According to a Charleston, fishing guide, cobia don’t migrate just north-south, and that makes them available to South Carolina anglers throughout the summer.
In the state of South Carolina, “cobia season” has historically been considered to last from mid-May until mid-June, the time when nearshore anglers can expect to see these migratory fish make their way from Florida to the coast of South Carolina and beyond.
Marine biologists believe that cobia then infiltrate river systems to spawn. In fact, the coast along South Carolina’s Lowcountry has special regulations in place limiting the harvest of these fish to allow them to finish spawning.
By mid- to late June, most anglers move their focus to other species and don’t give much thought to the seemingly random appearance of a cobia or two when bottom-fishing as far east as 20 miles offshore.
As a guide, this type of open-ended question — “Where do cobia go after they spawn?” — intrigued guide Justin Carter of Charleston’s Redfin Charters. Like other guides, Carter had experienced seemingly random but welcome encounters with cobia on summer offshore trips.
“I’ve always had this theory that we have two categories of cobia in our waters during the warmer months,” Carter said. “We get that north-south migration of fish that everyone knows about, and then we have this east-west migration, the one that most people consider random encounters,” he said. “It was after I spoke with several biologists that confirmed the east-west movement, at least in my mind.”
Carter (843-277-5255) said telemetry tracking of these fish over the past several years showed that many cobia move up and down the coast, but that another segment migrated offshore from South Carolina, into water as deep as 400 feet, to overwinter.
“From mid-May to mid-June, we find them inside 20 miles, even in nearshore waters down south, but after that, I’ve seen them getting progressively further and further out,” he said. “I’ve caught cobia as late as December at 20 to 26 miles off the coast.”
Carter frequently targets cobia later in the summer, but it’s rarely the only fish he’s trying to put in front of his clients. He finds cobia are attracted to livebottom areas, especially those with substantial bottom relief. Cobia also love to frequent many of the deeper wrecks and man-made reefs off the coast.
Carter said that, being somewhat nomadic, it’s not unusual to see cobia tailing larger pelagic animals such as large sharks, rays and sea turtles.
“I always expect to see cobia on an offshore shark-fishing trip,” he said. “They love to follow big hammerheads, duskys and sand tiger sharks around. I always keep a couple of cobia rods rigged when I’m chumming for sharks, because the cobia will often nose up to the boat right before the shark arrives.”
Because of a cobia’s natural curiosity, Carter said they can be sight-fished right behind the boat. He then has the choice of pitching the fish a live menhaden or casting a large plastic bait.
“When you see one, you’ve got about 60 seconds to get something in front of him,” Carter said. “I have seen days when they would circle the boat for several minutes, but as soon you see him, the clock starts ticking.”
To cut down on that narrow window of time, Carter frequently baits a free-line or two with a live menhaden and floats it behind the boat while his clients are trying to entice a grouper, triggerfish or other bottom-dweller into biting.
Carter’s tackle of choice for cobia is an 8-foot, medium to medium-heavy St. Croix Avid rod paired with a 40-pound class Penn Slammer reel. He uses 40-pound braided main line tipped with a 6-foot section of 40- to 60-pound fluorocarbon leader. If he’s live-bait fishing, he hooks a menhaden on a 4/0 Gamakatsu circle hook. If he’s using artificial baits, it’s either a 7-inch Z-man Diesel Minnow or a 9-inch HeroZ rigged on a 5/0 to 7/0, weighted hook.
To sweeten the pot, Carter will hang a chum bag or some other scent-dispersing gear off the stern of the boat. He uses chunks of old menhaden, commercially produced chum blocks or concentrated fish oils to put scent in the water.
Another tactic is to toss a handful of live menhaden in the water to get things stirred up. Most times, it’s a school of amberjacks that responds to free, live bait, but it has also been known to work when a cobia is nosing around.
“Don’t throw freebies when you actually see a cobia,” he said. “You don’t want him to swim off, chasing free bait, when you’re trying to get him to take one on the hook, and you also don’t want to rile a school of amberjack up just before you pitch to a cobia.”
Inshore vs. offshore cobia spawning
According to research by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, it has been long thought that cobia spawned offshore and spent most of their lives living in open water. Later research suggested that some of these fish may move inshore in Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay to spawn.
South Carolina anglers have long been familiar with the migration of cobia into Port Royal and St. Helena sounds. Harvested females were found to be gravid with eggs, and the conclusion was that spawning was taking place in these estuarial systems.
Studies conducted by examination of donated fish carcasses supported the theory of inshore spawning by distinct population segments, meaning that if the inshore spawning population was overfished, other cobia outside that segment would not replace those lost to overfishing.
Accordingly, SCDNR and federal fisheries managers made efforts in 2017 to reduce the overharvest of cobia both in South Atlantic waters and in areas identified by studies as critical spawning habitat in South Carolina by enacting some closures and creel and season limits.
South Carolina closes the season for cobia from May 1-31 in state waters south of Edisto Island’s Jeremy Inlet. In federal and all other state waters, the season is closed when the Annual Catch Limit (ACL) is met.
The creel limit is one fish per person per day and no more than three per boat per day in state waters south of Jeremy Inlet. In federal waters and state waters north of Jeremy Inlet, the creel limit is one per person per day and no more than six per boat per day. There is a 36-inch, fork-length, minimum size.
More information on cobia research can be found at www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/stocking/research/cobiaspawning.html.
(Photo by Phillip Gentry)
Cobia sushi anyone?
Eating sushi is nothing new to tourists visiting Charleston, S.C., but most people think of tuna, salmon, halibut, squid and octopus when it comes to sushi. Cobia hardly, if ever, makes the list.
“There are hundreds of great recipes for cooking cobia, but to me, one of the best ways to eat it is raw,” said guide Justin Carter. “The meat is white and firm and it has none of that fishy smell associated with a lot of other fish.”
While Carter doesn’t go as far as packing along a bottle of soy sauce on his guide trips, he’s been known to offer up a slice or two to customers at the cleaning table when he’s dressing fish at the end of the day.
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