Cobia from the kayak! *video*

Matt and I packed up the kayaks and headed south in hopes of finding a cobia.  My expectations were pretty low because the conditions were far from ideal, but Matt insisted we give it a go.  We paddled out about 2 miles east of the boiler on pea island and started looking around. Matt went about half mile past where I started looking and after about 45 minutes of paddling around he came up on a ray. He made a few casts and pulled a few small cobia up to his yak. Both of them wouldn’t hit and disappeared soon after. About 30 minutes later Matt intercepted a school of 5 cobia. Once again they wouldn’t hit. He thought for sure his chances were over. Luckily, after another 30 minutes of paddling covering another mile or 2, he turned to see a pair swimming up behind him, one of which seemed to be significantly longer than any of the cobia he’d seen. He turned and pitched the bucktail to the cobia and BAM the bigger one hit! Quite an adrenaline rush. It was a long battle I would guess around 30 minutes long. He finally got it up to the kayak and that is where the fun began.  It was an intense moment. We’d never done this before so had no idea what to expect. Matt swung the fish around and I sunk the gaff into his side.  He did what cobia do, went ape s#$t.  He flopped over my kayak and onto the other side. In between Matt and I bashing his tail all over the place I managed to get a knife stuck in my leg which was a reminder of how things can go south very quickly in that situation. Luckily it wasn’t too bad.  We got the cobia onto Matts kayak and began the long paddle back.  We were about 6 miles from where we started.  All in all it was such an awesome experience and I am stoked for Matt and was even more stoked to be there!  Here are some pics and a short clip of the battle!