We went out about 30 miles south of bird rack, had not been having much luck with grouper, only keeper we had in the boat was a trout caught on a sabiki rig, trying to catch pinfish. Had been catching some small grouper, but no keepers. I was trying to keep the boat over some bottom when one of the guys says "hey, look at that shark!" i turned around and yelled, thats not a shark its a cobia, pull your baits up! one was fishing with ly and squid, the other was fishing with a pinfish, that was now dead, cobia not interested in dead pinfish, grabs and spits out cut bait, I grab my rod and throw on a new lively pinfish, toss it in bam! he hits it and breaks the line instantly....
broke right where the powerpro meets the swivel, bad knot i guess, anyway, i grab another grouper rod, as the other two guys scramble for pinfish bouncing around the deck as one of them dropped the net full of pinfish trying to get one out in a rush, i throw a pinfish on the hook and get it in the water just ahead of the others. Bam!! he hits it again but this time i still had the reel on freespool, he starts running with line and i slowly put my thumb down which sets the circle hook in his mouth, flip the lock and its on!! after a few mins and a good gaff job, that almost lost a gaff, he came in the boat, then he hit my buddy in the leg, flipped end over end and with one swift kick, shattered my suremarker bouy!!
plastic, reel, and twine everywhere..... finaly two of us got ahold of him and shoved him down in the ice box and sat on the lid, cause he was knocking it open!! once the ice slurry did its job, i pulled him out and weighed him......... 43 lbs !!
high fives all the way around.... did someone say beer thirty!!! the rest of the day was spent giving short grouper perfectly good pinfish and cut bait... oh caught a keeper flounder 15 miles out on a pinfish
well maybe the keepers will get hungry soon!! i'll post pics as soon as i get them uploaded
