Fly and Light Tackle Adventures: Topsail, Bald Head, Carolina Beach, and Southport

   Today I had the distinct pleasure of fishing with two friends, Tom Morketter and Louis Cox from Fayetteville. Tom was the owner of Tarheel Fish and Game(the Fly Shop where I worked when I first started guiding) and Louis was one of our loyal customers. 20 knot NE winds caused by a shifting low pressure system, made for some sporty conditions as we crossed the Cape Fear, but I wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to get out with two friends I hadn't seen in over two years. We headed straight for a patch of Spartina grass that was almost covered by the high New Moon tide, and staked the Finchaser out with the Power Pole. Conditions were borderline at best with the wind blowing such a bow in the small diameter braided line, that staying in contact with the bait was impossible, and sight fishing was out of the equation altogether. So the two began blind casting to a small shelf of submerged oyster immediately adjacent to the grass edge. Within about 5 minutes Louis came tight to a nice Redfish on a Weedless jig, but the fish came unbuttoned a short time later after a powerful first run. As I was remeniscing with Tom, I saw a sight just off the bow that I haven't witnessed in years on the flats. A 30 plus pound Cobia was lazily finning along the water's extremely choppy surface. In unison, we both hollared Cobia!, and Tom fired off a cast beyond and to the left side of the fish just as I was reaching for a rod rigged with a Topwater Plug. As he burned the bait through the water to get it in position to intercept the fish's path, a hole the size of a tractor tire opened up in the water as the Cobia spun on tail and chased the bait down. The fish took immediately and the little medium power spinning rod was soon doubled over on itself and flexing straight through to the foregrip.  The hollaring and high fiving was quickly replaced by total silence as  the leader suddenly gave way and the three of us just stared at one another in total disbelief of the scene that had just played out. Tom having  instilled in me the value of the experience versus the outcome, took it in total stride and simply stated as he inspected the stretched and shredded leader, that watching a Cobia take a bait in less than two feet of water had trumped anything he had experienced from Keys Tarpon to Tuna! We soon got back to business and were able to get Louis his first tflats Redfish minutes later. As the weather turned ugly and the wind stiffened, we headed for the dock, not feeling the sting of a weather shortened day, but the excitement of yet another memorable experience in the outdoors!