The Cobia Connection
Posted: June 17th, 2013, 12:19 am
As the old saying goes, it REALLY is a small world sometimes.
So about two weeks ago, I posted a job opening for our office and got a slew of applications. One of the first things I (and almost all other hiring managers) do nowadays is paste applicant email addresses into criminal databases, google, and social media sites to see what pops up. Well, in the case of one applicant a picture of a doormat size flounder popped up! Almost instantly I thought, "I've seen that flounder before!", so do a bit of digging and confirm it's site member Ontiltttttt applying for our open job!
Without sharing my real-world identity, I write him using my "Big Bend Gyrene" moniker and joke with him that he doesn't realize it but he's been emailing me and I'll likely meet him in short order... few hours later I'm writing him all formal-like using my real world name and inviting him to interview with our office. Late that night, I get an email from him excitedly proclaiming he's finally figured out I'm "Big Bend Gyrene!" 
Long story short, he interviews and the entire staff picks him for the job. They made a good pick because he's licensed, has solid work experience, and almost certainly has a MD education in his future, but I'm secretly celebrating because I know from our conversation during his interview visit that I'm gaining another valued fishing bud. 
So after his first day of work, I ask him if he might want to chase cobia the next day. Verifying we've picked the right candidate, he locks in the invite within about a second of my sending it.
After launching with the sunrise, we ran out to 8' of water and I started filling up the live well while Ontiltttttt fished a new penny gulp jig. Neither of us had a slow bite. Bait was easy to find, and Ontiltttttt caught trout, ladyfish, and seabass.
After loading up with bait, I ran out to a spot in 18' with very rocky bottom and within seconds of dropping our anchor we're spotting eagle rays and cobia are tackling our initial drops. We're a bit slow to reach our initial bite and lose it, but didn't have time to cry about it because almost instantly another rod off the back gets hit. End result a 31' short but solid fighter that we tag and release.
Things really slowed down after the initial bite, with just enough time between a few monster bites that we were too slow to the reels. Growing worried we might not get any more bites, I decided to chum some dead baits and it sure seemed to work as within minutes we had on the bite we wanted! A BIG keeper cobe that gave Ontiltttttt exactly the fight he wanted (and maybe even a bit more)... the fight took almost exactly 35 minutes, and involved multiple additional cobia sightings during the fight as well as a brief double hook-up, with the second bite lost to a prop cutoff because Ontiltttttt and I were both upfront when the drag on the second rod sounded the alarm.
Got the beast up to the boat and had nightmarish visions of Bman's lost monster cobe which gave my net the slip after Bman tried wrestling it at the same time I landed it. Debate trying to use my boga, but the beast keeps going crazy at the boat, and actually try gaffing it a few times but each time I prepare to stick it the darn thing seems to have ESP and dives... decide I'll prove to Bman the net is beast capable and on my second attempt with the net, capture the cobe as well as possible with it diving down the center of the net. Go to pick it up and find it is so big that the front 51% is in the net but the back 49% of the cobe is thrashing wildly from the back of the net. Determined not to lose it, I go into Jedi mode and will it to stay in using "THE FORCE." Heave it over the side of the boat and it lands right in the middle of the live well. End result, in Ontiltttttt's first trip out for cobia he ties Ranaman's Celeste for the 2nd place boat record with a 35 pounder.
We ended the day with one more keeper cobia and a new first... my first "double hooked" cobia! Turns out the cobia took one of our back baits and sneakily reached the second before sounding the alarm.
For anybody on the board who hasn't landed a big keeper cobia wondering how fun they are to catch, here's a highlight reel of Ontiltttttt's two fights. Think it's fairly obvious Ontiltttttt had a good time... sure there are millions of folks who've had far less enjoyable day #2 orientations!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0NkPxqME7k[/video]
So about two weeks ago, I posted a job opening for our office and got a slew of applications. One of the first things I (and almost all other hiring managers) do nowadays is paste applicant email addresses into criminal databases, google, and social media sites to see what pops up. Well, in the case of one applicant a picture of a doormat size flounder popped up! Almost instantly I thought, "I've seen that flounder before!", so do a bit of digging and confirm it's site member Ontiltttttt applying for our open job!
Long story short, he interviews and the entire staff picks him for the job. They made a good pick because he's licensed, has solid work experience, and almost certainly has a MD education in his future, but I'm secretly celebrating because I know from our conversation during his interview visit that I'm gaining another valued fishing bud. So after his first day of work, I ask him if he might want to chase cobia the next day. Verifying we've picked the right candidate, he locks in the invite within about a second of my sending it.
After launching with the sunrise, we ran out to 8' of water and I started filling up the live well while Ontiltttttt fished a new penny gulp jig. Neither of us had a slow bite. Bait was easy to find, and Ontiltttttt caught trout, ladyfish, and seabass.
After loading up with bait, I ran out to a spot in 18' with very rocky bottom and within seconds of dropping our anchor we're spotting eagle rays and cobia are tackling our initial drops.
We're a bit slow to reach our initial bite and lose it, but didn't have time to cry about it because almost instantly another rod off the back gets hit. End result a 31' short but solid fighter that we tag and release.Got the beast up to the boat and had nightmarish visions of Bman's lost monster cobe which gave my net the slip after Bman tried wrestling it at the same time I landed it. Debate trying to use my boga, but the beast keeps going crazy at the boat, and actually try gaffing it a few times but each time I prepare to stick it the darn thing seems to have ESP and dives... decide I'll prove to Bman the net is beast capable and on my second attempt with the net, capture the cobe as well as possible with it diving down the center of the net. Go to pick it up and find it is so big that the front 51% is in the net but the back 49% of the cobe is thrashing wildly from the back of the net. Determined not to lose it, I go into Jedi mode and will it to stay in using "THE FORCE." Heave it over the side of the boat and it lands right in the middle of the live well. End result, in Ontiltttttt's first trip out for cobia he ties Ranaman's Celeste for the 2nd place boat record with a 35 pounder.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0NkPxqME7k[/video]
