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Jesse's Hunting > Fishing Articles > Articles > Gulf Coast Cobia Shake Off the Winter Blues
Gulf Coast Cobia Shake Off the Winter Blues
Mike Gilmore - JHO ProStaff
- Pensacola, FL
May 27, 2005
Sportsmen often tend to get depressed near the beginning of March, as the last hunting seasons wind to an end. Along the Gulf coast it’s a whole different story though, as many prepare to hang up their favorite hunting rifle and stand, for a more aquatic style of hunting.
March brings excitement as anglers await the sign of the first migrating cobia along the Florida coastline. Cobia are sometimes lone travelers or can be spotted in schools of up to a hundred. Most range in size from twenty five to around one hundred pounds. Upon being spotted it turns any boat or pier into pure chaos.
Happy fishermen
A cobia this size can make any fisherman smile! This happy group poses with a real hoss. |
They prefer warmer water temperatures around 68 degrees and are often spotted migrating in large schools. The cobia can be found feeding on smaller fish and crabs as well as eels along the sandy bottom or most of the time traveling high near the surface soaking up the rays of sun.
Anglers eagerly await the first sighting or catch and began the hunt for the elusive species. Most fishermen utilize a tower on the boat to gain the ultimate advantage of sight casting to Cobia sunning and traveling west along the coastline. This is as close to tree stand fishing as any hunter will ever get!
Once in the tower each angler should be equipped with a very good set of polarized sunglasses to knock off the glare and allow viewing into the water. A long, heavy action rod with a large spinning reel, spun with 25-30 pound test is the best weapon option.
When a fish is first spotted, cruising the sandbar, the tower angler must sing out to notify the boat captain. The captain then has the tricky job of driving the boat so that the fish is not spooked into diving deep and avoiding the cast lure or bait.
The angler must pitch the cobia jig, which is usually a lead head jig with a colored bucktail skirt, toward the fish. The jig presentation should look like swimming prey to entice the strike. Other fishermen will use live baits such as brown eels, small blue crabs, and pinfish if the jigs don’t work.
Usually, cobia will either strike ferociously and engulf the angler’s offering, or they will dive to the bottom to avoid it. Most cobia that don’t strike have had many casts thrown at them already, or they have been hit in the head and spooked by previous anglers’ bait. They become very wary of boats and learn the game quite fast. The smartest cobia will survive the migration to deeper waters and live to see another day along some deep wreckage… unless they’re caught by a lucky bottom fisherman or speared by a diver.
Anglers who are don’t have the luxury of a towered boat will lurk on one of the many fishing piers along the Gulf coast, eagerly awaiting the cobia to come close enough for that special cast. Many adults have honed their cobia hunting skills on the piers as children. They say it gets in your blood the same way harvesting your first buck did. It always keeps you coming back every year in search of another one.
Next Spring consider a trip to the Gulf coast and extend that hunting season a little longer in search of a different kind of prey. Visiting a local pier and discussing the method used or just watching for a short time will make anyone want to try to catch their own. Charters can be arranged at most local marinas and are the most preferred method for cobia hunting. These fish may not be really made of gold but you would never convince yourself of that after tasting a piece that’s been batter-fried to perfection.
Tight Lines!
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