We got out on my old boat, which now belongs to JC for a 3-4 hour quick trip in the pond off Stuart. We hit only two spots and were back at the dock by 1pm after a 9am start. Conditions were pretty nice with 2-3' waves, sunny and with about 20-25' of viz. There was a nasty thermocline recording 72 degrees at the bottom. The waters were very sharky.
On one of my drops on this wreck, I came right on a very thick and LARGE bull shark that was trailing three decent sized cobia's. I shot the laggard in the pack and hope the bull did not get fiesty. We were able to boat him and about 10 minutes later, as I shot at an AJ, another bull came in to the sound of the dinner bell with several cobias on his tail. Emil nailed one of the bigger ones and we both suddenly limited out. As we were controlling the fish with second shots and all, a school of about 10 cobes came by to taunt us. We added some more fish to the cooler and on my last dive, I was able to pick up a nice Permit. Who knows how long we'll be able to take these, so I was happy.
Virtually no activity for bottom fish other than some margates and other misc species. Thermocline messes with the Gags up here and they are usually no where to be found. We did have a few smoker kings perform "drive bys", but weren't able to land any. Here's a few quick pictures of the cobias.
