Saturday was an amazing day on the water for us. We left out of Carolina Beach Inlet at 4:45. Headed out 27 miles and started slow trolling live baits looking for any bottom structure. We marked a nice 10 foot ledge, anchored up and started dropping to the bottom. First two drops resulted in very large fish that broke us off very quickly, one was on the bottom and the other was mid column in about 50 feet of water. We were exclusively fishing jigs (flat fall, slow pitch and fast pencil jigs). We tried Carolina style rigs but nothing would touch them. It took shiny metal to entice bites. I had two light lines off the back of the boat. Had two amazing runs from large kings that broke or cut 40 and 60 pound wire leader, that kinda bummed us out. After about an hour of catching all the porgies and white grunts we could handle (some up to 4 pounds), I had a good strike on my light line. Got the hook set and it was on! The fish made a deep dive straight to the bottom (105'), then proceeded to haul *** away from the boat. He made a 200 yard run, and I was down to maybe 80 yards on the spool. He finally turned and made his way back to the boat. Then the fight stopped, I could feel the fish acting odd. Then more crazy runs, much stronger than the previous. After an hour I got the fish to the boat, a nice big fat cobia. At that point he was not ready, and dove back down to 80 feet. After seeing him, I realized that when he stopped earlier in the fight the leader lassoed around his tail, so I was fighting a 40 pound cobia from his tail.... 20 minutes later we had him to the boat and got a gaff set. So an hour and 20 minute fight, on a 5000 sustain with 20 pound line. SOOO Much fun, but I was beat after that. Also during this fight we had a 12 foot hammerhead circling the boat, I thought for sure he was going to get my cobia, but we lucked out. Joker was heading straight to our chum bag, we managed to pull that before he latched on. Pretty neat sight.
Once I had my cobia in, my bother hooked into a small king (10 pounds) which is destined for smoked fish dip..
After all that excitement we started dropping again, we found some nice beeliners, triggerfish, ocellated flounder, squid, black bass, tons of remoras, amberjacks, Banks Bass, Sand Perch, and other smaller misc. bottom fish.
The water out 32 miles was clear, but brown. Tons of trash and some fully intact trees, so be careful heading out in the dark.
This was only our 4th trip offshore in our own boat. I feel like we are finally getting the hang of things. We were actually able to mark ledges, and see fish right off the bottom. So for sure a great learning experience.
~Michael
Once I had my cobia in, my bother hooked into a small king (10 pounds) which is destined for smoked fish dip..
After all that excitement we started dropping again, we found some nice beeliners, triggerfish, ocellated flounder, squid, black bass, tons of remoras, amberjacks, Banks Bass, Sand Perch, and other smaller misc. bottom fish.
The water out 32 miles was clear, but brown. Tons of trash and some fully intact trees, so be careful heading out in the dark.
This was only our 4th trip offshore in our own boat. I feel like we are finally getting the hang of things. We were actually able to mark ledges, and see fish right off the bottom. So for sure a great learning experience.
~Michael