It is about that time of year when King Mackerel are going to start showing up around Virginia Beach so we decided that we would get out a little ahead of the curve and give it a shot. I have to admit that when it comes to trolling in Saltwater neither my brother or I have much experience. We grew up trolling for Salmon in Lake Ontario but this was a little bit different than that. We headed to the tackle shop to get a few supplies. We picked up some various spoons and a great little rig called a Mackerel Tree. If you see some of these next time you are stocking up pick up a couple of them.






We headed out of Lynnhaven Inlet and decided to troll by Cape Henry and on around the Oceanfront. We picked up some Taylor Blues coming around the horn and along the beachfront. We continued to troll South down below Rudee Inlet without much luck and the water was really murky so we decided to head for deeper, clearer water. We made the turn and headed for a buoy near Sandbridge. As we passed by I spied two Cobia underneath the Buoy. We trolled by a couple of times with no results so we pulled in our gear and try to entice the fish with a piece of cutbait. The fish swam right up to the boat but wouldn't hit the bait ... if only we had some live bait.


We left the buoy and continued trolling away from shore. On the way out the False Albacore shown here hit the Mackerel Tree which just happens to be the bait we caught all our Bluefish on also. Luckily for me the Mackerel Tree was on a light action rod that we normally use for Flounder so it was exceptionally fun to bring this fish to the boat. We continued on away from shore and when we were about 5 miles out we made a turn to come back inshore a little bit. No sooner had we turned around and we had a fish on. The Cobia shown at the top of the article hit a green and chartruese spoon while we were trolling for Mackerel! It was the first Cobia I had ever caught and I am here to tell you that these fish can wear you out. I was positive I had a citation but the fish ended up weighing in at 47 lbs, just three lbs short. I am sure that had we netted the fish rather than use the gaff I would have gotten that citation but we know too many people that have lost big Cobia in a net.

We were really excited and figured that this day of fishing just about couldn't get any better when all the sudden another one of our rods went off. The FlukeTamer took this one and ended up landing another Cobia! This one weighed in at 27 lbs. We couldn't beleive it. The green and chartreuse spoon had struck again. It was starting to get late so we started heading home. On the way there we caught one more fish, a little Spanish Mackerel. This was one of the best days of fishing I have ever had. It was the first time I had ever caught a False Albacore, Cobia, and Spanish Mackerel. The Cobia had shown us a side that most don't get to see. Alot of people don't even believe that we caught the fish trolling. I don't know about you but I am going to be out there doing it again. So go out and pick up a green and chartreuse spoon and troll around for a while ... you never know what you might catch.


Visit our Photo Gallery