HUGE COBIA AT HEMPSTEAD REEF - The Fisherman

HUGE COBIA AT HEMPSTEAD REEF

Frank Lecrichia was just hoping for some sea bass when he set out for the Hempstead Reef on Labor Day morning. He had no idea what the fishing gods had in store for him on September 7th. Accompanied by his buddy, John Lange, the pair were picking away at sea bass on clam baits when Frank hooked into something that he knew was anything but a sea bass. The fish stretched his Avet SJX reel and matching Shimano rod to the limit as he battled the fish to the surface. When he finally got the fish alongside his boat, they realized the modest sized fluke net was not going to be up to the task so they quickly rigged a tail rope, which proved just the ticket to subdue what turned out to be a 60-inch cobia.

Stopping at Jones Beach Fishing Station to weigh the fish caused quite a stir among the crowd of anglers who witnessed the fish being unloaded. Shop manager, Capt. Ed Walsh attempted to weigh the fish, which bottomed out a pair of 60-pound scales. Punching in the measurements to a digitalized length to weight chart for cobia at rodnreel.com, the weight came up 86.84 pounds – by far the largest cobia we have recorded in these parts. The IGFA lists a total of 37 cobia records. All but two from Australia and three from Chesapeake Bay were taken in Florida waters, and of the 37, only 11 exceeded 85 pounds. The all tackle record for the species is a 135 pound, 9 ounce monster caught in Australia back in July of 1985.

Several cobia are caught each summer in our waters, and one year they were fairly common around west end bridges, but none approached the size of Frank’s fish. Most have fallen into the 10 to 25-pound range. Several southern species make their presence known in our waters every summer, and just this week, we had the unusual reports of jacks in the 5 to 15-pound range roaming Shinnecock Inlet. My best guess, given their size, is that they were Jack crevalles, a hard fighting member of the jack family that will readily strike topwater plugs. Far more common are small bar and amlico jacks that typically appear in our waters most summers. Other more southern and non-typical species showing up this summer have included, sheepshead, redfish and black drum.