‘I thought it was a shark.’ Bradenton man spears giant cobia to seal tournament win

After team Warped Trident headed west during the 16th Annual Fire Charity Fishing Tournament, it didn’t take long for them to secure a solid catch.

“We left after the Friday captain’s meeting at noon,” said Mike Jeanes, who joined teammates Tom Mitchel, John Pendergrast, Paul Coture and Ben Choi for a weekend filled with diving in the spearfishing division.

“It was a little sporty, but not bad. We started well and got decent pelagics and came back in before dark. We headed back out Saturday and the weather was nicer, so we thought we could upgrade a little.”

With a limited distance requirement of no further than 30 nautical miles and a maximum allowed depth of 130 feet, spearfishing teams have a boundary that constrains them closer to shore, where big fish may be tougher to find. Despite that limitation, they were able to fill up a fish box with a 40-pound and 20-pound African pompano, a pair of decent permit, as well as a 20-pound black grouper and 20-pound red grouper.

The solid start made Jeanes think there may be one target that could help the team further diversify their catch.

“I was telling the guys, ‘Cobia are in shallow.’ I kept repeating it all day. I said on the way back in, drop me in on this public spot.”

The team made one more check to see if they could find the migratory species.

Choi dropped with Jeanes, but on the way down they went separate ways on a shallow shipwreck. Jeanes swam to a piece of high relief and saw a dark shadow in the distance.

“It was so big I thought it was a shark. I’m free shafting with no line and this thing swims up to me and that is when I notice it’s a big cobia. When he came up I took a shot and stoned him. Sometimes they wake up so I took a second shot into him. I was laughing and having a good time with my regulator hanging out of my mouth but had to figure out how to get this massive fish to the surface,” Jeanes recalled.

“I thought I might lift bag it up but didn’t want to leave a chance for a shark or something to happen to the fish so swam it up. It had two spears sticking out of it, so it wasn’t easy. When I got it to the surface they had a hard time getting it in the boat with the spears going opposite directions, but got them out and slid it in through the tuna door.”

The massive cobia, which weighed in at 86 pounds, was a once-in-a-lifetime fish and wowed the crowd at the Palmetto waterfront weigh-in.

“I’ve talked to a lot of people who know a lot of people, and they haven’t heard of one that big coming off this coast,” Jeanes said laughingly.

“When Ben (Choi) came out of the water after the dive, I held up a beer to him and he jokingly asked ‘What’d you shoot, Mike?’ I just replied. ‘We’re winning, man.’”

With the cobia putting them over the top, the teammates totaled 367 points for first place, winning $1,500. The cobia, which had an extra award of $1,500 in honor of Spc. Nicholas Panipinto was given to the team but graciously donated back to the tournament fundraiser.

Taking home first place in the offshore division was team Slam’A’Rosa and Capt. Jason Amarosa with a total of 352 points and a catch consisting of queen snapper, wahoo and a warsaw grouper.

The inshore division title once again remained with team Richardson Stinton Roofing and Capt. TJ Stewart, who continued their dominance of the inshore fishing tournament scene. They captured the River Masters Triple Crown title, sweeping victories at all three tournaments.

The Juniors division title went to team Would You Look at That and Capt. Kaleb Falcone with 314 points, and the Kayak division was won by angler Robert Brown.

This story was originally published June 18, 2023 at 5:50 AM.