BigBendFishing.Net

FINALLY put the boat in salt for the first time this year on Sunday (repowering boat, ramp closures, & trying to manage business during covid craziness to blame).

Sent out an invite to Ontiltttttt to help celebrate his graduation from FSU med school... no small accomplishment!

Bit choppy in the morning but we managed to run to a few spots I hoped would hold cobia, and Ontiltttttt and I tagged and released 4 that were just an inch or two short.
Picture below shows why I only gaff them if they're massive and OBVIOUSLY bigger than the required limit... so many we catch are right at the required limit so I've learned to judge them short until actually putting tape on them.
Cobia bite went DEAD by midday, so Ontiltttttt asked if he could try for tripletail, as neither of us had ever caught one. He managed to get one at the first spot we tried, though he had to make about 50 casts to it before it cooperated. And here's where the post title comes in... take the dude out just 2 or 3 days after meeting him and he lands the boat RECORD cobia to date at that time. Number of trips later (all with cobes) he says he wants to catch a kingfish in waters where I'd never caught a king, and yep we get one that day. Says he wants a tripletail despite neither of us having caught one before, and yep, again... targeted fish caught within minutes of voicing the request. Can anyone blame me for saying that I hope I can find a friend like me some day?!
With the tripletail marked off the list, Ontiltttttt puts in an order for a mess of seatrout with just an hour or so before we run out of water to get back in safely. Kind of funny reading about folks having issues with puffers and short trout... we didn't catch the first puffer and most of our trout were keepers. Blessedly managed to limit out fairly quickly, with... no surprise, Ontiltttttt having the hotter hand in catching the seatrout (in fairness to me, I caught a few keepers using a shredded OLD sureketch shrimp that was entirely missing the tail and split into pieces on the hook, and even manged to hook the biggest fish of the day though it shook off feet from the boat (no surprise there with Ontiltttttt's better luck throughout the day)

Here's Ontiltttttt with one of his nice trout.
Most intense moment of the day was having a line scream like a king had taken it, only to scan all around for the line and see it going up to THIS frigate bird. Blessedly it dropped the bait but then flew around us for about 5 minutes, quite aggressively and obviously wanting another bait. Kind of freaky looking -- like a mix between a GIANT seagull, bald eagle, and wide-winged pterodactyl.
Waters were mirror smooth at day's end and reminded me just why I love fishing the coast so much... like a balm that soothes my soul.

Great report. Congrats to Dr. Ontiltt's graduation and checking the tripletail off his bucket list.

That's unusual for a frigate to be in close and around here. Most are found offshore over deeper water. They're kinda like the Pileated woodpeckers of the ocean.

Awesome report!!

Who said I’d rather be lucky than good? Great report gentlemen, nice work

Congrats to Ontilt for the fish and for the MD. Not a student anymore, except like we all are for life. WooHoo!
BBG, glad you got out and showed us all how it's done. How would we get started in the cobia-tagging process?

Nice work, and yes, more info on the tagging?

Nice report and well done on the fish. We got our 1st tripletail last year and were pretty proud of ourselves. We caught a mixture of fish this weekend, but were unable to call our shots like Ontilt. The only exception being in the 7-year-old who got a new fishing rod and proceeded to wear the grown-ups out with it.

Great report as usual BBG. I couldn't help but noticing your troller stabilizer support in one of the pics. I've been looking for something like that for my troller. Can you share the brand and model and if you would recommend it....thanks.

Quality reports with pictures. What a day!


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Great report. We were down on Saturday before Labor Day and saw two birds that I was sure were frigate birds. Also thought it odd to see them and definitely not common in my inshore experience.


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Rhodes wrote:Great report as usual BBG. I couldn't help but noticing your troller stabilizer support in one of the pics. I've been looking for something like that for my troller. Can you share the brand and model and if you would recommend it....thanks.

Rhodes, not to derail BBG's report, but in this thread I've shown a couple of trolling motor supports that I have tested. I have the folding shallow water solutions one installed on my MotorGuide now and it works great.

http://www.bigbendfishing.net/phpBB3/vi ... =2&t=44276

Rhodes wrote:I couldn't help but noticing your troller stabilizer support in one of the pics. I've been looking for something like that for my troller. Can you share the brand and model and if you would recommend it....thanks.

Rhodes, this is the one that I'm using. Just got the new "spot lock" trolling motor put on this year so the stabilizing mount's new but it worked like a charm the first trip out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SEkWJdzlj8[/video]

geofish wrote:How would we get started in the cobia-tagging process?

Srbenda wrote:Nice work, and yes, more info on the tagging?

I requested a tagging kit years ago from Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory and each year when I send in reports on the used ones they send me a handful more of new tags. I'll do my best to remember to email them this coming week to ask what the best way for additional folks to get tagging kits might be and share whatever they say.

Thanks SK & BBG for the feedback on the troller stabilizers....just what I was looking for.

Great report!!


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