First Cobia
Posted: May 16th, 2013, 12:41 pm
Well after thirty years of fishing the flats, my wife finally landed her first cobia. She's hooked dozens, but never landed one. This one was 39 inces and weighed 17 pounds. We got a late start Tuesday because of the low water in the creek, and hard winds. We fished out of my little 14 foot Stump Knocker, that floats in two inches of water. Was able to get out of Yates creek with the trolling motor about 1:30. Headed to my favorite area just south of Spring Warrior Creek.
Water was still pretty skinny so we decided to fish the oyster bars for reds until the tide rose a bit more. Landed one red measuring 26 1/2 inches, and broke one off that was easily over 30 inches. We moved off to four foot of water and started drift fishing. Caught three Spainish, two Flounder, seven trout, and the normal ration of Lady Fish, Sharks, and Catfish. We were about to call it a day about 6:45pm when the cobia hit her line like a freight train. It acted like a large red, so we didn't get excited until it broke the surface. After seeing it, we got serious about landing it.
It took twenty minutes, but after fighting it like a pro, my Honeycoe landed her first cobia.
We fished with our usual bait, shinner tails rigged Texas style with a 1/16 ounce slip sinker. One little bit of info to share. After listening to some of you talk about eating Lady Fish, we decided to keep four and try them out. We scraped the meat out with a table spoon, made into paddys and fried it like Salmon paddies. I'm glad to report that it was absolutely delicious! Firm, white meat, no fishy taste. I'll be keeping them from now on for sure.
Water was still pretty skinny so we decided to fish the oyster bars for reds until the tide rose a bit more. Landed one red measuring 26 1/2 inches, and broke one off that was easily over 30 inches. We moved off to four foot of water and started drift fishing. Caught three Spainish, two Flounder, seven trout, and the normal ration of Lady Fish, Sharks, and Catfish. We were about to call it a day about 6:45pm when the cobia hit her line like a freight train. It acted like a large red, so we didn't get excited until it broke the surface. After seeing it, we got serious about landing it.
It took twenty minutes, but after fighting it like a pro, my Honeycoe landed her first cobia.
We fished with our usual bait, shinner tails rigged Texas style with a 1/16 ounce slip sinker. One little bit of info to share. After listening to some of you talk about eating Lady Fish, we decided to keep four and try them out. We scraped the meat out with a table spoon, made into paddys and fried it like Salmon paddies. I'm glad to report that it was absolutely delicious! Firm, white meat, no fishy taste. I'll be keeping them from now on for sure.
Don't doubt you or Bman on the ladyfish, but will say this... got to catch an awful lot of ladyfish and go through a ton more work to end up with the suppers y'all are going to get out of that single cobe! 
