COBIA

Cobia are very rarely a fish that we can target in South Florida.  Most of them are just an incidental catch, just a matter of being at the right place at the right time.  We do encounter them year round, and November through May is when most are caught. Cobia are notorious for hanging around channel markers and bouys where they can sometimes be spotted swimming on the surface.  They are also found around wrecks and following turtles -especially leather backs, stingrays, whale sharks, and following bull sharks.  They are usually not too picky about what they eat and some of the more popular baits are live pin fish, grunts, and crabs- though just about any live bait will usually work.  A jig with a plastic tail and surface lures will work when there is no live bait around.  Typical cobia tackle for us aboard the Thomas Flyer is a 20lb spinner with 50lb mono leader and a 6-0 to 7-0 circle hook.  The few incidental cobia that have been caught lately have been on the deep line out in the middle of nowhere and you never know when one might pop up on a kite bait.   The average size now days is in the 25-30lb range but larger ones are not uncommon.