Irv's cobia

  • Irv, a member on here, went out with us Sunday. It was rough and wind came from every direction at some point in the day. Found some fish here and there. Then we went to a place that you can only find with a gps. A hole in the bottom. I stayed on the boat with Willy, my 7 year old son and then DuQuesnay says, "cabio") (local word for cobia).
    The boys came over and Irv dropped down and nailed this one. 34 lbs gutted and it had a FULL gut.
    Irv's a fast learner. He brought us some wild pig he's shot and smoked. Really good. ya man



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    Edited 2 times, last by hank ().

  • What a great picture:thumbsup2: Real nice fish... but hearing about that Pig got me thinking of Carnitas.:D


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

  • Irv, went out yesterday. 6th cut. Found the snappers but they were spooky. After working them....total non aggression....for 3 hours I finally got close enough at about 70 feet for a shot....and missed. haha. But got three ceros. This one fell off the spear when the flopper didn't open. it was laying on the bottom as I was breathing up to go get it. Then, something....and eel?...pulled it into a hole. Then a big shark came and was cruising around on the bottom for half hour. Then as I was going back to the boat, there was the remainder of the cero, laying on the bottom. Panadas....haha


  • Could be an eel. I had that happen to me with a coral trout. Shot it, fish went into a hole, I went after and was about to grab it when I see a fat, disgusting moray seemingly chomping away on it. I hate those things.
    I go back down to get my spear, if nothing else. And there is the coral trout - a bit chewed on but not too bad. No eel to be seen. Weird.


    Another spearo once send me a pic of a red snapper with a big bite of its belly taken out of it. The spearo had it hanging on his belt stringer, right on his ass, when an eel came out of a hole and took a bite. This was in Thailand so sharks aren't an issue but I am not gonna do belt stringer again after I saw that.

  • I never carry fish around. I gut them and go straight to the boat.
    I'm heading to Thailand for two years in about....a week or so.


    I'm packing and man, with this new job....responsibility, new place.....let see...they have Dogtooth Tuna....so floatline, floater, slip tip....haha.


    Looking forward to a new adventure.

  • Seriously, gonna move to Thailand?
    You'll miss the fish where you are now. Many places in Thailand are pretty over fished. If there are big pelagics there, I reckon you gotta do some miles but would love to be proved wrong. Pretty much everything I see there is medium sized compared to what I see you guys post here.


    That said, I did run run into an Aussie guy in Cyprus who said there were a few places with OK big fish left. But it was a bit hush hush. He was ex-army and had good connections with some Thai army guys who I guess had the lowdown on where this was...


    But doggies? Well, I used to live there, before I took of spearfishing and go back once in a while, so would love to hear what you find out.
    Maybe it is just that it doesn't have a great rep for good pelagics, so maybe people gave up exploring?

  • I never carry fish around. I gut them and go straight to the boat.
    I'm heading to Thailand for two years in about....a week or so.


    I'm packing and man, with this new job....responsibility, new place.....let see...they have Dogtooth Tuna....so floatline, floater, slip tip....haha.


    Looking forward to a new adventure.


    and.....Crying Tiger.:thumbsup2:


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

  • Seriously, gonna move to Thailand?
    You'll miss the fish where you are now. Many places in Thailand are pretty over fished. If there are big pelagics there, I reckon you gotta do some miles but would love to be proved wrong. Pretty much everything I see there is medium sized compared to what I see you guys post here.


    That said, I did run run into an Aussie guy in Cyprus who said there were a few places with OK big fish left. But it was a bit hush hush. He was ex-army and had good connections with some Thai army guys who I guess had the lowdown on where this was...


    Got a job offer in Phuket so I signed a two year contract. I know an Aussie there who has a charter sailboat business. We met 20 some years ago in the Philippines. Kept up on Facebook and he's really stoked to spearfish. Says he knows some really good areas.
    I would guess it's like the Philippines. Generally yes, very overfished, but if you know some locals, you can still find fish.

  • Yup, they are very comparable I think.


    I have one spot, or rather a story of a spot. Someone who knows someone whose uncle may have heard something (while he took a piss) kinda thing. I'll PM you a locale when I dig it up:-)


    Phuket, on the Andaman side has some nice waters. I always thought there would be fish some hours out. There are on some of the outer lying islands a few hours out. After those, it is blue water all the way to Nicobar/Andaman which is supposed to be proper game fishing lands. But that's far away and a different country. But yeah, somewhere out there in the blue...;-)


    BTW, if your friend needs a promo video of his charter setup, I wouldn't mind joining in and trading favors;-).
    I shoot video and stills for a living, so here are two shameless self-promo links:


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP3qxalfT_M
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEYCJLSojk0


    Are you taking the family? Thailand is awesome for families. Thais are easy going, well-coming and generally just love kids. Weather is good, food awesome and I am sure you are better than most at adjusting to new cultures, so I think it will treat you nicely:-)

  • Will you have internetz in Thailand Hank? I would miss your stories :(


    Very likely (almost) as much as in Florida;-)
    Starbucks, too. Well, probably even better small coffee shops run by Thai hipsters on fixie bikes;-)

  • Oh, one thing - do bring all guns and bits and bobs you need for spearing. Unless things changed, there's not much there and import duties can be pretty horrendous and tedious. Luckily, it is a prime tourist destination so it's often not too difficult having friends bring stuff from US or Europe. No issues in airports with spearing gear either.
    But I guess you are used to thinking a bit ahead with your lifestyle:-)

  • Very likely (almost) as much as in Florida;-)
    Starbucks, too. Well, probably even better small coffee shops run by Thai hipsters on fixie bikes;-)


    Starbucks, 7-Elevens on every corner, KFC, MacDonalds, and something I'd never had before....Roaming internet. If you leave your phone on Cellular Roaming here, you will suck up all your prepaid phone credit in about 2 days. But in Thailand (and Vietnam for that matter) I could be riding in a car a do Skype, Facebook...whatever. And it's cheap compared to here.
    And my kids will be in a really good school. They have two pools, and a fricken' skateboard ramp !! Great food. Yep

  • Oh, one thing - do bring all guns and bits and bobs you need for spearing. Unless things changed, there's not much there and import duties can be pretty horrendous and tedious. Luckily, it is a prime tourist destination so it's often not too difficult having friends bring stuff from US or Europe. No issues in airports with spearing gear either.
    But I guess you are used to thinking a bit ahead with your lifestyle:-)


    Already packed shooting line, crimps, crimper, extra shafts. That should be good for a couple years....unless I ruin a few shafts....but that would be a good problem...:thumbsup2:

  • You may never leave. Thailand is one of those places. You will meet so many folks that came there for "a few years" and now, it is 20 years later.
    I miss it a lot. I left when editorial photography kinda tanked in SE Asia and I moved on to China where the magazines still had a bit of an interest. Now, that is dying, too and I find myself shooting more and more corporate work.


    The 7-11s in Thailand are just amazing. There's pretty much nothing they don't have. You could live inside one, I think.
    Overall, living there is still amazingly affordable for how modern and developed it is.

  • Yep, it's a lot cheaper than Belize. I spent 11 years in the Philippines, 2 years in Malaysia and 17 years here in Belize. (plus 9 in Hawaii). I was getting a little restless here thinking, "this is it? No more adventures". This Thai thing is going to be good. I have a couple good friends in the same business there too. They don't spearfish though....

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