Big Cobia. Big AJs. Big Fun!
I got the call Saturday evening. The Getaway fishing charter out of St. Pete Beach had a couple empty spots on Sunday for a full day in the Gulf. At sunrise Sunday, Tim and I were on the Merry Pier and ready to go. Joe was at the helm, and Cap’t Dick played mate, while Chuck, Joe and Whyatt rounded out the passenger list.
A quick stop at the Pass-A-Grille tripod, and a couple throws of the net, and the livewell was blacked out with big whitebait. We hit a couple markers in the Egmont Channel for big blue runners and pinfish, and headed West through the fog.
We arrived at a fishy looking spot in about 80 feet, and fired down a big runner. It took about the count of ten before the rod was doubled over with a 40 pound amberjack. After an epic fight, he landed in the box.
We circled for another drift, and Cap’t Joe tossed out a couple handfuls of whitebait for chum. After a couple minutes, I glanced off the starboard side and spotted a pair of big cobia cruising. They circled the boat a couple times before they saw our freelined pinfish. Wham! The fight was on. Tim took the rod, and it was indeed quite a fight on 20 pound test.
While the battle raged, I dropped a big pinfish down on a grouper rod. Pretty soon- whack! We had a double header of big cobia on. Tim’s succumbed first, while mine sounded. Lots of drag screaming and headshakes, but a managed to get it within gaff range. It was a good 50 pounds – nice fish!
We boated another AJ, then headed for a little grouper digging. I thought they’d be on fire after the long closure, but the bite was spotty. Plenty of fish there, they just were a bit spooky. We watched a big loggerhead turtle check out the boat, while a Portuguese Man o’ War blew by. We had mid-80’s, sunshine, and a nice breeze. We ended up catching:
-Red Gouper
-Gag Grouper
-Scamp
-Nice Mangrove Snapper
-Triggerfish
-White Grunt
-Bar Jack
-A Keeper Kingfish
Another fantastic day on the water with The Getway. If you’re looking for a great offshore trip, give Joe a call at 727-743-8705, and tell him you saw this report on TampaFishing.net!
April 6th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Hey Steve,
What a day… That was a great time all the way around! Won’t be able to go fishing for a while- My freezer is full! Ahhh, you know I’m kidding about the ‘no fishing for a while’ part.
See ya soon,
Tim
April 10th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Steve, this is a great topping for grilled fish or shelfish. 10 roma tomatoes,1 large sweet onion,1 bunch cilantro,1/4 cup orange juice,1/4 cup canola or veg. oil,1 juice of a lime,4garlic cloves,1 jalapeno ,sea salt and black pepper to taste,I like 1/2 of a grapefruit pulp and juice. Chop all items or put in food processor for 5 seconds. Refrigerate for 2 hours or so. you may have to add more salt. Good on any seafood you can grill. I like it on boiled gar as well.