The Tale of Bman and the Cobe

[big bend gyrene]

First, an abbreviated report for JT... Went fishing. Took Bman. Caught fish. That is all.

Now for the Samuel Adams induced "let the typing flow" version...

Spent at least two years encouraging Bman to take a trip out of Econfina... promised him if he would go I would I put him on a keeper cobe. Saw him post a facebook comment about him looking forward to relaxing on his realtor weekend (aka Wednesday), and wrote him to see if he wanted to head out on a cobia hunt. He took the bait.

Get to Econfina just after sunrise praying that the weatherman's prediction of 5 mph winds would be correct... hit the mouth and instantly think, "LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE!!!" Enough chop in the shallow to know getting offshore will be take some patience. Stop in 7' on the way out and get only tiny pins... run out to 9' and get some nice big ones, a few sailor's choice, and a few grunts. Despite some pretty big swells and steady wind, we still manage to push the panga over 20mph and make it offshore with a few hours left on the rising tide.

Toss out our baits and nothing... I warn Bman that it's only a matter of time, but enough goes by that we get to talking and quit paying attention and... WHAM! Bman's got a beast on the other end. It never gives him an inch, and instead takes him from one piece of structure to another. After it plays Bman a while it tires of the game and "releases" him. Now being a bit more awake, Bman starts paying attention and is quickly rewarded with a nice run of short grouper.

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After the 6th or 7th, he starts to question me on my credibility we'll have a cobe visit during the day. WHAM! This time his line doesn't get pulled straight down but instead runs away from the boat. I instantly knew he had a cobe but wasn't 100% sure it was a keeper because, just being honest, it didn't fight that hard at the start. Within about a minute he has it up on top and starts pulling it to the boat. It gets within an arm length or two and decides it really doesn't like the boat one bit. Down it goes. Over the next few minutes it takes Bman under the anchor line, wraps a line out on the other end of the boat, and tries to wrap him in the motor. Bman gets it close enough for me to grab with the boga and down it goes again. Finally, after 4 or so runs from the boat we yank it overboard and I warn Bman it's going to be close. He looks at me like I'm crazy saying "SURELY it's a keeper!" and after triple checking it we settle on 33.5". I tease Bman that I feel guilty keeping a baby, but he tells me he doesn't feel the least bit guilty!

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All of the action to this point has taken place in the last hour of the incoming and after the slack tide turns, we started getting bites again. I managed to pull in the only keeper gag of the day. Bman finished the offshore portion of the trip with an exciting fight against what was almost certainly a big cobe. It gave him a few nice runs and just as he started making progress on getting it near the surface, it made one big run back down for structure and ended the fight.

Ran back inshore with high hopes of picking up a couple of keeper Econ reds, but for the first time in many, many trips out they weren't home in my favorite JT spot. We overstayed our welcome, letting the water level fall below my 1.5' comfort zone so I got the chance to show Bman that the panga could perform well in the skinny stuff.

Cleaned the keepers at my place and found a few firsts while cleaning the cobia. Expected to find either crab or nothing, but opened up Bman's fish to find the jaws of a decent sized toad fish and this cool treasure...

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Fun day on the water with good company, great conversation, and the thrill of mission accomplishment putting Bman on his first keeper cobe. Can't wait to get back out there!
BBG

[FUTCHCAIRO]

MAN YA KNOW THAT A GOOD JARHEAD GETS THE JOB DONE.
PA THE OLD MAN OF THE SEA SEMPER FI

[SHOWBOAT]

Nice work guys. Great report BBG!

[silverking]

Sounds like a fun day on the water guys and a great re-cap.

Interesting stomach contents with the seahorse. Not really surprising since they love crabs and other crunchy critters, but a confirmation is always good to know. Don't think you'd be able to gather enough seahorses to load the baitwell, tho.

[bman]

John was a great host! Thank you for my introduction to the Econ and Cobia.
The Panga exceeded expectations. Still cant believe a 22' boat can run that fast on a 90hp and handle the seas as well as it did.
While a drop or two of spray did hit me it is an incredibly dry boat and equally at home in 2' or 20' of water.
Its a fishing machine...

Those Cobia fight harder and longer than any fish I've ever had on... there was just no stopping them if they wanted to run.
It was like a blend of a tarpon and a shark... long powerful steady runs staring out from the boat. A strong but fast fish that fought all over the water column.
And then there is the taste... I cooked some up that night and was blown away!
I can't stop thinking about them and I'm ready to go back any time!

I also learned how to pole a 22' boat, discovered that there are no redfish at the Econ, Taught John how to fillet a fish, and Found out that GULP's Seahorse is a deadly cobia bait!

[WolfeMan]

Great, now I gotta find a place that sells 5" GULP Seahorses in Pearl White.

[dolphinatic]

I thought those pics Barry posted looked like the "Marine's Ranch." I guess next time I need to keep my phone closer to me

Nice trip guys

By the way, the wife and kids are gone for the next 3 weeks. I'm home alone. Let me know when you wanna go again. I am part of Team BevisRealty.com you know

[Sir reel]

Great Job guys Very nice job of reporting BBG. I suggest that we have Bman give a demonstration at the next Club meeting on how to rig the 5" gulp sea horse.

[KyTrkyHntr]

Great report!

[big bend gyrene]

Interesting stomach contents with the seahorse. Not really surprising since they love crabs and other crunchy critters, but a confirmation is always good to know.

Wasn't as surprised that he ate a seahorse as I was that he didn't appear to use the crushers on it at all! Crabs I find in them are always crushed to bits. Made me wonder if the cobe was going for something else and the seahorse had some bad luck timing, being in the absolute wrong place at the absolute wrong time. Or maybe the toadfish swallowed the seahorse whole and the coia then swallowed the toadfish whole. Guess only the Good MAN above now know the answer!

[big bend gyrene]

Great job on the poling by the way, Bman ... makes me eager to get you back out on Marine's Dream! As for the "no redfish at the Econ", lots of folks on the board will appreciate me teaching you that and you sharing the negative feedback . Finally, on the "taught John how to fillet a fish", that needs to be fixed to read, "taught John how to fillet a fish using a non-traditional method that required equipment he didn't have at hand" . Joking aside, do like that the method appeared to save a bit more meat and will have to give the grilled backbone recommendation a try.

[captkeyser]

mmmmm fish backbone . Excellent report! I really like the idea of the Panga. May have to look into it a bit further.

[silverking]

If the panga was wandering all over, it had to be the poler, not the push pole.

For an all-round boat, it's hard to beat a panga!