Cobia Fishing in Florida Techniques, Baits, Gear, Lures, Rigs (The Complete Guide)
Cobia are one of those fish that fishermen can't wait to have run through their areas of Florida as they go on their epic migrations between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Cobia love the water temperatures when they are between 68 and 72 degrees (give or take a few degrees on either side.)
Large numbers of cobia move south down Florida's East Coast in the Spring and then round the tip of Florida to move north up the Gulf Coast in the Summer. Then they turn around and head north up the east coast in the Fall as far North as Virginia. Then they turn around and do it all over again.
The author of this article is a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida. He has been fishing the grass flats, oyster bars and mangroves all over Florida for more than 40 years. In the article below, we will talk about the best tips and techniques to catch cobia regardless of where you are on their migration patterns.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below to offshore cobia fishing action.
Cobia are one of those fish that fishermen can't wait to have run through their areas of Florida as they go on their epic migrations between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Cobia love the water temperatures when they are between 68 and 72 degrees (give or take a few degrees on either side.)
Large numbers of cobia move south down Florida's East Coast in the Spring and then round the tip of Florida to move north up the Gulf Coast in the Summer. Then they turn around and head north up the east coast in the Fall as far North as Virginia. Then they turn around and do it all over again.
The author of this article is a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida. He has been fishing the grass flats, oyster bars and mangroves all over Florida for more than 40 years. In the article below, we will talk about the best tips and techniques to catch cobia regardless of where you are on their migration patterns.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below to offshore cobia fishing action.
Where do you catch cobia?
Cobia are bottom feeders and relate to structure. You can find them around wrecks and reefs most often. They will also hang out around buoys and pilings and just about any other kind of structure that you can think of.
You can find them around deep structure that might be 100 feet deep or on the back of a manatee or eagle ray in 5 feet of water on the flats. They are just about everywhere when they are migrating through your area.
They spawn in the Spring and early Summer in South and Central Florida and can be found in large numbers as they migrate around the state of Florida. They like to spend the Winter months down in the Florida Keys and Florida Bay.
They can also be found following manta rays and other types of rays as they enter into the inlets in spring and summer. Some of them can be quite large. They might be 50 to 80 pounds. This gives you a shot at a big cobia even if you don't have an offshore boat. A jon boat or a fishing kayak will do just fine when they come inshore.
In my area of the Treasure Coast, they could be found around the inshore buoys, bridge pilings or on the backs of manta rays following the incoming tide starting about in the first week of March. These were 50 to 60 pound fish so just about anyone had a shot at some decent cobia just 100 yards from the boat ramp.
Cobias can be found from the Caribbean Sea to the waters around Australia. They like temperate waters and can be found all around the planet.
Cobia can get really big. The Florida state record cobia was caught offshore of Destin, in the panhandle. That cobia weighed 130 pounds and 1 ounce.
When is cobia fishing season in Florida?
Cobia are picky about the water temperatures that they like. The prefer water temperatures around 68 to 72 degrees. In other words, you can't always catch a cobia inshore and nearshore in Florida. You have to get on them when they are migrating through your area to find the optimal water temperatures for them. They move North in the Summer and South to warm waters in the Winter months.
They are usually down deep for the majority of the year. When they are moving in decent numbers for the Spring spawn is when most fishermen target them by sight fishing.
What are the best cobia fishing baits?
Few cobia fishermen would argue with me that live eels, crabs and live bait fish are the best live cobia baits to toss when the cobia are in town. Eels and crabs are hard to find some times but sardines, herring, finger mullet, pin fish and any other small baits will all do the trick for even the pickiest of cobias.
Cobia have a very diverse diet and will also eat squid or a jumbo shrimp with a jig hooked through their tail. It is best to bite the tail off so the shrimp doesn't flutter as much and it will add more shrimp scent to the water.
If you can't get your hands on the baits mentioned above. Just keep in mind that some days the cobia will eat just about anything that you put in front of their faces and other days they will ignore everything that you throw at them.
Small fish and live crabs are great baits for catching cobia. When they are in the upper parts of the water column you can free line your live crabs or fish to get a strike. When they are down deeper you will need to add a weight to get the presentation down deeper in the water column.
What are the best cobia fishing lures?
When you talk about cobia fishing with lures, then you have to talk about the good old buck tail jigs. The jig is one of the best lures for catching just about every fish that swims from a large mouth bass to a cobia. They will consistently put fish in the boat year in and year out.
Brightly colored jigs like chartreuse, orange and pink will work great for cobia. You will have to cover a lot of the water column with your jigs. When they are on the wrecks and reefs you will just drop you jig to the bottom and retrieve it with very large jigging motions.
You do this because often a retrieve with big lowering and lifting of the rod tip movements will get you the most bites. Many jig fishermen are used to doing fast, short jigging techniques to catch pompano, snook, grouper, snapper and other species. The larger jigging motions seem to work the best for cobia fishing.
You can tip your jig with a squid or scaled sardine to make you jig offering smell better to the cobia. The right smell and the right movement combinations will get you more bites.
To add a little more fish attraction to your jig you can add a 6 or 8 inch plastic curly tail to the jig. This will put out more of those low frequency vibrations that all predatory fish are attracted to and get your cooler filled with cobia.
If you ask a cobia fishing guide what lure they use for catching cobia most often, then you will probably get 8 out of 10 of them saying a jig of some sort. That is how effective jigs are for catching cobias.
Cobia love to eat eels so any lure that is eel like will work great for catching cobia. There are many lure companies that have come up with very realistic soft plastic eel lures. You can even use some of those black Magnum bass fishing worms that are 10 or 12 inches long.
Just go to your local bait store or check online a week before your cobia trip to load up on the best cobia lures.
I pour and tie my own jigs but I order 8 inch curly tails online when I want to add a curly tail to turn a snook jig into a cobia jig for fishing. I use a company in Louisiana called H & H Lures to get my curly tails online.
Check out our pro fishing tips and techniques page on this website to learn more about fishing inshore and offshore for your favorite fish. Click this link to see more helpful fishing tips.
Why do cobia swim with sharks and manta rays?
Cobia swim with sharks, manta rays, leather back sea turtles and sometimes even manatees. The reasons why are probably varied from getting some scraps from the sharks' leftovers to protection from predators by using the immense size of giant manta rays for shelter.
When the cobia are inshore they can be found around cow nose and eagle rays as they forage for crustaceans and bivalves in the mud and sand. This makes sense because the rays will stir up the bottom and give the cobias a shot at some crabs, mantis shrimp and small fish that are scared from their hiding places by the rays.
They can also be seen following manatees when they are inshore. This seems to be for protection or maybe just a way to swim with less effort in the manatees' slip stream. Whatever the reasons are you should cast towards these marine creatures because there might just be a cobia nearby.
You are probably thinking right now, "Thanks for the marine biology class but all I want to do is to catch more cobias."
Fine. All that I am saying to do is cast in front of those manta rays when they jump once you have a good idea of what direction they are heading in. A live bait with an egg sinker will usually do the trick because the cobia will follow it down and away from the manta ray. If the cobias are in the very top part of the water column you can free line your live bait to catch the fish.
Some manta rays can have up to 15 cobias following them so it is a good idea not to frighten off the manta rays. When you find one that is holding cobias make sure to keep your distance so that you can keep fishing.
Watch the video below and see the best cobia fishing lures.
What is the best cobia fishing gear, rods and reels?
A great all around fishing rod and reel is one that can get those cobia up off of a wreck or reef fast enough to avoid the sharks that will often try and steal your cobia from you. The bull sharks and sandbar sharks are taking more and more fish from anglers these days.
You will want a reel that can hold at least 300 yards of 50 pound braided line. This will be a 5500 or 6500 series reel depending upon the brand that you choose. The great thing about braided line versus mono filament is its diameter is smaller for the same pound test than mono filament. You will need more line when a big cobia is running.
Cobia do not have sharp teeth but they are raspy so you will need a leader of 40 to 60 pounds to make sure that they don't wear through the line as you fight them. Both fluorocarbon and mono filament leaders will work just fine. If the water is gin clear, then you might want to switch to fluorocarbon fishing leaders.
You will also want to have a 7 to 8 foot medium heavy rod that can handle a 60 or 70 pound cobia as they run. Cobia are excellent fighters so be ready for a battle when you hook into one.
As I mentioned before, when you are pulling a cobia off of structure like a wreck or a reef you will have to get that fish up to the surface very quickly. The sharks have figured out that boats mean easy meals so they will wait for you to hook a fish so they can catch it more easily. They can take half of your fish if you can't get them to the boat quickly.
You will want fishing gear that will get your cobia out of harm's way so the sharks don't get to eat your supper. It is a lot less fun to fish with over sized gear but at least the sharks won't steal your supper as often. The bottom line is that you will need to beef up your gear when you are cobia fishing on the bottom.
What are the minimum size limits for cobia in Florida?
The rules for the Gulf Coast and Atlantic Coast of Florida are different and ever changing so visit myfwc.com to see the latest requirements from the Florida Wildlife Commission.
At the time of this writing the Gulf Coast had a minimum size requirement of 33 inches to the fork of the tail. The daily bag limit is 1 cobia per day or 2 per vessel (whichever is less).
The Atlantic Coast had a minimum size requirement of 33 inches to the fork of the tail and a daily bag limit of one per person or 6 per vessel (whichever is less). The minimum size requirements have been the same for quite some time but the minimums per vessel changes from time to time.
What are the best techniques for cobia fishing from shore?
When you are wade fishing and see a manta ray or an eagle ray jump, you should assume that a cobia will be near that ray and cast to where it was heading. The male rays jump to show off the the female rays which really allows you fishermen at water level to get a good shot at a cobia in the Spring and early Summer months.
These cobia run inshore quite often starting in the Spring but they are hard to find because they are always on the move. A manatee or a larger shark can also be a good signal for fishermen targeting cobia from shore.
Sometimes you can see the cobia moving into the inlets from the rocks. This gives inlet fishermen a good shot at sight fishing for a cobia from shore. You need to have your jig or live bait ready and you can definitely get on a big cobia from shore.
Tossing a big lipped plug at any passing cobia will work just fine too. They will readily feed upon mullet during the Spring and Fall bait runs. A well placed mullet look alike with catch you a ton of cobia if they are around. If you accidentally catch a snook or a tarpon when the cobia doesn't hit your lure, then that is not a bad thing either. Am I right?
You can see them off of the beach sometimes as they cruise looking for some food. You might need a big 12 foot surf rod to get your lure out far enough to catch a passing cobia. A jig can make it out pretty far from shore and give you a chance to get a cobia on the line. A big silver spoon will work too.
What are the best techniques for cobia fishing from a pier?
Cobia will often hang out around piers during their annual migrations around Florida in the Spring and Summer months. This gives pier fishermen a good shot at a big cobia if you have the right bait and fishing gear.
Catching a big fish from a pier is only half of the battle. You also have to get the fish 30 feet up in the air to get to the pier deck. A hoop net is the way to go to land those big fish. You can make a cheap one with an old cast net and some pvc pipe or you can buy one for $125 from your local bait shop.
Cobia jigs and live baits are the way to catch cobia from a pier. The great thing about a pier is you ability to see the fish coming from a long way away. Once you find the fish, you will have to get your bait or lure in the path of the fish.
Conclusion:
Cobia are a very tasty and fun fish to catch. Fishermen go crazy for them when they are migrating through their areas of the country in decent numbers. They head out in their boats or to the inlets and the piers to get a shot at a big one.
There are lots of ways to catch them because they can be in shallow or in deep water offshore. That is what makes targeting this fish species such an adventure. You can catch them all over the place. You just have to figure out where they are.
Get your cobia jigs or live baits and start your search. Hardcore cobia fishermen will search for hours offshore for cruising manatees just so they can get a shot at a few cobia that might be following the rays. Every now and again you can find a ray with a dozen different cobias hanging around.
Cobias are amazing fish to catch so if you haven't tried to catch one before, then you should add this fish to your bucket list. I hope that this article helps you catch more cobia or at least helps you have more fun targeting them.
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