Virgin Cobia

[trunklegs]

If you're like me and you mostly look at the forums forthe pics, then ignore this and skip to the photos! But I just gotta tell the story of the bestfishing day of my life! So excuse thewordiness.

Just got back from a couple of days up at my favouritefishing spot, Forster. Was going to staywith my brother and his family and had been looking forward to it for weeks, sowas sweating on the weather reports. They chopped and changed daily in the week leading up to going away, butI went with some hope that the time I would be there might be clear.

Alas. the weather turned out to be foul! Sheeting rain!

But, I had promised my niece a fish, and she was keen. So with wind and waves low, and only a coupleof days to make the most of, wet weather gear was donned and boat launched. Ironically (as it turned out), I wasn't planninga serious fish so talked my brother and his wife (niece's parents) into comingwith us. Normally I don't like more than2 in the boat when fishing outside, but with only a short fish planned, andweather looking decidedly uncomfortable, thought the company would be fun.

How right that turned out to be, but not for the reasons Ianticipated!

After collecting some perfect jelly-bean yakkas, we shotout to a close reef. I was not confidentthat I had anchored us on the mark, and nieces first drop down confirmed that Ihad in fact missed the reef. She pulledup a double header of 40cm plus flatties! So with my niece continuing to pull flatties up at every drop, I thoughhere was good enough!

My sister-in-law was also soon into the flathead act,with my brother and I helping out with de-fishing and rebaiting for the girls! In between times, I was floating the liviesout unweighted and bonnies were hitting them almost as quickly as my niece andsister-in-law continued to reel In flatheads. My brother and I took it in turns to bringthem in, in between de-fishing the girl's lines. I really couldn't believe it. For me, it was great fishing. I was stoked at being able to get my familyonto fish.

But then the fun began. The small yakkas had now been used up and theones left were too big for my liking. Ithought, what the heck, and threw one out anyway. Beforelong, like before, the the baitrunner was screaming. I thought; biggggg bonnie! Mybrother grabbed it and after about a 40m run, begun to put some pull onit. He would get about 10m in and thenthere would be another short run away. This happened for about 5 minutes, when it began to dive deep. Line was headed under the boat, and with my brothernot so good on his feet, he handed the rod to me so I could lean over thegunnel to keep the 15lb braid off the boat. I began to wonder about my bonniecall, as it seemed to be sitting heavy on the bottom. I decided to take the risk of trying to putsome hurt on it, and after some fair weight it seemed to turn its head andslowly got it heading up. I was nowthinking shark and after another few minutes, my thoughts were apparentlyconfirmed, as the fish surfaced about 20m from the boat and there was a dorsaland tail fin sitting out of the water! About4 foot by the look of it. Bloody shark! Ah well, might as well get it over to the boat and have a closer look.

So some more 10m in-5m out games were played while thefish took me on a ride as it circled the boat. But as the two of us got closer I got too afraid to believe myeyes. That's not a shark. What is it? My god! Is that a …. it couldn'tbe! Could it? I mean, I had always hoped that sometime inthe next ten years I might catch a coby, but now? It couldn't be.

Long story short, cobia it was! So now getting it in mattered! Panic! Don't lose it panic!! Fortunately we got it to the side of the boatbut not having caught such a large fish before and being in that sort of a flapthat you get into when a fish matters this much, I farted around wondering howto get it in till my sister-in-law gave me the lip grips with that 'use the lipgrips; idiot' look that I deserved! Twoattempts later, and a 1.4 metre cobia is the only animal in a flap in the boat!

Unbelievable. Whocares about the sheeting rain! And I hadjust planned to give my niece a chance to fish! Turned out to be the day of myfishing life.

So far anyway….

(Excuse the photo quality. Was miserable weather!)

[robeebee]

that's a great fish mate

congrats

[J Hooked]

WOW! That was a great read! I was getting excited, I can imagine what you guys felt when you saw the beast surfacing.

Congrats on a top catch.

[wchh]

Pictures of big fish are everywhere on the internet. It was the story of fellow raider’s joy that entertains more. I just had a good read.

[stickybeak]

Great catch mate !! and a good story to match !!

[user1829]

If you're like me and you mostly look at the forums forthe pics, then ignore this and skip to the photos!

for anyone silly enough to skip a Fishraiders story about any fishing adventure - go back up top and read!

But I just gotta tell the story of the bestfishing day of my life! So excuse thewordiness.

great story mate, loved every word, your family must of had a great day - do they appreciate the immensity of the cobia catch? they must, it is and awesome sight

and i was reading a fishing mag that mentioned cobia boat-shyness, i can imagine it would be a scary last few meters on 15lb

[Jew Stalker]

Awesome fish mate! I am totally jealous right now hehehe. I am also a cobia virgin but I live in the far south. I want to make a trip up north to hunt some of these.

[Listy]

Great report, and what a great fish. Got very excited just reading your report. Wanna get out there now!

Thanx

[gregg.michael]

Very nice fish, well done! I bet Cobia is high on a lot of anglers list, certainly mine.

So congrats on achieving what I have been dreaming. Great inspiration.

[trunklegs]

1334993529[/url]' post='439745']

Very nice fish, well done! I bet Cobia is high on a lot of anglers list, certainly mine.

So congrats on achieving what I have been dreaming. Great inspiration.

Thanks cuttlefish camp. It certainly was on mine too

[dogbox]

Thanks cuttlefish camp. It certainly was on mine too

What a great report

Im yet to catch first Cobia but when it happens i want it to happen like that.

Top catch,,

Dogbox

[pcpayne]

Top report and great cobia! Well done!!