Cobia Fishin
Posted: April 4th, 2004, 1:10 am
Today was the first day I ever went out in search of Cobia. I left the house a little late at about 10am, but figured I could make up lost time by hustling to the ramp. Boy was I wrong!!! After seemingly stopping at every store between Wacissa and St. Marks, via Woodville and winding up with nearly nothing that I wanted to be armed with(such as chum and a chum bag) I got to the Fort around 12pm. Still undeterred by my lack of armament, I put in and rode to the Lighthouse boat canal to do a little bait gathering. This, by the way, was the only thing that went well today.
After loading up with all different sizes and varieties of bait fish I was off to the "Honey Hole". I barely made it to the sandbar shoal before I decided it would be easier to slow down and troll up a Spanish. Trolled a Silver "Red Fin" in the bigger size at every where from 3-7nts, and about 2miles and didn't get a nibble. That was fine because I was closing in on my spot. My so called "Honey Hole" was an offshore rock-pile that I must have marked on my Gps over a year ago, but had no recollection of it. When I arrived at the site I was happy to see that there was indeed a rock-pile(whew). I lined up perfectly upwind and told my first mate to drop anchor. After some confusion and nearly drifting over the pile before the anchor was finally dropped, we had to hoist it up and try again. This time the anchor went down right on the mark, but unfortunately, the 70+ mile an hour winds that had crept up on us prevented the anchor from holding. After the third dredge mark we made through the grass beds, I had had enough.
So here I go, trolling back towards the lighthouse into the wind, with every wave seeming to crash over the bow and onto me, without even wetting a hook at the "Honey Hole". By the time I got close enough to the lighthouse to start to think that I actually might live through this, the winds had surely exceeded 120+ miles per hour, and I noticed that some how my anchor rope had snapped, dropping my anchor in the water. This brought a smile to my face as I remembered my earlier failed attempts at anchoring up on the "Honey Hole".
Well to make a long boring story a little shorter, I made it back to the ramp alive and after an hour wait at the Fort finally got loaded up. Headed strait to RMS to purchase a new, bigger, anchor and a new trolling motor plug(not even gonna get into that story
), and headed home.
The good thing about Cobia fishing is that if you don't do any good at least you can eat the bait.
I at least had a nice mess of mullet to feed me tonight. Well, better luck to me next time, and I hope every one else made it in safe today.
Fish Masterson
After loading up with all different sizes and varieties of bait fish I was off to the "Honey Hole". I barely made it to the sandbar shoal before I decided it would be easier to slow down and troll up a Spanish. Trolled a Silver "Red Fin" in the bigger size at every where from 3-7nts, and about 2miles and didn't get a nibble. That was fine because I was closing in on my spot. My so called "Honey Hole" was an offshore rock-pile that I must have marked on my Gps over a year ago, but had no recollection of it. When I arrived at the site I was happy to see that there was indeed a rock-pile(whew). I lined up perfectly upwind and told my first mate to drop anchor. After some confusion and nearly drifting over the pile before the anchor was finally dropped, we had to hoist it up and try again. This time the anchor went down right on the mark, but unfortunately, the 70+ mile an hour winds that had crept up on us prevented the anchor from holding. After the third dredge mark we made through the grass beds, I had had enough.
So here I go, trolling back towards the lighthouse into the wind, with every wave seeming to crash over the bow and onto me, without even wetting a hook at the "Honey Hole". By the time I got close enough to the lighthouse to start to think that I actually might live through this, the winds had surely exceeded 120+ miles per hour, and I noticed that some how my anchor rope had snapped, dropping my anchor in the water. This brought a smile to my face as I remembered my earlier failed attempts at anchoring up on the "Honey Hole".
Well to make a long boring story a little shorter, I made it back to the ramp alive and after an hour wait at the Fort finally got loaded up. Headed strait to RMS to purchase a new, bigger, anchor and a new trolling motor plug(not even gonna get into that story
), and headed home.The good thing about Cobia fishing is that if you don't do any good at least you can eat the bait.
I at least had a nice mess of mullet to feed me tonight. Well, better luck to me next time, and I hope every one else made it in safe today.Fish Masterson