A few months ago,Captain Cefus McRae from Nuts &Bolts of Fishing,went fishing for Cobia at Hilton Head Island. As always he got some great shots,and he also sent us a few words on how Esca was doing its job….. Bringing in the cobia,and keeping the sharks away from the bait.
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Got up early and met Capt. Dan Utley at the ramp around 7:30am. He already had the boat in the water,and was ready to go. We threw our camera gear on board,and the THREE rods —- yes I said THREE (not FIFTEEN,like I usually bring) —on board. Off we went to get some lively baits in the Skull Creek area. I was expecting a ‘One and Done’cast net routine from Capt. Dan. The mullet were popping all over the place. It actually took him two casts to get us a dozen or so mullet and we were off to the races to find the big brown bombers.
The ride was quite short,and we anchored up on one of Capt. Dan’s favorite spots. We rigged live bait rods and put out three baits into the current. We didn’t have to wait long either. Rods got active right from the start,and we were bringing in Atlantic Sharpnose sharks on a pretty regular basis. Nice-sized,fun fish…but not the target species we were after. More importantly,our live well was getting emptied as we fed the sharks.
We got out the bait fishing rigs and started catching whiting,spots and bluefish to replenish the live well.
Low tide was at 8:30 and as the tide turned,the shark bite slowed a bit. We continued to catch new baits,and picked up a shark every now and then. In an effort to keep the sharks away and attract a cobia,I changed up one of the rigs by adding an Esca,just ahead of the circle hook,and right in front of the baitfish’s nose. It’s been said that Esca’s have a tendency to turn off the sharks,and we already know that they attract gamefish. And the waters here off Hilton Head are a bit stained,so the light and it’s electromagnetic field should help get the attention of a cobia traveling in the area. So,we had two rigs —no Esca,and one rig with Esca.
About 9:30,one rod bent double,and didn’t do the characteristic,multi-twitch of a sharpnose shark bite. Instead,the line just started peeling off the reel slowly and deliberately. I had the Esca rig on a Penn 975 and in free spool with the clicker on so the fish wouldn’t feel the weight of the rod or the drag.
I picked up the rod,after what seemed like an hour of letting the fish take the bait and get the circle hook firmly in its mouth. Then it was game on! The line started peeling off the reel,and I could see the mono backing under the Power Pro braid. Crank the boat? Nope…to many rigs in the water. Just play the fish,I’m thinking. Drag is set good,leader is good,and fish is firmly on the hook. I got the fish within about 10 feet of the boat,and we could see this was a good fish.. probably 30 to 35 pounds. And it went under the motor and that was it. Parted the 100 lb leader like it was sewing line.
Needless to say,we were pretty disappointed,but happy the Esca was doing its job. Bringing in the cobia,and keeping the sharks away from our bait.
Just to make sure the Esca was really doing what we thought,we left all the rigs ‘as is’. One with Esca,and the other two without. Same baits,same weights,and the baits were within about 15 feet of each other.
In the next hour,the other rigs each caught another shark,while the Esca-rigged rod just sat there.
About 10:30am,the Esca-equipped rod started reacting a little differently than previously with the sharks. Just like before,a slow deliberate take,and steadily pulling line away from the boat.
I really let the fish take for a looooong time. Then picked up the rod,and waited til I actually felt the weight of the fish on the rod. At that point,I just started reeling,and once the fish felt the hook,it took off like a kingfish.
Then we saw it. Fish up on the surface,thrashing around about 20 yards behind the boat. NICE COBE !!! Capt. Dan cleared the other lines and got the net ready. I finally got the fish close to the boat,and it went down to the bottom again. Then got him back up and Coach deftly slid the net underneath and brought it in the boat GREEN !!! But we weren’t going to let this fish get away.
For those that don’t know…cobia are Pure Muscle. And they can tear up a boat,break a shinbone,and generally create havoc all around the deck of a boat,especially when they don’t want to be in there. We put a towel over its head,to calm it down,and that didn’t work. This fish was pissed!
After a little while,it finally calmed down long enough for us to pick it up and do our on-camera commentary,and snap a couple pictures.
And take look at what’s in his mouth. This is exactly how it was caught. I must admit that we actually took the hook out while the fish was thrashing around on the deck to keep the weight from hitting us,and we put it back in the same hole for the picture,but what you see here is how it was hooked. Only thing missing is the little piece of the mullet head that was knocked off while the fish was tearing up the boat,and our legs.
We fished a little while longer at this spot and decided to move because the wind was softening,and we thought it would be a good idea to try to find some cruising on top and get a sight-casting shot at a big fish too.
On the way,we stopped by the docks and picked up Jessica Gardo from the Hilton Head Chamber of Commerce. She helped coordinate our stay here on the island,and loves to fish. So,now we had three anglers on board,and felt like our odds of spotting a fish would be better with three sets of eyeballs.
We did spot on cruiser on top,but could never get close enough to make a cast before it sounded and never re-surfaced.
The tide changed again,and we decided to set up on anchor in the Broad River,and stayed here for a couple hours catching more sharks,and Jessica proved invaluable as a Number 1,certified bait-catcher. She would catch a big whiting,we’d send it down on a hook,and inevitably sharks would take it away. Jessica must have caught two dozen big whitings and we fed them right back to the sharks.
Eventually we moved back to our original spot of the day. Maybe this would be the book-end we needed for the TV episode. But it wasn’t to be. A couple more sharks and then everything just shut down. But we did get a great show,some fun fishing with good friends,and we got a bonus. Capt. Dan cleaned the cobia and we took a couple steaks over to Hudson’s restaurant and Chef Chris made us some of the best cobia dishes I’ve ever had! If you get to Hilton Head,you’ve got to take your fresh catch over there and let them cook it for you. Awesome !!
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