The waters are heating up and time that one of my favorite scavengers start showing up to eat baited hooks. I'd like to see if anyone is interested in bragging about their cobia aka skunkfish aka Ling to put up a picture. The winner of the biggest or the most gets bragging rights. Also anyone have good cobia recipes?
Cobia Bragging Page
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We're not picky Nate!
Tell us about it!
Tell us about it!
About 3 years ago in August we were fishing behind a shrimper for kings with ribbonfish. As we came back for another drift a hugh ling came out to meet us. He wasn't interested in our ribbons so I sat my rod in a holder and reached for a live perch. As usual I forgot to rig a rod for perch so I began tying a hook on another rod. Monty yells something is on your rod. The ling had followed my ribbon as it settled into the depths and I am now hooked up with a hugh ling on a tld 15, 30# line, and a light kingfish rod. After about 30 minutes of tug of war, hot windless 95' temp, and forgetting to breath a few times, I am about to croak! We can't find the big gaff, its where its supposed to be, so Monty grabs the 3' small kingfish gaff. He sticks the ling right square in the belly. The fish doesn't even react, like me he is too tired to care. Monty who is 75 can't lift the fish so I put the rod back in the holder, grab the fish by the jaw, and we lift the fish and put it in the box. I sit on the box and try to catch my breath. The fish never moves. We don't make another cast and head home. At the dock the fish weighs 83# and is the largest anyone can remember coming in. The moral of the story is you don't have to be good, just lucky, remember to breath, and try to remember to keep a heavy rod rigged. The fish was caught behind 2 shrimpers tied to a standpipe up north near the old purple rig that used to be there. The water was only about 100' deep. I have a picture but don't have a way to send it.
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Caught 2 Cobia ( 49.5 # ) with only 3 baits..........ICM
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Pictures\Fishing 07
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Pictures\Fishing 07
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etan, email me your pic and I'll post it up! An 83# Cobia is the biggest I've ever heard of...and I thought 40-50 lb'ers were giants. 
Never caught a Cobia myself, but would love to catch one this year!
Never caught a Cobia myself, but would love to catch one this year!
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248 Posts
Heres an 86# that was caught the day before the S.T.A.R. tournament started by a friend of mine
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They get big. I hooked on one in 45' of water at a single pipe near where packery channel is now. This was probably in the mid 80's. It took a live blue runner. I was fishing with a Penn International 6 and 20# mono. It took over one hour to get the fish to the boat. Ling don't like being gaffed. They will go nuts once stuck. Be careful when board them. I always beat them in the head with a billy at least 10 times or until the skull is crushed. They will tear a boat apart real fast if don't subdue them.
It was huge. We never put it on a scale, but it was almost 6' in length and was around 100#'s. Somewhere, I used to shoot 35mm slides. I still have slides of hundreds of fish taken from around 1980 to 1998. One of these days, I will buy a scanner and digitize them. I used to target ling. I've caught at least 10 in the 75# range. There flesh is excellent grilled. They will also dull your knife quickly as their skin is very thick and shark like.
It was huge. We never put it on a scale, but it was almost 6' in length and was around 100#'s. Somewhere, I used to shoot 35mm slides. I still have slides of hundreds of fish taken from around 1980 to 1998. One of these days, I will buy a scanner and digitize them. I used to target ling. I've caught at least 10 in the 75# range. There flesh is excellent grilled. They will also dull your knife quickly as their skin is very thick and shark like.
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mothers day,1969 chanderliere island,6feet of water captured a ling 103#.Kind of giving away my age. I will do my best to find the pics and post.Also, fished the gorenflo ling tournament out of biloxi ms. forover ten years .reason I mentioned this is that a ling came to the boat during the tournamentthat weight 112 # that was worth 20thousand dollars. Unfortunately the fish would not bite on my hook and swam by the next nearest boat and was caught. !0thousand for biggest ling and 10 thousand for breaking state record.
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I have been doing some research on ling fishing and I would like to ask all you experienced guys this question: You are on the Big E. Suddenly a big ling swims up right next to you on the surface--if you could suddenly have any rig handed to you to make a presentation to it, what would it be--type of rod and length--reel--line--and most importantly, how would you rig for it specifically--lure/bait/leader--that sort of thing.
Russ
Russ
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3,586 Posts
I have been doing some research on ling fishing and I would like to ask all you experienced guys this question: You are on the Big E. Suddenly a big ling swims up right next to you on the surface--if you could suddenly have any rig handed to you to make a presentation to it, what would it be--type of rod and length--reel--line--and most importantly, how would you rig for it specifically--lure/bait/leader--that sort of thing.
Russ
First thing I would do is find a live bait. Your twinspin 30 rigged for tuna with a live bait hook would be sweet. A blue crab is the best bait. A ling has always had the nickname "Crab-eater". They also love eels. If you run across a shrimper culling his catch in the morning, always grab the floating crabs or better yet, toss him some beer for fresh ribbonfish and live crabs. It will make for an excellent day of fishing.
They are very curious. Sometimes they will eat nothing and just stay about 10 feet from the boat teasing you. If this happens, grab a piece of bread and tear it into little pieces. Toss them in front of him. The smell of the bread will go through his nostril and gills and sometimes get them hungry. You can also cut up ribbonfish into 2" pieces and he will start eating them. Problem is once you put a hook into the 2" piece, he normally won't eat it as it sinks differently. Then toss him a live bait.
They also like a fast trolled feather lure or jig. I've never tried tossing a popper at them, but they might respond well as they will be very curious at the the commotion. They love commotion. Beat a mop in the water is good way the bring up if you are at rig or pipe. Pipes hold ling better than rigs. A big ling will stay at a pipe for weeks to hold his territory if there is enough food available for him. I've seen this happen many times. One day to the next, and then he is still there the next weekend. Those big ones don't get big by being stupid. It's very frustrating to watch them stare at you and never take your offering.
Russ
First thing I would do is find a live bait. Your twinspin 30 rigged for tuna with a live bait hook would be sweet. A blue crab is the best bait. A ling has always had the nickname "Crab-eater". They also love eels. If you run across a shrimper culling his catch in the morning, always grab the floating crabs or better yet, toss him some beer for fresh ribbonfish and live crabs. It will make for an excellent day of fishing.
They are very curious. Sometimes they will eat nothing and just stay about 10 feet from the boat teasing you. If this happens, grab a piece of bread and tear it into little pieces. Toss them in front of him. The smell of the bread will go through his nostril and gills and sometimes get them hungry. You can also cut up ribbonfish into 2" pieces and he will start eating them. Problem is once you put a hook into the 2" piece, he normally won't eat it as it sinks differently. Then toss him a live bait.
They also like a fast trolled feather lure or jig. I've never tried tossing a popper at them, but they might respond well as they will be very curious at the the commotion. They love commotion. Beat a mop in the water is good way the bring up if you are at rig or pipe. Pipes hold ling better than rigs. A big ling will stay at a pipe for weeks to hold his territory if there is enough food available for him. I've seen this happen many times. One day to the next, and then he is still there the next weekend. Those big ones don't get big by being stupid. It's very frustrating to watch them stare at you and never take your offering.
I have been doing some research on ling fishing and I would like to ask all you experienced guys this question: You are on the Big E. Suddenly a big ling swims up right next to you on the surface--if you could suddenly have any rig handed to you to make a presentation to it, what would it be--type of rod and length--reel--line--and most importantly, how would you rig for it specifically--lure/bait/leader--that sort of thing.
Russ
ohhh boy in another 2 days we will be reading about a new rod and reel purchase ha ha ha.
I've had luck with plain bucktails, they seem to love them. I would use one of your sr12's with a 7 ft spinning rod and cast a bucktail or a small live bait. I had a 45 lber last year of POC at a rig
Russ
ohhh boy in another 2 days we will be reading about a new rod and reel purchase ha ha ha.
I've had luck with plain bucktails, they seem to love them. I would use one of your sr12's with a 7 ft spinning rod and cast a bucktail or a small live bait. I had a 45 lber last year of POC at a rig
G
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·if it swims up right next to the boat, im grabbing a gaff.
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