No Fluke

'That's no shark, it's a cobia'

Captain Dave Monti
Posted 8/27/14

Matthew McCabe of Warwick, RI caught a record breaking 36.2 pound cobia last week. John Wunner of John's Bait & Tackle, North Kingstown said, "This cobia will be a State of RI record once …

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No Fluke

'That's no shark, it's a cobia'

Posted

Matthew McCabe of Warwick, RI caught a record breaking 36.2 pound cobia last week. John Wunner of John's Bait & Tackle, North Kingstown said, "This cobia will be a State of RI record once certified."  Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren, RI weighed the fish in and said, "The fish was 48.5 inches with a girt of 23.5 inches." This is a big cobia for Rhode Island.

Here is Matthew's story.

"My brother-in-law (Todd Taylor) was up from Port St. Lucy, Florida.  We tried to fish on my Dad's boat over the weekend but we had engine trouble and never made it to Block Island.  So we thought we would try fluke and black sea bass fishing off Newport. 

It was eleven o'clock and we were bottom fishing with pieces of squid between Brenton Reef and the second red can off Castle Hill Light. The water was not moving very fast, the drift was not right. So, I put my 17' boat in gear to do a little power drifting.  We went about twenty feet and bam… that was it… the rod bent in half.  As it came to the boat the first time I thought it was a shark then it jumped out of the water and Todd said, 'That's no shark it's a cobia.'"

Cobia migrate along the Atlantic coast on a seasonal basis. In spring, they move from southern Florida, to the Carolinas as water temperatures rise. That's right I said the Carolinas, not Rhode Island.  Cobia are a warm water fish for sure.  So catching them in Rhode Island is rare.

Last year, I wrote about three cobia caught in Rhode Island waters. The largest was 32 pounds, caught by Mason Sherman of North Kingstown.  Cobia are becoming more popular in the northeast now that the ocean and Bay water is getting warmer, but catching them is still rare

"If Todd wasn't with me we would have lost this fish.  When we pulled it out of net the 20 pound fluorocarbon hi/low rig was broken so if he didn't net the fish we would have lost it for sure. The fish nearly spooled me twice on two separate runs, we finally netted it the third time we brought it to the boat.  It kept diving deep, as deep as it could moving all around under the boat.  l was afraid it was going to get cut off on the engine." said McCabe.

A favorite food of cobia are crabs and they are commonly called "crab-eater". They often cruise in packs of 3-100 fish, hunting for food during migration in shallow water along the shoreline. They will follow rays, turtles, and sharks, sneaking in to scavenge whatever is left behind. 

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management lists the largest cobia caught in Rhode Island was 35 pounds and 48" long caught by T. Parsons south of Hope Island in August of 1995.  So Matthew McCabe's fish at 36.2 pounds is sure to be a State record once certified.  

Congratulations Mat-thew, your cobia is a very nice fish.

West Bay anglers pig roast

The West Bay Anglers will hold a pig roast Saturday, September 27th, 1:00 p.m. at the FOP Lodge in Warwick.   The public is invited to attend and tickets are $30 each.  Call Frank Tameo at 463.3331 for information or to make a reservation.

Rhode Island schedules ASMFC meeting on striped bass

A public hearing on possible striped bass regulation options proposed in the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries 's Commission draft Addendum IV (to Amendment 6) of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic striped bass will be held Wednesday, September 17, 6:00 p.m. at the University of Rhode Island, Coreless Auditorium, South Ferry Road, Narragansett, Rhode Island.  For information contact Nicole Lengyel of DEM's Fish & Wildlife Division at 401.423.1940.

Where's the bite

Striped bass.  "Block Island was phenomenal this year but things slowed a bit and now fish have moved onto Watch Hill reef with anglers catching fish in the 20 to 30 pound range tolling umbrella rigs and snapping wire (with jigs)." said Mike Wade of Watch Hill Outfitters, Westerly.  "We have small school bass in the 16" to 18" range off East Providence and this week bluefish had the water boiling a few times." said John Littlefield of Archie's Bait & Tackle, Riverside. Elisa Martin of Snug Harbor Marina, South Kingstown said, "The Block Island bass bite on the southwest side is fair to good.  Not like it was but we did weigh in a 45 pound fish this week."

Summer flounder (fluke) fishing remains very strong on the southeast side of Block Island in 70 feet of water and at the East Fishing Grounds with just about all fish being caught over two pounds." said Elisa Martin of Snug Harbor Marina.  Fluke fishing was slow this week in the Bay. I fished the West Passage of the Bay around the Jamestown Bridge and south to Austin Hollow and Beavertail and the bite was off.  "A customer caught twelve fluke at the Newport Bridge, at Hull Cove and off Newport." said John Wunner of John's Bait & Tackle, North Kingstown.  "I know there are fluke a Sabin Point, we have had a few anglers catching them but not many people are targeting them there." said John Littlefield of Archie's Bait & Tackle, Riverside. Mike Wade of Watch Hill Outfitters said, "Fluke fishing outside of Little Narragansett Bay (Westerly) has been good with anglers hitting fish at 40 to 60 foot depth."

Bonito and false albacore reports have not been good.  "We had bonito a couple of weeks ago but have had no reports of fish in the area now.  We hope they come back soon with the false albacore." said Mike Wake of Watch Hill Outfitters.

Off shore fishing for tuna this year has been good.  "Small to medium size bluefin and yellow fin are being caught in fairly good numbers.  We weighed in an 80 pound bluefin a couple of weeks ago.  Overall fishing has been good close to Block Island (with anglers not having to go too far).  Anglers are catching one or two fish a trip consistently which is pretty good." said Mike Wake of Watch Hill.  "It's been a good tuna year." said Elisa Martin of Snug Harbor. "Tuna fishing south of the Dump and in the Shipping Lanes are yielding bluefin, yellow fin and Wahoo.  Now everyone is waiting for the giants (bluefin)." said Martin.

Shore fishing for scup at Sabin's Point and Colt State Park has been good said John Littlefield of Archie's Bait & Tackle, Riverside.  I spoke with Steve Burstein of West Warwick for a few minutes last week as he fished the public wharf in Wickford.  In five minutes he landed a scup and a northern kingfish.  Mike Wade of Watch Hill said, "Shore anglers are catching bass to 25 pounds at Nappatree and Weekapaug.  Things were not good, but they are improving for shore anglers."

Tautog fishing reports have been nonexistent.  However, spear fishermen are landing tautog.  Not many anglers have targeted them yet. "A customer caught fifteen tautog at Conimicut Light last week and they were all shorts, it might be too early for tautog." said John Littlefield of Archie's Bait.

Black sea bass and scup remain the go to fish species for Narragansett Bay.  Fishermen are catching them on or near docks, rock piles and structure.  Angler Jack Leyden of North Kingstown said, "Black sea bass fishing was good today (Sunday) off Newport.  Fish were in the 15 inch range and fairly easy to catch."  "Customers are catching a lot of scup at Sabin Point, East Providence.  There are 60 people there at night fishing.  Since the scup have come to Sabin Point my worm sales have doubled. Tommy cod and now trigger fish have main an appearance at Sabin Point too." said John Littlefield of Archie's Bait.

Captain Dave Monti has been fishing and shell fishing for over 40 years.  He holds a captain's master license and a charter fishing license. Visit Captain Dave's No Fluke website at www.noflukefishing.com or e-mail him with your fishing news and photos at dmontifish@verizon.net.

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