Forth of July luck

[Salty Gator]

We headed to the sandbar on the fourth to the swim/float thing. Dogs on board, friends had their kids. late departure, just a couple of rods on board. No fish cooler, no fish ice. After being at the sandbar for an hour or so with the ladies floating and the kids swimming, my buddy grabs a rod and is going to wade to the edge and make a few casts. He had a trout rod with a paddle tail. There was a 6” frayed fluro leader on his rig. I offered to take him on my boat and we’d just putt around with the TM. We weren’t going far and would only be gone for a few minutes. We would be within earshot. They had another boat and cooler with them. This was the heat of the day with plenty of traffic. So we move off, and he wants to drift the grass. He saw some lady fish busting and wanted some crab bait. I said no, I’m going to get in the tower and we will go down this sandy patch and find something to cast to. He promptly said “ we aren’t going to catch bleep in that shallow water”.... about 60 feet into our line I saw a huge ray on the bottom with a borderline keeper cobia right on the stationary rays back. The cast was only about 30’. I said cast to the left side of the ray, he casted to the right side. The cobia turned around and ate the plastic off of his own back. It was one of the best eats I’ve ever seen from a cobia. Fight on.. so of course we are undergunned with terrible leader and women and children that are ready for us to be back. He fought that fish for 40 minutes, it was boat side 3 times before we could net him. But we eventually got him in. 34” to the fork. So, with no fish cooler or ice, he throws it in his livewell and took a 5 gal bucket from boat to boat until he had enough ice to do the job. It doesn’t happen that way when you wake up early, first to the ramp, first to the spot etc. it happens when you are not prepared and do not expect it. Hope y’all had a good Fourth

[silverking]

Those surprise catches are always fun. Good teamwork!

[Srbenda]

Nice catch!

[Hit-n-Miss]

Very nice

[FishWithChris]

Awesome stuff! We were not far from sandbar the other day and zoomed past a big eagle ray and sure enough... Jombo cobia with him. By the time we could turn around and head back to where we spotted them they were gone. Good 35lb'er

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[Salty Gator]

Awesome stuff! We were not far from sandbar the other day and zoomed past a big eagle ray and sure enough... Jombo cobia with him. By the time we could turn around and head back to where we spotted them they were gone. Good 35lb'er

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That is a good one.. I’ve heard that the best guarantee in fishing is a cobia on a rays back. I’ve only had the opportunity twice both in less than 3’ and both on sting rays. Both ate and both were on the small size..I’ve never seen a whopper on a big ray, but keeping my eye out. On a side note I lost one that would have been a pb last weekend. No gaff, to big for the net ( really bigger than I’d want to keep), boatside 4 times , on the lipper twice and shook off. Estimated 60 lbs. bent hook

[silverking]

Cobia will also follow sea turtles. Have seen a few here in the Gulf, but it's really common on the Atlantic coast like around Canaveral, Daytona Beach.

[Salty Gator]

Cobia will also follow sea turtles. Have seen a few here in the Gulf, but it's really common on the Atlantic coast like around Canaveral, Daytona Beach.

Only leatherbacks apparently. I’ve never seen one on a loggerhead. Have y’all?

[silverking]

Yes. The ones I've seen in the Gulf were on loggerheads, not leatherbacks. Not common, but enough that it pays to check out cruising turtles.

[dombern34]

Awesome stuff! Good deal!!

[Danibeth]

How freaking cool! I love it when things like that happen!

And interesting info about cobia also cruising with turtles.

[big bend gyrene]

Awesome and fun story!

On the turtle note, they'll definitely tag along with loggerheads. I mainly pitch eel jigs to cobes that follow another hooked one up, but back when fellow board member Sharkman lived / fished in our area and I fished with him he rarely failed to cast to any / all turtles in sight and more than once had luck enticing cobes off bigger loggerheads.