Our demo boat the Stacer 539 Nomad was clearly in need of a run after a hectic boat show season, not to mention the amount of bad weather we have seen over the past few months.  The decision was made to take it out in Moreton Bay to chase a few monster cobia, as this boat boasts all off the necessary requirements to do the job successfully.  Having a good live bait tank set up is very important, as is a large amount of deck space, high sides, and some top end electronics to find the spots.  Along on the trip for the day was my brother in law Jay, and a good customer/friend of mine, Josh MacDonald.

After quickly catching a tank full of live yakkas and herring we hightailed it to a spot that has been produced some exceptional cobia fishing over the past couple of years, and little did we know upon arrival that today was to be no exception.  We had several drifts past the underwater structure, when finally a live bait caught the attention of a brute cobia.  Josh was hooked up solidly on a big Moreton Bay cobia, and judging from all his grunting and whining it was a pretty good quality fish.  After a 40 minute battle a 32kg cobia was brought aboard and was dispatched quickly and humanely.

On the next drift it was Jay’s turn to get bent over the gunwale upon connection with another massive cobia.  This fish was nowhere near the calibre of Josh’s fish, but it still gave a solid account of itself before being gaffed and brought aboard for a few pictures.  Then finally towards the end of the same drift it was the skipper’s turn to hook one up, and judging by the amount of power this fish was displaying, it was going to be another stonker.  I struggled to guide this fish away from structure but eventually managed to steer it clear after much grunting and groaning.

After 10 minutes we had another solid fish in the boat and our esky was completely full, so any fish that were landed over the next few drifts would cut free beside the boat and released to fight another day.  Well we didn’t manage to get any more boatside, but we did pull hooks on another two quality fish.  After that and with the afternoon totally glassed out it was time to head for home and clean the boat once back at Northside Marine.  The boat went exceptionally well and ticked all the boxes so far as layout, performance, and ride were concerned.

With the boat all nice and clean it was time to head to the boat ramp and clean our catch, and thus ending another magical day on the water for Team Stacer.

View a new Stacer 539 Nomad boat for sale.

Jason Comino.