Eye of the Tiger

[big bend gyrene]

On very short notice found out I had a window to go out Sunday so sent out an invite to Bman and Rx-Fishing. After enjoying many witty & sarcastic posts he had shared on fellow friends' walls, befriended Rx-Fishing on facebook some time ago so saw the trip as a way to actually get to know Rx-Fishing a bit better... wasn't disappointed as his wit proved just as fun in person and having Bman and Rx-Fishing aboard made for good company.

Stopped for bait on way to several midshore spots and found them ravenous. Filled up the bait well in no time with high expectations for the offshore bite. Before even heading offshore, Bman got the skunk off the boat with a pretty Ecky trout.

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Actually proved to be the third consecutive slow trip I've made. All following the washing of my lucky hat after the 15+ cobe spotting day out with Dolphinatic. That shared, all three trips have produced my beloved cobes... just have had to wait ALL day for them to bite. Well... brutally honest correction time... have had to wait ALL day to bring one to the boat. Cut off rate has been high since the hat washing for sure, and each trip had cut-offs relatively early that I would bet money were cobia.

All the belly-aching aside, while waiting for cobia to make an appearance we put a few nice spanish on ice.

Here's Rx-Fishing with the first one of the day.

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I hooked one so big thought it was a king until we got it in the boat. Darn fun fish to catch if you can keep them from stealing too much hardware.

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While running from spot to spot, anchoring up, and playing the waiting game, had my first ever run in with a tiger shark. Wish the video did justice to the beauty of the beast. Fight lasted a while (5 to 10 minutes) and definitely helped break the boredom factor down a bit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhwQEq7SNjM[/video]

Thought we were going to have to call it a day, when Rx-Fishing got SLAMMED, and on a relatively small lure he was throwing AT MACKS!!! He'd never caught a keeper cobia and I suspected he had hooked into a boat record. Pulled anchor to give chase, and Rx-Fishing fought the cobia like an absolute CHAMP for a good 30 minutes. We got it boat-side and it looked like a FREAKING ORCA, its fins were so big. Best guess 50 or 60+ pound fish and it would have broken the boat record by a good 15 to 20 pounds IF NOT MORE, but alas it broke off fighting boat side, even having had it momentarily boga-gripped. Not going to lie, felt like like a baby!!! But as I told Bman and Rx-Fishing (in an admittedly whimpering voice), that's why they call it "fishing" and not by default "catching".
Orca's still out there and now I feel renewed as a man with a new mission. As much as it hurts me to share pics, we had the where-with-all to get a couple amongst the chaos. Earlier shark bite was subdued enough that we had time to think of filming... kills me we didn't film Rx-Fishing's awesome battle with the cobe.

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Waited the tide out as long as we could to try and draw in another beast, but no such luck. To Rx-Fishing's credit he DID boat and tag a just-short cobe and was able to smile doing it. Took just the tiniest bit of sting out of the earlier loss for us all.

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Long trip out and we all felt like we had been beat with sticks once back on land, but not going to lie... already wanting to get back out there again! CAN'T GET ORCA OFF MY MIND!

[bman]

It was a beast... reminded me of Wolfeman's broken hook incident!

[mjsigns]

WOW
Looks like the same tiger shark I hooked up with a few weeks ago... broke off a 60# leader...

[SHOWBOAT]

Great report. Barry must be making you guys soft though; plenty of camera time with the beast but WTH was the gaff while it was laying on its back?

[big bend gyrene]

...Barry must be making you guys soft though... WTH was the gaff while it was laying on its back?

Barry's been known to have that effect on folks, fo' sho.

Joking aside, should have gaffed it, but lost a slightly smaller beast a week or so ago with an errant gaff strike/hook break... why thought boga might be better option even with risk of arm-breaking cobia fight (he wasn't belly-up long -- did NOT like the boga grab).

Errant gaff strike, bad boga-grab, bad cut-off ratio... just have to let time swing the pendulum back in my favor. Hat seems to SLOWLY be building it's MOJO back... just have to be patients and get LOTS more time on the water for the mojo hat-recharging project.

[WolfeMan]

WOW! What a trip and what a shame about the boga-flop. Next time just jump in after it!

[big bend gyrene]

Forgot to share funniest picture of the day. Poetic justice as Bman had just finished talking about how much "crap" realtors have to deal with... got interrupted by a remora bite... fought it... and the released remora definitely ended up winning the fight.

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[K.Ick]

The exact timing of the "almost boga" photo has to be very unique. It had to have been taken in the absolute last split second before the shift from "everything's going terrific!" to "everything's going to hell!" Like if someone had snapped a Polaroid of Custer just as he fired his last round of ammo. Sorry BBG, that’s a great fish and it’s privilege just to tangle with it. I'm betting the next one comes over the side.

[CSMarine]

A bogus boga attempt with a monster like that! Really BBG! Like trying to rope a bull with a shoelace. Lost one about the same size a few years ago, when my son-in-law refused to tail rope it for me. Fought it for forty-five minutes. It had already rolled belly over at the boat. I handed him the rod so I could rope it myself. Before I could get to it, my son-in-law reared back on the rod and broke the line.
I'm afraid the poor boy learned a few new cuss words that day.

[Redfin]

Nice report and catch! We boated a 30 lb'er Saturday and lost one boat side that was easy 50lbs. after a 20 minute fight - almost spooled us on 300 yards soon as he hit the pin fish - brook 80ln PP line clean in 2-

Nice Video! Go Pro cam?

[WolfeMan]

It was a beast... reminded me of Wolfeman's broken hook incident!

Don't remind me. First the broken hook, then having to pass on this invite. Im crying over here.

[FUTCHCAIRO]

HEY BBG, LOOKS LIKE Y'ALL HAD FUN. AT LEAST YA HAVE SOME TIGHT LINES.
PA
SEMPER FI

[bman]

I was hoping this photo had made the cutting room floor
That $%#^ Stunk!

Forgot to share funniest picture of the day. Poetic justice as Bman had just finished talking about how much "crap" realtors have to deal with... got interrupted by a remora bite... fought it... and the released remora definitely ended up winning the fight.

Barry Covered In It.jpg

[tallykenj]

Great report.

[big bend gyrene]

Nice Video! Go Pro cam?

Not a Pro Cam, Redfin, though I've been tempted to get one and mount it for filming purposes (per the failure to film the cobe, easy to forget filming with a stowed hand-held when things suddenly get hot/chaotic.

DO LIKE the camera, though, and does a great job with bright light outdoor shots, as well as filming in high-def. Using a Lumix TS3. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand / in shorts pocket so pretty convenient. Think the video defaults to showing at 360p on the embedded Youtube clip but can actually choose to change quality settings and watch in decent high def.