Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
As long as I can remember, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with cobia. I absolutely love to catch - and for that matter - eat them, but I also hate them for making me look and feel like a ranked “amateur” fisherman most of the times I cross paths with one or more of these crazy fish. Except maybe for the permit I pursue in south Florida each winter, no other species of fish treats me with such disrespect as the cobia, and I swear that sometimes I can even see a little smile on their brown mugs as they happily swim away from my boat after each frustrating engagement!
From now until we start to see a drop in water temperatures in September, many local anglers will have encounters with cobia that give them the opportunity to also enjoy the frustration of having a big fish leisurely swimming under and around their boat while ignoring every bait or lure drawn past their nose. Cobia are curious fish that naturally seek out and investigate large objects in the water such as floating debris, sea turtles, other large fish such as sharks or rays, buoys or day markers, bridge pilings, and of course – boats. The problem is that “curious” cobia are not always “hungry” cobia and just because they show up under a boat doesn’t mean they’re going to be an easy catch. To be sure, a cobia can be one finicky critter!
Those who follow the fishing reports will note that cobia might be encountered anywhere from the surf to more than 40-miles offshore and a few will even be caught in the back bays. No matter where they’re taken, most cobia are hooked accidentally by anglers while fishing for other species. Inshore or offshore, it doesn’t seem to matter, as long as the water is warm and bait is plentiful, cobia could show up. Unfortunately, around here it’s almost impossible to go out and actually target cobia - this isn’t the Bay Bridge Tunnel where good numbers hang out in predictable locations, or Florida where they can be found under rays swimming near the surface. Rather than trying to find the cobia, local anglers pretty much have to go out and fish for other things like sharks, tuna, or bottom fish and just hope the cobia pay them a surprise visit. The key to at least having a shot at landing one of these fish is to “be prepared” when they do show up.
Being prepared starts by knowing what you’re looking at. In many cases the first reaction a lot of fishermen have when they see a cobia is that a small shark has swum up to the boat. A cobia’s brown back, white belly, and wide head help foster this illusion and probably prompts a lot of fishermen to pull their lines out of the water, after all – who in the heck wants to catch a shark?! But if anglers have the chance to see the fish clearly enough they should be able to note that the top lobe of the cobia’s tail is not long like that of a small dusky shark that they so easily can be confused for. They also don’t have the shark’s tall dorsal fin.
While these fish will sometimes hang around a boat for most of the day, once a cobia is identified, anglers need to get a bait or lure to it FAST because they’ll often only make one or two passes under the boat and then be gone for good. From late June until the end of September, anytime we’re offshore we’ll always have at least one rod rigged and standing-by that we can drop over within a few seconds of spotting a cobia. We’ll usually have one rod set up with a large bucktail or soft-plastic such as a Storm lure and another with a small “live-bait” or circle hook rigged on 30-pound fluorocarbon leader that we can quickly attach to a live or strip bait.
When conditions are such that we’re starting to see cobia on a regular basis we’ll often bring with us 2-4 live baits such as eels or spot. For extra quick deployment, these baits can be pre-rigged on the hook and then left hanging either in the livewell or in the water beside the boat just a foot or two under the surface - don’t let them out too far or they might get cut off by a shark you don’t see coming. Live baits are one of the best things going but they’re not a guarantee to success. Cobia will pass them up as well. Remember - it’s their life’s mission to frustrate anglers!
Live baits can be cast or flipped out to cobia and allowed to swim freely and do their own attracting, but lures need to be properly worked to get the bite. Bucktails and other jigs should be cast or dropped out in front of a cobia then bounced-bounced-bounced and finally allowed to drop 5-10 feet straight down. The bouncing will often get the cobia’s attention and the drop will solicit it to follow and strike. Anglers should keep in mind that, whatever it is they’re using to catch a cobia, they should usually use a relatively slow retrieve as these fish are seldom inclined to chase down and attack something that moves too fast.
Much has been written about how feisty cobia can be when they’re brought into a boat and I’m not going to argue the fact. Just like dolphin or any other decent size fish that tends to go ballistic when gaffed, cobia should be stuck, swung directly into a fish box, and the lid slammed shut, all in one motion. But cobia don’t always create havoc inside the boat, and when they do I’m suspect that it’s because the particular fish didn’t expend enough energy during the fight. Cobia “can” be excellent fighters, but there are also times when one will be hooked and pretty much allow the angler to easily lead them to the boat as if they don’t really know that anything is wrong (I never said they were smart) until they’re stuck with a gaff and find themselves on the deck of a boat – then they go nuts and use all their stored-up energy!
In Maryland and Delaware waters, there are no size or creel limits for cobia, even in Federal waters. In Virginia, anglers are allowed to keep one cobia per day that is at least 37-inches in length, measured to the tip of its tail. Most cobia found off our coast will meet that minimum size.
Cobia is one of my favorite fish to eat and I wish we caught them more often. Their meat is very firm and the flavor reminds me of halibut, slightly fishy but very good. Cobia are wonderful fish that I just love to hate!
Captain Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and captain of the charter boat “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.
