Cobia VA caught 8/2/09

[Wes Blow]

I guess this would be the right board for this report.

After getting up at 1 AM to go fishing Saturday 8/1/09 off shore I almost decided not to go fishing Sunday 8/2/09 but my fishing club is having a Cobia tournament the month of August and I have been planning on fishing as much as possible for it. Chris Boyce was planning to go but had a family event and could not make it. I was set up that morning by 8AM, southern part of the Chesapeake Bay, and about an hour and a half went by and only had a couple of shark runs. I had 4 rods out with eels and my spinner out with a half of frozen bunker, the head part. I picked up one of the rods with an eel to check it and a fish hits it and comes to the surface. It was about 45” and acted like it was coming in okay so I decided not to bring in the other lines. About a half a second after that thought, the fish managed to wrap all the other lines and head around the front of the boat. I messed with this about 10 minutes trying to get the fish in and other rods in but they were all tangled together. I ended up losing the fish and when I looked at my spinner it was still bent over a little. I picked it up and a fish was on it but there was no way to reel it in being all tangled. I saw part of the fish on the surface in the distance and did not think it was that big. I decided the only way to get the fish in was to cut the lines to get the tangle out and splice it together. So I cut it and wrapped it around my hand with the fish connected and held on. Then I worked on splicing the line back together. The fish pulled a few times but never too much and I was able to get 3 loops on each side and pulled it tight leaving the tag ends on. Then I just wanted to get the spliced part on the reel and try to get the fish in without my splice failing. As soon as I put some pressure on the fish it almost spooled the reel, Shimano 4500 bait runner with 65 pound Power Pro. While all my line was going off I realized it was a bigger fish than I had thought and I got the rest of the rods in, the chum buckets tied off and tossed over the anchor buoy. I got the line back on passed the splice and then saw how big the fish was. I called Mike Avery hoping he was out and could come help but got his voice mail. He later meets me at Wallace’s and took pictures. I was driving the boat and fighting the fish trying to keep passed the spliced section on the reel but the fish kept making runs. I had it by the boat one time and it dove to the back and I felt several bumps that felt like the line was in the prop but the fish was still on, more on that later. Chris called to see if any thing was going on. I said yes and explained and I asked him if he knew anyone out that could help. He called Jorg Head but he was not fishing but had a friend (I think it was Kenny and Danny, v20fishnboy, they were near by). Jorg called me and said they would come over and help. Danny got on the boat and we had the fish to the boat in a couple of minutes but we were not able to get it that time. Then it took of several long runs and would not come close to the boat without going down. It took about 30 minutes and we were talking about netting it instead of gaffing but it came up and towards the boat and Danny got a perfect shot at it and drug it over the side. I did not realize how big the fish was until it was in the boat. I had one 82 last year and this fish was a lot more broad headed and the girth was bigger. I have to thank everyone that helped this come together for the fish of a life time for me. I hope the names are right, the 2 in the boat that came to help I had never met before. The fish was 105 pounds and 8 ounces. It was my 6th citation different species for the year. I am having the fish mounted by Dave Saunders and he said the marks on the side were from it hitting the prop, that was what I felt when I thought it was my line in the prop.

[gottaflylee]

Sweet fish Wes, congrats on all your citations this year as well as a cobia over 100 pounds...

[slip slidin]

Damn that is a big ole Cobia. Congratulations captain.

[Anders]

Nice fish Wes, go get another one

[SeaBiscuit]

Fantastic report of a fantastic catch. I don't think I took a single breath while reading this story!
Congratulations!
SeaBiscuit

[treyfry]

awesome fish and awesome story, thats one you will never forget.

[HOLWACHAGOT]

How cool is that!
What a Cobia!
Holwachagot

[Agitated88]

Talking about a one man "chinese fire drill"... Way to keep you head in the game...most stories like this don't end quite the way yours did...congrats on one hell of a catch & story!!!