March 21st, 2008
The Brown Bombers are Back!
John told me that he hadn't been fishing in 30 years, that Ralph was an avid angler, and that Joe and Jordan hadn't really done much fishing before. I knew they were in for some fun but even I didn't know how much. My recent fishing charters in Tarpon Springs have been doing real well on large trout and spanish mackerel with a few redfish thrown in for good measure. But today, the "Brown Bombers" crashed the party. I picked up my party in Tarpon Springs at the Anclote boat ramps at 9am with 2 live wells full of greenbacks. After introductions we headed off to a flat in about 5 feet of water that had been producing some trout and tons of spanish mackerel. The mackerel have been really big and they've been putting up great fight, zinging drag and all. It wasn't long before the first fish was boated. I think it took all of 20 seconds after the first bait hit the water for one of the guys to pull in a small trout. After that it was mackerel bite after mackerel bite. The only problem is the mackerel were hook shy. they kept slashing at the bait just behind the hook. So I think we landed only one fish for every 6 or 7 that we hooked but the action was pretty steady none the less.
Then all of a sudden John hooks a fishing that is just screaming drag off of the reel. I'm thinking this is an absolute monster mackerel but to my surprise, when the fish first showed itself, it didn't have that tell tale silver flash of a mackerel. Instead, it was brown. It was COBIA brown! Sweet! The first cobia of the year!
At first I thought it was a fluke but about 30 minutes later John was wrestling with his second cobia. The one of the other guys had one on but it got away. What a great day. Cobia are a great sign that the flats are coming alive. I saw bait flickering everywhere. As you travel from spot to spot, keep a keen eye out for those "brown bombers" on sorte missions accross the flats. Have either a live bait, pinfish or green back, at the ready when using live bait and it wouldn't hurt to always have a Berkley Powerbait Eel rigged on a jig head at all times. Especially when catching bait early in the mornings. Some of my most frequent visits from cobia are while I'm catching bait. Every time you catch bait you are chumming the waters around you with the bait that gets loose from your net so be on the ready for a cobia to show up.
Captain Clay Eavenson
813-300-2147
