Fish are cruising off the beach, moving into Beaufort Inlet
Matt Lamb of Chasin’ Tails Outdoors in Atlantic Beach said cobia fishing has picked up a lot over the past week, with fish moving inside the inlets as well as along the beach, the fish fish are within range of just about anyone with a boat.
“The cobia bite was on fire until the cold front rolled in last Friday, (but) it didn’t stop,” he said. “It … began picking up again on Tuesday. I’ve filled out more than 70 citation forms in the past 10 days, and it takes a 40-pounder to qualify for a citation. Most of the fishermen who came with fish for citations also had some smaller cobia. The cobia action really has been epic.”
Lamb (252-240-3474) said the largest cobia he had weighed so far were 91, 90, 80, 77 and 72 pounds. He is expecting someone to top 100 pounds at any time.
Fishermen are targeting cobia three ways. The old standby is finding a place in a channel or near an inlet the cobia will pass by and anchoring, then setting a spread of baits on the bottom around the boat. Some fishermen also add a live bait or two suspended under a float or balloon. Chumming is a personal preference. It works, but it also attracts other fish, and some of them aren’t welcome.
Both of the other techniques involve casting a 2-ounce jig. Some fishermen ride the beach and look for cobia swimming just under the surface and cast to individual fish or pods of fish, while some target bait schools moving along the beach and cast into the bait schools. Either way, the jigs are tipped with large curlytail grubs, live eels, Powerbait Eels, Hogy Eels or something similar.
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