44 Cobia in 2 Days

[Seavee]

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[font "Times New Roman"]ral anglers land 44 cobia in two days[/font][font "Times New Roman"][size 3]

[/size]By Bill Sargent
FLORIDA TODAY


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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]PORT CANAVERAL -- Anyone who thought this year's spring cobia run was starting to fizzle should be talking to Capt. Bob Levine of Merritt Island. [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]In back-to-back trips, last Friday and Saturday, Levine and three fishing buddies caught 44 cobia, most of them 20- to 35-pounders and the heaviest a 45-pounder. They kept a few of the fish for eating, and released the rest. [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]"It was a fisherman's dream come true," said Levine, owner of the Lena, a 25-foot SeaVee out of Port Canaveral. "The first day we found 12 to 15 rays in one spot offshore while headed for Chris Benson reef, and they were loaded up with cobia." [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Capt. Luke Ference, who fished with Levine both days along with Chris Bucalo, said most of Saturday's cobia were on an offshore wreck in about 70 feet of water. [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]"It had to be different fish from those we found the first day because they were miles apart," said Ference, a Merritt Island High School senior who recently got his captain's license on his 18th birthday. "We bailed them all day on jigs on the rays, but those on the wreck where a little smarter." [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]When Saturday's fish turned off to jigs the anglers switched to live blue runners and Atlantic thread herring, known as greenies. For jigs they used 11/2-ounce Capt. Troy's Cobia Busters. [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Bucalo is a junior at Merritt Island High. [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Levine said the huge pod of manta rays on Friday showed no concern for the boat. [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]"They just let us crawl right up to them, and we had cobia one after another," said Levine, who captains his boat between trips as a Delta Airlines flight attendant. "We had triple hookups three different times, and each time we landed all the fish." [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Capt. Scott Nickels of Titusville joined the threesome for Saturday's trip. [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]"I'm no cobia expert, but I've been chasing them for the last nine years, and I've never seen anything quite like what I saw Saturday," Nickels said. "At one time, there had to be 20 to 25 cobia around the boat. I saw more cobia in one day than I did the entire season. [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]"If the cobia had been moderately aggressive, I wouldn't want to think how many fish we could have caught," Nickels added. [/size][/font]
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[dhTubinChris]

[][size 4]WHOA!!! nice catch. well i live on the west coast so i dont think we get those out here....[unsure] keep those pix coming![/size]

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[size 4]-chris[/size]
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[JapanRon]

Hey there Seevee,

Nice fishies. None here in so cal and no amberjack either! Lousiana coastal oil rigs are good for finding cobia too and they can be caught by chunking, just like big ol yellowtail (sometimes) at the islands off California and tuna down Baja way, as well as top water IF and that is IF you can chum 'em up near the surface. Cobia are great!

A 45lb fish is good enough for me thank you! ha ha

JapanRon
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[DH_tubinjoe]

WOW!!!! never seen a cobia before. those kinda resemble sharks. well the body shape and everything does(well in the picture where their backs are showing). Nice fish.





Joe
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