secs from being spooled before David got the motor cranked and the chase was on......after about 15 mins I had convinced myself I had a monster cobia....as it got closer.....DAMN.....it's a shark.....wait.....what the......no way.....



it can't be.....



we better get pics.....no one is going to beleive this....




A TIGER SHARK...



It took a couple mins to settle down, but out went another pinfish and about 5 mins later the drag is singing again.....after about 15 mins Dave put his first cobe in the boat.....



next pin out.....Dave's up again and nails a 19" trout....



The thunderstorms chased us in for a couple hours, but we headed back out around 2pm....

slow afternoon, but I did get my first red in quite a while....



Back out looking for a couple trout.......dave gets a good hit and the fish takes off......I got the motor cranked just as
dave was screaming about seeing the knot.....he jumped towards the bow...slipped...landed on all fours, busted his knee, cut his big toe and broke his middle toe......but the fish was still hooked up.....90 mins later....we were celebrating....



I couldn't resist a couple more casts and got lucky....nice 20" trout...



what a day....couldn't ask for more...



Back at it early Sunday, got blanked on the reds, but went back out after the trout for one more try before we headed home.....
caught a couple keepers and got this good lookin' youngin' ....



drifted out a bit deeper....I saw some bait bustin' and lobbed a pinfish at it......BAM...

45 mins later......





my first keeper cobe......

Dave was keeping an eye on the 2 other cobia that were circling the boat while I was fighting my fish....about 20 mins into my fight he couldn't take it and tossed at one and.....fortunately hooked up with the smaller one.....it was released during my fight......that made our 3 and 4th cobia of the trip....



Maybe the best trip yet....great to spend time with Dave....I know we were blessed and Mrs B was watching over us......cheers and tight lines ...

[sundown]

Wow! How big was that tiger and if you don't mind telling , what general area did you catch him in...Only one I've ever seen was at Wakulla Reef a couple years ago...maybe 5' long...

[big bend gyrene]

AWESOME report

[Barhopr]

damn fine couple of days guys sweet Cobia

[tin can]

Heck of a 2 day trip.

[Tom Keels]

I hate you.

[CATCH 22]

Me too

[mojokoko]

That's freaking awesome guys!

[MudDucker]

From the coloration, its definitely a juvy tiger Sweet trip

[cygraphics]

Can't say much but AWESOME!

Looked like a great time and you have some good photos for the memories.

[Hula Popper]

Man, those fish are so big, I couldn't have fit them in my cooler!

Too bad about the toe ... but it makes for a great story.

[WaltDawg]

Damn good trip.

[RHTFISH]

Fishing gods smiled on you for being such a great guy to help me with the overturned boat.....wasn't my best day but I sincerely appreciate the help!

[Sir reel]

Wow...what an experience..... Times 2!!!. I'd be jump'n up and down with just one of them days under my belt!. And another WOW...RT don't tell me it was your "sled" that was wrong side up!! That would have been a job for sure to work on.

[ak man]

rhtfish, glad I could be there to help out.....and glad you're alright. The tiger was in 5 ft of water and was 5-6 ft long, got a good release where I cut the leader right above the hook. It was an amazing animal and I'm glad I got to see one up close in the wild, probably a once in a lifetime experience. I've been fishing on the flats for about 10 years and only caught one cobia, 20" long. We got 4 in 2 days with a 34" and a 35". The fishing god's surely smiled on us.