Pic of me and my dinner companion

[100days-a-year]

Check profile pic out. That's a cobia.128' WT 74 BT 7min. Hole in side is from a gaff as it was to heavy for someone to lift by the stringer.I'm 5'10 around 185... the fish bottomed a 50# scale before his ventral fin left the deck.Thanx to my friend Billy for dropping me on him.

 

[FredT]

Looks like the migration has begun!

Weather Gods being friendly I hope to see some of those when they get off MS!

BTW if the head wounds are from trying to "brain" the fish with a knife, try "throating" it just aft of the gill junction under the head. Pass the knife through the fish behind the gill rakers and then cut down and out. That severs the main artery from the heart to the gills cutting off all blood flow to the fish without having to cut any heavy bone. It is an easier place to give a fish an attitude adjustment than through the skull, and the bleed out helps the meat. Even big fish bleed out in less than 30 seconds once throated, and this manouver can be done in mid-water if you keep your knife sharp. Given a chance I'll gut and gill U/W too. Makes all that dead weight hauling up into the boat a lot easier.

Screws weight based braggin' rights though.

 

[ckharlan66]

What time is dinner? Looks like it would feed the whole board (at least the regulars.)

Chad

 

[Rick Murchison]

Now that is a fine eatin' fish! And big enough for some really nice steaks...
MMmmmm....
Don't you overcook him now, y'hear!
Rick

 

[DivingGal]

That sucker looks big! As Chad says, looks like it could feed a lot of us!

 

[JustAddWater]

I think you need a bigger stringer. Bon appetite and good hunting!

 

[Manogr]

I want to see them live and well when diving... I can't stand it see them dead....


Why ?

Manogr

 

[chris_b]

Originally posted by Manogr
Why ?

Manogr

Hmm, because they taste great?

 

[100days-a-year]

Did feed quite a few so far.FredT sorry,that's a head shot from straight over him as he swam from under the 8' wide southern stingray.no migration really they are offshore here yearround despite what the fishing mags say. Manogr, sorry bud but rest assured I don't wantonly kill all in my path .I or my friends and family eat evrything we kill.This week I've had wild hog,venison and cobia.Next week will see quail and red snapper .I am very active in actually helping to improve the management of fish and wild game including spending a lot of $$$ .I normally don't explain myself to others but you seem concerned rather than condemning

 

[FredT]

Great shot AND a nice fish!

Make sure you miss the ray though. Way back when out of Destin I shot one of similar size straight down, and didn't see the huge GSR buried in the sand (mostly under the wreck) under him. Shaft went clear though the cobia, and the tip went through the left wing of the buried ray. Made for an interesting few seconds until the ray snapped the detach tip cable. That tip failure actually made my day. Fighting down a big ray at about 90' was NOT something I wanted to deal with. The ray was a bit wider than the landing craft (LCVP) he was "hiding" under, which broke up his profile, with the tail under the LCVP. I didn't know he was there until the bottom exploded! He left a bit pissed off, but with a clean puncture wound that should have easily healed.

Of course if the ray had been "boated" (or towed in) I would've had "scallops" enough to feed 100 or more at the next church dinner.

I believe the migration is a GoM thing, and perhaps an east coast thing north of Jaxonville. Below Jax the WT is well buffered by the Stream. Cobia like a WT of about 70°F or higher, although they'll hang out in the shade under a platform midday when WT gets much over 90°. When the water gets cold here in the winter they head east and south to Fla Bay and points south. When the WT gets back up to 70° they reappear, and come back through in large numbers again in late October and November as it passes 73-70°F on the way down. We'll hold a healthy "local"population from mid to late April to about Thanksgiving but there is a big surge of larger fish between Halloween and Thanksgiving as the fish come back through from the Laguna Madre area.

Once again, nice fish, even by GoM standards!