Few months ago Bman asked if I'd help him introduce a few of his Atlanta friends to cobia fishing, with a friendly meet-up on the water where I'd take two of his friends out of one landing and meet his boat and crew on the water after they departed from a different landing. That fateful day was scheduled to take place on June 18, 2018... a date which will now live in infamy.
Got on the water just in time for a beautiful sunrise. After weeks of stormy weather, it was a huge relief to see a cloudless sky with completely flat seas.
Bman was supposed to trap bait in advance but a report from his end at first light was that traps were empty and we'd all have to catch bait before running offshore.
***MIGHTILY*** suspicious, I told my crew if he was at the meet-up spot before us, he'd lied and had bait... and sure enough he calls us as we're getting bait and asks what the hold up is.
So here's where karma starts kicking in... we finally get out and he's let his baitwell run dry and his bait is dead!
Dude actually has the chutzpah to BUM a third of our bait off of us.
Thankfully the Big Man above was looking out for my crew to make things right! Almost as soon as we drop anchor we're getting hit and fairly quickly we've got a nice keeper on ice.
Using a mega-zoom camera on my boat we keep an eye on the Evil Empire boat and get a scare or two with scenes like this one...
But each time they lift the net they've only landed mack minnows...
Meanwhile, back on Marine's Dream we're steady getting hits. In relatively short order we tag two shorts in the name of science.
Then after a slight lull, just as we're about to cry uncle due to rising temps we get SLAMMED. Knowing we had something worthy of fighting I threw our anchor line over (have a float on the end), and grabbed the rod just long enough to confirm we were hooked into the target species. Felt a bit like Luke Skywalker taking a shot at the heart of the Death Star as Lord Bman Vader watched stuck on his distant perch.
Darn thing put up a HECK of a fight and we had several close calls where it wrapped up around the engine and a chum churn. Both times I was holding my breath waiting for the line to give way, but karma smiled on us and we acted quickly enough to keep the line intact. Only after about a 30 minute fight did we FINALLY get close enough for a fast gaff strike.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StqNS5w9IUk[/video]
Even after I put the beast on ice, it was in a rather spirited mood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-wr9TUUHCk[/video]
Didn't take the obligatory trophy catch photo until the bruiser chilled out a while.
Marine's Dream final tally - a limit of 2 bruiser keepers on ice and 2 additional cobia tagged in the name of science. Evil Empire boat - goose egg on the cobes with just a few macks to show for their troubles.
Almost felt sorry for them between all the "WHOOOOOOOO!"s and "GOOGANS!" we were shouting their way...
almost.
Seems there's NEVER a dull moment in the adventures that find Bman and I sharing company. Just thankful karma smiles on me as much as it does him from time to time.
"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank GOD for the United States Marine Corps." Eleanor Roosevelt, 1945
