Cobia fishing trip

Pangaroo

Angler
Went out Jones Inlet looking for Cobia on Wednesday 8/2. Fished east of the inlet and west , there were huge schools of Bunker west of the Inlet off Lido Beach, only a few small pods east of the inlet. No Cobia or Sharks that I saw. Here and there you'd see the water boil like something was chasing the Bunker. Started fishing about 9:15AM
Maybe next time I'll fish off the beach for sharks using a whole bunker under a float and drift and fish for fluke at the same time.If I see guys with bent rods fishing near the pods I'll go over and fish for Cobia. It's a lot of work going by yourself, looking for pods, staying on the pods . First time I ever went for Cobia and it was the first time I went on the ocean this year. Beautiful out here, nice cool breeze , flat seas. I wish I knew where the Blue water was, I'd like to go out there and troll for Mahi Mahi.
 
Yes, very hard by yourself and very hard in a larger boat. We were south along the beach and the only boat working the bunker schools on Tuesday as everyone else went west. We were between 40 and 60 feet of water between the pencil and Gilgo. Fish a school for a few minutes if no action or sharks move to another school. It's sight fishing so look for a giant turd floating right outside the school and use stealth mode. We have been experimenting where best to place the hook in the bunker with no clear winner yet.
 
There's a reason the guys down south have mini towers on their boats. You can see them most of the time
That trend is headed north. That's what they're using in MD now. That's all you see on the flats now in Florida. I've never been on one but I'm sure that height is a huge advantage when sight fishing.

tower-01-1.webp
 
Don’t know how good an idea it is to add all that high weight to a boat that wasn’t designed for it. The tower itself is aluminum, but add a 200lb man
And unless the water is absolutely dead calm, add a little swell and that low freeboard will be "interesting". That better not be Captain Horatio Lunchblower in the "tower", unless "chumming" is important...

Reminds me of a Bassmaster Tournament on Lake Erie that was televised about 40 years ago. The wind kicked up and those extremely "seaworthy" Ranger bass boats were all awash. I was ROTFFLMFAO!

At least they had adequate flotation so none of them actually sank, but there were lots of tackle boxes floating around inside the boats...
 
They also put those mini towers on Panga boats. I love my Panga 25, it's very seaworthy , but it rocks back and forth pretty fast and I wouldn't wanna be sitting in one of those towers rocking back and forth. It's perfect for flats fishing, fishing calm water .My Panga with it's very high bow is way better on the ocean than that flats boat.
 
They also put those mini towers on Panga boats. I love my Panga 25, it's very seaworthy , but it rocks back and forth pretty fast and I wouldn't wanna be sitting in one of those towers rocking back and forth. It's perfect for flats fishing, fishing calm water .My Panga with it's very high bow is way better on the ocean than that flats boat.
Here you go!
 
Guys down South buy those Pangas with casting platforms in the bow and a flying bridge like that. That stuff wouldn't be good up North . I have a small anchor locker in the bow and tiller steer , more control . That Andros Panga is Americanized with a wide beam, wide gunnels that needs a big engine. A little 50 HP Evinrude Etec. pushed my 25 Panga 24 knots at slack tide wide open.
Panga Warehouse in Florida sells a Beautiful 25 Panga with a wider beam and deck for $24,000. Built in Florida too.
 
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