TRAYLOR ISLAND LING

4-19-2010--Well, the new boat finally caught fish. We had a north wind this morning. Three of us waded with soft plastics until 12 Am before we got the first bite. We fished four places before moving to East Shore where we found trout. The trout were mostly small males and you had to catch about 4 to get a keeper. We released about a half dozen 15 to 17 inch trout and many smaller ones before deciding to look for larger fish. We moved to the outside of Traylor Island and right away I hooked up with what I thought was a shark. It took most of my line on the first run. I spent about 10-15 minutes getting it close enough for the sportswriter with us to get a picture of it splashing in the water. Then I announced I was going to break it off. The other fisherman with us immediately said it's a Cobia (ling), so I loosened the drag and continued to play the fish until it got close enough for me to see that it really was a Cobia. When I put the boga grip in it's mouth the fish went crazy. I hung onto the boga while the other fisherman grabbed the tail. We finally got the upper hand. The Cobia measured 41 inches but my scales wouldn't read high enough to get the weight. We went on to catch keeper trout in the area where the Cobia was. It may have been feeding on trout. Anyway this is the first Cobia I have ever caught in the bay systems. We do catch them in the Gulf around structure such as oil well platforms.

Will Leschper wrote a good article on this fishing experience in the San Angelo paper. You can see it at http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2010/apr/rare-catches-are-what-make-fishingworthwhile/