When Connecticut angler John Bertolasio hooked right into a pending state-record cobia earlier this week, he thought it was a shark at first. Whereas the species’ vary stretches all the best way from Canada to Argentina, cobia aren’t usually caught in Lengthy Island Sound. They’re much extra widespread in southeastern waters.
“Congrats to John Bertolasio for his superb catch of species of fish that’s usually present in waters far south from right here,” the Connecticut Division of Fish and Wildlife wrote in a Fb post. The division added that encounters with cobia in Lengthy Island Sound have gotten extra frequent today as a consequence of local weather change.
Bertolasio’s cobia weighed 44 kilos and measured 56 inches in size, in accordance with CDFW. Whereas the fish needs to be formally weighed earlier than it may be licensed, it ought to simply beat out the present state report—an 18-pounder caught in 2008.
Bertolasio was utilizing useless eel as bait when the fish hit. He fought it for round 90 minutes, and when the fish made one remaining dive subsequent to the boat, it snapped his fishing rod in half. He saved at it, although, and after boating the big cobia, he despatched an image to a buddy who recognized the uncommon catch.
Learn Subsequent: South Carolina Captain Catches Would-Be Report Hammerhead Shark, Decides to Launch It As an alternative
The CDFW’s fishing information e-book lists cobia beneath its Unique Marine Species Class. The all-tackle world report cobia weighed 135 kilos, 9 ounces, in accordance with the IGFA, and it was caught in Australia in 1985.
Cobia’s darkish brown shade and single dorsal fin lead many individuals to mistake the fish for sharks. They’re really an in depth relative of the remora, which is a kind of suckerfish that latches onto sharks and has a symbiotic relationship with the apex predators. Younger cobia have distinct coloring with alternating black and white horizontal stripes in addition to bronze, orange, and inexperienced coloring. The fish are most considerable from Virginia to the Gulf of Mexico they usually migrate seasonally, in accordance with NOAA.
