Spring cobia provide willing anglers with some of the best one-on-one action of the year, but fishermen must be prepared to spoon-feed these fish exactly what they want to eat while they are on deck and ready. Carrying the right equipment and having the right options ready to deploy at a second’s notice are critical to accomplishing a quick hook-up on a trophy fish.
Pods of cobia run the beach during the spring and hover around the dense pods of menhaden. In an attempt to survive, the menhaden ball up, but as soon as a few stray from the main school, they become easy targets. But cobia can be somewhat selective in an unpredictable way. Anglers pulling up to a school must be ready with several rods rigged with several different options.
Jason Burton of Fly Girl Fishing Charters will have several rods baited, rigged and ready to deploy as soon as he pulls up to a pod of menhaden.
“At times, the cobia can be picky about what they want to eat,” said Burton. “Make sure to have at least three pitch rods ready.”
Burton will have at least one rod rigged with a live menhaden or whatever type of bait they are shadowing. The other two rods can be rigged with two of the following: big bucktail jig with grub, chunk of dead bait, topwater plug, broken-back minnow, large worm, swimbait or a large, shallow-running stickbait.
“With the multiple options rigged and ready to cast, you can draw them off the school and figure out what they want,” Burton said.
For the most part, cobia will not stray too far from the bait, and a boat generally will not spook them. Anglers need to be ready to deliver when the fish are present in casting or pitching range because they may disappear into the depths to never be seen again.
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