I was supposed to be out on a boat at 6:30 AM this morning but woke at 4:30 AM feeling totally stuffed up and could not even think of diving - So I called and cancelled.
I went back to bed and woke at 10:30 still feeling gruff. A few hits of Afrin and a few Dayquil capsules down with my coffee. Before long I was pacing around the house feeling a bit better and wondering if I should have went. About 11:30 a guy I know from NJ called and asked if I wanted to do a shore dive @ FP - Against my better judgement I hopped in my car with all my gear and sped off to Pepper Park.
Once we donned our wetsuits we grabbed our gear and hit the water. We swam strait out to the 3rd reef and then started hunting. Vis was bad enough you HAD to dive and hunt in order to see ANY fish. The reef was fairly bare except for the usual tropicals and nurse sharks. At one ledge I found a bevvy of really big snook and shot a barely legal sheepshead there. A little further south I found a ledge with a whole herd of mega-sized bugs and was gonna get a pic when I saw a margate (neighbor loves them) so I shot it and moved on down the line to take some sort of fish with a big black spot on the tail. I see people keeping them when H&L fishing so on the spear he went too.
My buddy and I decided to call it a day and I said "lets just push out a little deeper and let me do a few aspetto dives - Then we'll go" - He obliged but was left a little behind in some current.
I dove down and spotted a big ray and splayed out in the sand beside him next to some worm rock - After 30 seconds or so I see what I believe to be small sharks coming toward me. By the time I figured they were Cobia they saw me and were turning away. 5 of them in total - 3 of 'em had to go over 50 lbs easy. I was only able to get a shot on the smallest one and took it - A long shot for my little RA 70cm.
The fish was hit poorly in the mid section and a bit high and he was tearing the hole bigger and bigger by the second! I yelled for my buddy - COBIA! NEED SECOND SHOT! I watched the fish enlarge the wound to the point I was afraid any second he'd tear off. So a quick huff of air and down I went with my knife in hand to subdue the wildly flailing beast. I grabbed the tail and he shook my arm like crazy - After a moment he slowed a bit and I jabbed my knife int his skull - THEN he REALLY went wild and about kicked my ass.
What seemed like an eternity we were back on the beach - Thoroughly exhausted but still pumped from poppin' my cherry. We took a few pics - Most didn't turn out well, and after much back slapping and admiring bikini babes admiring my fish, we parted ways. I gave him all my other fish.
P.S. Cobias are a totally meaty fish! BIG bones and lots of clean white good smellin' flesh!
39 1/2 inches total length and just under 24 pounds - I AM SOOOOOO STOKED!
The boat I was SUPPOSED to go on got the skunk.....
Some pics - Enjoy!
