Virginia Beach Fishing Report, Big Cobia Aboard Matador

8/21 - Today we had Chris Foss and his buddies aboard for a half day. We started off fishing for sharks, but there was still a lot of wind and tide that made for the shark fishing to be a bit off. We did catch a couple sharks, but it was kind of slow. A couple boats around us were seeing some cobias, so we decided to make a move towards where the cobias were. As soon as we were setting up we started seeing cobias. We had a nice one hanging around the boat that really took some convincing to get to bite, but we talked the fish into eating. After the bite, the fish made a long, strong run. We had hooked it on light 12# tackle and knew we were gonna be in for a fight but what happened after was ridiculous. This fish was dead set on not coming into my boat. It made a very large number of strong runs and for a long time would not move off the bottom. After we broke its will to get off the bottom, it came near the boat, but would not come within gaff range. It stayed just outside of gaff range for over and hour. Another boat even came over and dropped off a longer gaff. We had a ten foot gaff and the other boat came and delivered a 16 foot gaff in hopes that the fish would get close enough with that. A half hour after we recieved the longer gaff, the fish made the mistake of getting too close. After a 1 hour 54 minute fight, with 8# of drag, Chris Foss has a nice 60# class cobia laying on the deck of the Matador. I'm sure those guys ate well that night and at least Chris had a nap when he got home. He had a heck of a workout with that fish.