I was fishing from Nyati Lodge in Mozambique last week, where we had brilliant conditions during the Nyati Pro Am species challenge. I wasn't fishing the comp, just covering it with cameras and helping out with some guiding.
The one morning we were drifting over a reef while the guys were casting stickbaits, poppers and dropshots. I saw a big manta ray swimming just below the surface about 20m from the boat and told the guy casting a small popper to put a shot across its bows. He did so and a large dark shape peeled away from the manta and came in following the popper. I told him to slow down the speed of retrieve and just to give it a few twitches as it was getting close to the boat. By now we could clearly see the prodigal son of around 10kg's with its nose almost glued to the popper through the crystal water. It suddenly lunged and grabbed the popper, turning and diving at the same time. I was watching it as it paused below the surface and shook its head a couple of times then spat the popper out. I looked at the angler and realised that he hadn't struck at all, being so mesmerised by the sight of the fish eating the plug right in front of him.
The fish started swimming back to the manta and I quickly grabbed a rod from the holder that was rigged with a pink dropshot, it was a very light outfit, but the first that came to hand. I quickly flicked the lure ahead of the fish and as it sank down the fish pounced on it and gulped it down the hatch. A quick strike and line was peeling off the drag at a rate of knots. I handed the rod to the guy who had just missed the fish and sat back and watched a great fight on light tackle.
It is very common for Cobia (prodigal son) to swim with large sea creatures, particularly rays and whale sharks. They have colouration that mimics remoras and will also swim with large predatory sharks as well. It is always worth a cast if you see a whaleshark or ray near the surface, as there is often either a prodigal or some other species such as queenfish, GT, rainbow runner swimming with it.
It is very exciting to be able to see the fish coming, and watch the whole attack on your lure unfold from the boat.
I don't have pics of that fish at the moment, but am expecting to receive a CD of images next week, so I will post them then.
