Gr8ful Fish
06-18-2013, 03:59 PM
I got invited by my friend, Loopy, to join him on a charter w/ my bro down in Beaufort, NC. Crew included Loopy, his son, Thomas, and their 2 friends, Scott and Ray.
I picked-up Loopy at his place in Cape May at O'dawn thirty on Thurs; we crossed the Cape May/Lewes ferry. I skated us down the Eastern shore in advance of the oncoming heavy storm that was predicted to bring possible tornadoes & 100 mph winds to parts of MD and VA. We enjoyed sunny and clear skies the entire way.
Sadly, for the rest of Loopy's crew, that wasn't the case. They drove down from the Williamsport, PA area and the Poconos, they got caught in the middle of torrential downpours with downed trees and flooded roads for most of their ride. The good news was that they made it through and arrived safely.
Fortunately, the bulk of the storms missed us down in Beaufort, but when we went to sleep on Thursday night, it was still howling in excess of 50 knots. However, when we awoke the next morning, we were greeted by clear skies and drooping flags, so the crew decided they wanted to cobia fish in the morning, and then dock-n-dine at Ruddy Ducks down in Morehead City for lunch before heading back out in the afternoon.
We quickly loaded up on the boat, collected some bunker, and Capt. John took us right to the first spot. As expected, the water was too off-colored from the previous day's winds to try sight fishing, so we quickly moved to spot near the inlet where we could take advantage of the tide. Stephen and I dropped the anchor; we rigged 8/0 circle hooks on 100# fluoro and mono leaders. The rigs were attached to 100 lbs. braided line fished on John's new Spinal rods and Talica reels.
Within minutes of our first bait hitting the water, Stephen saw the rod twitch as a fish took the bait, and swam toward the boat. Stephen quickly reeled to catch-up with the fish; he set the hook hard when he felt the fish pulling away. He quickly handed-off the rod to loopy's son, Thomas, and the fight was on. The fish peeled off the drag, and fought hard away from the boat on the surface, and Capt. John immediately said: "That's the right one boys."
Within seconds of hearing those words, the fish breached on the surface, and everyone could clearly see that it was nice cobia. A short while later, Capt. John had a gaff in it and it took the 2 of us to swing it flailing body over the rail. Our first fish was in the boat within 20 minutes; and it was real nice ~50 lbs specimen.
A short while later, we had another good run-off that we all could tell was a cobia bite. This time, Ray went to work on the rod, and he decked a nice ~30 pounder. For the next couple of hours, the boys enjoyed fighting a few giant Southern rays, sharks, bluefish and pinfish while Loopy lost 1 other fish that popped the hook that was also a cobia. The guys were amazed to see the size of some of the sharks and rays that they pulled to the boat. The Spinal rods performed awesome handling even the largest rays which were about the size of a full-sized pick-up truck hood.
After lunch, we headed back out to try another spot near Cape Lookout. The spot where my bro anchored us up had a perfect view of the Cape Lookout lighthouse in the background. Once again, as soon as we anchored up, we had a couple of great run-offs from the "target species" cobia. However, once again, the cobia won as the crew had 2 other fish that broke the leader or managed to pop the hook. Overall the crew went 2 for 6.
{Pics To Follow Part # 2}
- Gr8ful
I picked-up Loopy at his place in Cape May at O'dawn thirty on Thurs; we crossed the Cape May/Lewes ferry. I skated us down the Eastern shore in advance of the oncoming heavy storm that was predicted to bring possible tornadoes & 100 mph winds to parts of MD and VA. We enjoyed sunny and clear skies the entire way.
Sadly, for the rest of Loopy's crew, that wasn't the case. They drove down from the Williamsport, PA area and the Poconos, they got caught in the middle of torrential downpours with downed trees and flooded roads for most of their ride. The good news was that they made it through and arrived safely.
Fortunately, the bulk of the storms missed us down in Beaufort, but when we went to sleep on Thursday night, it was still howling in excess of 50 knots. However, when we awoke the next morning, we were greeted by clear skies and drooping flags, so the crew decided they wanted to cobia fish in the morning, and then dock-n-dine at Ruddy Ducks down in Morehead City for lunch before heading back out in the afternoon.
We quickly loaded up on the boat, collected some bunker, and Capt. John took us right to the first spot. As expected, the water was too off-colored from the previous day's winds to try sight fishing, so we quickly moved to spot near the inlet where we could take advantage of the tide. Stephen and I dropped the anchor; we rigged 8/0 circle hooks on 100# fluoro and mono leaders. The rigs were attached to 100 lbs. braided line fished on John's new Spinal rods and Talica reels.
Within minutes of our first bait hitting the water, Stephen saw the rod twitch as a fish took the bait, and swam toward the boat. Stephen quickly reeled to catch-up with the fish; he set the hook hard when he felt the fish pulling away. He quickly handed-off the rod to loopy's son, Thomas, and the fight was on. The fish peeled off the drag, and fought hard away from the boat on the surface, and Capt. John immediately said: "That's the right one boys."
Within seconds of hearing those words, the fish breached on the surface, and everyone could clearly see that it was nice cobia. A short while later, Capt. John had a gaff in it and it took the 2 of us to swing it flailing body over the rail. Our first fish was in the boat within 20 minutes; and it was real nice ~50 lbs specimen.
A short while later, we had another good run-off that we all could tell was a cobia bite. This time, Ray went to work on the rod, and he decked a nice ~30 pounder. For the next couple of hours, the boys enjoyed fighting a few giant Southern rays, sharks, bluefish and pinfish while Loopy lost 1 other fish that popped the hook that was also a cobia. The guys were amazed to see the size of some of the sharks and rays that they pulled to the boat. The Spinal rods performed awesome handling even the largest rays which were about the size of a full-sized pick-up truck hood.
After lunch, we headed back out to try another spot near Cape Lookout. The spot where my bro anchored us up had a perfect view of the Cape Lookout lighthouse in the background. Once again, as soon as we anchored up, we had a couple of great run-offs from the "target species" cobia. However, once again, the cobia won as the crew had 2 other fish that broke the leader or managed to pop the hook. Overall the crew went 2 for 6.
{Pics To Follow Part # 2}
- Gr8ful