september fun-nice cobia in the mix

Headed out about 40 miles where we drifted an area. The kids used homemade chicken rigs while the adults got the carolina rig with big hook and big bait. The fishing was fast and consistent with lots of legal Lane, Yellowtail, porgy, and vermillion snapper coming up for the fish box. Bryant boxed our only keeper red grouper of the day, although we did have several hooked up that won the 10 ft tug of war. 
About noon thirty the bite began to slow so we headed out a little further to a wreck to try our luck at some big tuggers. 
First bait down hits bottom, gets inhaled immediately as im passing the rod off to Bryant. IT makes several line screaming drags, but begins to surface. What we initially though to be an amberjack turned out to be a really nice cobia. As soon as it saw the boat, it dove again. IT did this several times, each time taking a little less line. With some great teamwork, I was able to gaff the fish and into the boat. 
After the adrenaline and excitement wore off, we made a few more drops, successfully hooking up, but getting took to town by what surely were large AJs. One even managed to break a 7/0 gamagatsu circle hook, a first for me (Ive seen other cheap hooks bend and break, but gamagatsu have held up incredibly well to everything Ive thrown at them). ​