Keaton Beach - 5/2

[leesburgga]

Headed down from Albany this morning. No keeper trout, few shorts. moved out deeper to try to get the kids catching some fish and got into some blue runners. while having a good time with them on light tackle, i look at the back of the boat and saw a cobia that was at least 40 inches (conservatively)...i could have hit him on the head with the end of my rod. we tossed some jigs and a spoon at him which is what we had rigged up. got about four good casts at him and each time he turned toward the bait, but never took it. probably couldn't have landed him with the tackle we were using, but we had to give it a try.

finished up with a bluefish, a nice spanish, several blue runners and ladyfish, and had to throw back a 23" king. at home with the boat cleaned up and ready to go again.

[GAJOEY]

happens like that sometimes but atleast you got out there and caught a few..

[Breambuster]

Thanks for the report and sorry to hear the trout are not cooperating. Its tough to fish and compete with the tournament crowd if your goal is to have a good time. One thing I noticed over the years is that too many boats zooming around will spook the fish, shutting off the bite. That's why on my reply to Hit-n-miss I said its better off to go on a different day or if you do go, run as far from the channel a possible, essentially fish like you're in the tournament.

its possible to land a big cobia with trout tackle if you play it right and with the help of your outboard chasing it down. I have seen it done before. A couple years ago, one of Dave's friend hooked a nice fish on a 12lb line and landed it a couple of miles from where it was hooked. Took him like 20 minutes to bring it to the boat. However, sometime cobia are not shy and will come snug right next to the boat. That's why I carry a 5' gaff. You dont have to hook the fish to land it.

[leesburgga]

after it was all over, my 9 year old boy, said if we would have been quick enough, we should have just used the gaff. that would have been something else.

you are right about the boat traffic, we headed over to fish in front of spring warrior, rock island, eagles nest, etc. it was hard to find a place to park. eventually, we headed back south of the channel (quite a boat ride) and that's where the info i reported above happened.

on choosing the days to fish, unfortunately, i have to fish when i can, not when i should. thanks for the response.

[tin can]

Thanks for reporting. Glad ya got to go.

[Sea Dawg]

Do any pf the BBF group know who won the Big Trout in the tournament Sat o5/02/09