Cobia in the Crosshairs

It’s time to begin “sighting in” on some nearshore action as cobia invade the waters around Oregon Inlet.

Riding high in the tower of his boat, Aaron Beatson of Carolina Sunrise Guide Service scans the waters off the coast of the Outer Banks for any sign of life, anything that might tip him off that one or more cobia were moving through the area.

“What you’re looking for is 68- to 72-degree water,” said Beatson, who offers that in June, he might run across cobia 50 yards off the beach out to three or four miles when fish start to show up in good numbers.

“Cobia migrate into our waters from the south and offshore,” he said. “There’s some controversy over which direction they actually come from, but they come in from the Gulf (of Mexico), and they also come from offshore.

“They’ll start catching them down south around Wilmington a few weeks before we get them in Ocracoke. That’s when we know to start looking for them.”

Beatson, who lives in Kill Devil Hills, primarily fishes out of Hatteras in May, from the Diamond Shoals area off Buxton Ocracoke. Once the fish move around the corner of Cape Hatteras in June, he will fish mainly out of Oregon Inlet, plying the waters off of Rodanthe and Pea Island. When the bite out of Oregon Inlet slows down in late June, he puts his 20-foot boat on a trailer and heads for Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay, where cobia will be stacked up in numbers for most of July.

Typically, he starts searching for fish a mile or so off the beach, in 35 feet of water, but if he’s got the right sea conditions in deeper water, or if warmer water extends farther out the tideline, he said there’s nothing wrong with fishing 50-, 60- and even 70-foot depths. He’s more interested in finding some kind of surface clutter or unusual feature in the vast expense of the water.

“Look for these fish to come in to any kind of cover: a tide line, flotsam, a board in the water, turtles, rays, anything,” he said. “Cobia are moving through the area because most of them are going up north to Chesapeake Bay to spawn, but they’ll feed along the whole route.”

Cobia show up along the northern Outer Banks from the first of May through late June, and even into early July. Anglers catch them up and down the Mid-Atlantic shore during that time and can plot their movements on a calendar.

“Most of my fishing in June takes place within five or 10 miles of Oregon Inlet,” he said. “We’ll fish off of Rodanthe, south of Avon, and around Pea Island. I don’t spend much time to the north. From the time the sun hits 12 o’clock and starts to go down, I want to be cruising down the beach with the sun at my back because I can see a lot better when that sun is behind me.”

Beatson uses two distinct tactics when he’s targeting cobia. The first is to run and gun ,and the second is to bait and wait.

By far, his favorite is to go head-to-head with a cobia in his sights.

“Personally, I love to get out and run and gun, and just try to sight-cast all day, (but) that’s not always the best way,” he said. “Clouds come and cover us up, and it ruins our sight-casting. We have to go to other methods, and chumming is a great way to do it.”

High in his boat’s observation tower, he can steer the vessel and cruise around looking for fish, and even fling a bait once a cobia has been spotted; otherwise, he’s the point man directing the show.

“If I’ve got guys who are comfortable with casting, everybody’s got a medium (action), 7-foot spinning rod spooled with 50-pound braid,” he said. “I like throwing braid. I use a 4-foot shock leader of 60- to 80-pound fluorocarbon. When I see the fish, I won’t take the boat out of gear or change speed. I try to keep pace with the fish and do anything except T-bone them with the boat.

“You kind of want to cut them off at an angle and throw 4 to 6 feet out in front of the fish,” Beatson said. “You don’t want to throw on top of them, but out in front so they can see it. Then you want to use a hyperactive retrieve — jerk that rod up a few times — and get a reaction bite. Use a pretty erratic pace until he eats it.”

Beatson’s not all that picky with the baits he’s using when sight-fishing for cobia; sometimes the simpler the better. He says it’s more important to put the bait where the fish can see it than throw a bait with a lot of bells and whistles.

“We throw handmade, off-the-shelf, tackle shop bucktails, 2- or 3-ounce bucktail jigs,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll put a Gulp! stinky trailer on the back of the jig or a piece of cut squid.”

As exciting as it all sounds, there are also days when cobia just aren’t interested in a fake bait. Beatson comes prepared for that situation.

“Sometimes they’re finicky, and that’s why I bring live croaker or a live eel and keep one rigged in the livewell,” he said. “Cast it out in front of them the same as you would the artificial bait.”

Sight-casting for cobia is most productive on a high-sun, bluebird day in areas with clear water and nothing to obstruct the a fisherman’s vision into the water. Occasionally, Beatson will have to fish on a day when it’s just not going to work to sight-cast, either because of murky water, surface chop from the wind or cloud cover. On those days, he’ll go to a location that he feels pretty confident will hold cobia and set up a chum line.

“Some years, it seems like you do better fishing with chum,” he said. “Some years are really good when they respond to a chum bag, and you can float out a little bag and they come right to you; they smell that slick and get real feisty. It’s a good way to catch them.”

Though chumming for cobia may sound random, Beatson also has his favorite locales for baiting and waiting.

“You want to find where the green water meets the brown, and that’s sometimes a mile off the beach on a tide line,” he said. “You can anchor, but I like to drift. Then you can start chumming with ground menhaden.”

Rather than just anchor and fan-cast baits in all directions, Beatson uses something of a sight-fishing approach, even when he’s chumming.

“What I like to do is anchor out with an eel on a circle hook and another croaker; I like to have at least two different live baits ready to go, but I’m not doing much casting,” he said. “What I’m doing is waiting on a fish to swim up into the slick, then throw the bait to the fish once you see him. He sees a much livelier bait that way than one that’s been soaking for a couple of hours.”

Even though he’s on the lookout for fish, preferring to see them first, he also ups his odds with a live bait that will soak for hours with no ill effects.

“I also like to put a live eel on the bottom while we’re drifting, maybe something like 20 feet under the boat, waiting for a fish to show,” he said, “An eel just drifting down there will sometimes get you a fish on the rod before you see him.”

DESTINATION INFORMATION

HOW TO GET THERE/WHEN TO GO: Oregon Inlet is about 10 miles south of Nags Head; it separates the northern Outer Banks from Hatteras Island proper. US 64 and US 264 will get you there from most places in North Carolina. Once on the Outer Banks, turn south on NC 12. A public boat ramp is on the northern side of Oregon Inlet off NC 12, just behind Oregon Inlet fishing Center. June is the prime month for catching cobia around Oregon Inlet and in nearshore waters.

TACTICS: On sunny days, if water conditions permit, head south of the inlet with the sun at your back and look for cobia around any structure or clutter on the surface. Cast bucktails or live baits. On overcasts days or when the water is murky, drift the edges of the tideline out of the inlet where the green water and brown water meet. Chum along the tideline and drift a live eel behind the boat or cast a live bait to any fish that shows itself.

FISHING INFO/GUIDES: Aaron Beatson, Carolina Sunrise Guide Service, 252-256-8083 or www.cobiakiller.com; Lee Paramore, N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, Manteo, 252-473-5734.

ACCOMMODATIONS: The Dare Haven Motel, Manteo, (252) 473-2322; Comfort Inn Ocean Front, South Nags Head, (252) 441-6315; Fin ‘N Feather Waterside Inn, Manteo, (888) 441-5353; Elizabethan Inn, Manteo, 800-346-2466; The Island Motel, Manteo, (252) 473-2434; Clarion Oceanfront Motel, Kill Devil Hills, (800) 843-1249; Colony IV by the Sea, Kill Devil Hills, (800) 848-3728.

MAPS: GMCO Chartbook of North Carolina, (888) 420-6277 OR www.gmcomaps.com; Capt. Seagulls’s Nautical Charts, (888) 473-4855 or www.captainseagullcharts.com.