Chasin’ Tails Cobia
Anthony Nelson, of Harkers Island, with the 69 lb. cobia that took first place in the Chasin' Tails Outdoors Cobia Challenge. He hooked the big cobe in Barden's Inlet on a live menhaden fished on the bottom while fishing with his son Christopher.
Scaling the 69 lb. winning fish early on in the event, Harkers Island’s Anthony Nelson took first place in the First Annual Chasin’ Tails Cobia Challenge, held April 1-June 11 out of Chasin’ Tails Outdoors. Nelson capitalized on the Crystal Coast’s first push of cobia for 2012, landing the big fish in early May, but he doubted it would hold the top spot on the leaderboard for the month-plus remaining in the tournament.
“I was really shocked that fish held up,” Nelson said following the close of the tournament. “My biggest one last year was 96.5 lbs.”
After hearing of a few cobia caught in the first few days of May, Nelson and family took a cobia trip to Cape Lookout and landed four with a few more hookups on the their first day of fishing.
“I think it was May 5th that we caught the big one,” he explained. “That first trip was on a Thursday, and it was Friday that we caught that fish.”
Following the same cobia formula that’s worked for him for over a decade, Nelson and his son Christopher set up in 25’ of water in Barden’s Inlet that Friday morning, and they didn’t have to wait long for action.
They fished live menhaden on bottom rigs, and had already landed a pair of cobes when the big one struck around 11:00 that morning.
“I fought him,” Nelson said. “That fish was a little much for a 12 year-old.”
After inhaling a menhaden, the cobia took off and promptly went under a nearby boat. With his son at the helm, Nelson came off anchor and began to chase the fish in their 24’ Carolina Skiff.
“The fish came up on the other side of the other boat,” recalled Nelson. “They trimmed their motor up and we were able to get it undone.”
The fish sounded after the anglers freed it from the other boat, and the Nelsons followed, keeping up with the fish with their boat.
“Christopher did a heck of a job driving the boat,” Nelson said. “The fish stayed down, but we stayed on top of it.”
The cobia came to the surface once during the battle, but stayed just out of gaff range and sounded again. Around 20 minutes after the fight began, Nelson was able to plant a gaff in the fish and bring it over the skiff’s gunnel.
The Nelsons went back to their anchor and continued fishing after putting the cobia on ice, weighing the fish in at Chasin’ Tails later that day. Despite his fears, no one in the tournament was able to top Nelson’s fish, and the winning angler took home $1050 and a $400 Penn Battle/Star Plasma cobia combo at the close of the event.
Greg Marquast took home second place for a 52.25 lb. cobe that earned him $525 and an Ugly Stik Tiger Lite rod, and Dominick Leserra’s 51 lb. fish earned third, good for $125 and a Tsunami Trophy rod.
More details on the event are available at www.chasintailsoutdoors.com.
