Pro Talk: Charleston Spring Cobia Fishing with Tucker Blythe

We spent 15 minutes on the phone with Capt. Tucker Blythe to discuss bottom fishing for cobia with the Hogy Original off of Charleston, South Carolina. Here's what we learned...

Capt. Tucker Blythe
Website: http://www.charlestoncustomcharters.com/
Facebook: Grey Ghost Charters

Location: Offshore Charleston, SC

Tides: Looking for the tide line offshore is a great place to look for flotsam accumulation. The cobia will often relate to the structure or temperature difference on this line. Running the shipping container buoys are a good place to start looking for fish if no tide line is present.

Approach: These cobia can be located on shipping container buoys (around 12 miles offshore). We like to run the buoy line until fish are located. Sometimes the fish are solo, but there is a chance that there could be several fish holding around the buoy as well. Also keep you eyes open for cursing sea turtles, big leather backs often have cobia swimming along with them.

Rigging Selection: The 10/0 Barbarian Swim Bait Hook is perfect for sight casting to these fish.

Bait Selection: The Hogy 10inch Original is ideal. But if they are super finicky, they will always eat a Hogy 5inch Flounder rigged on a 2oz Barbarian Jig Head.

 

Why this bait? The Hogy 10inch Original has been proven time and time again to tempt big cobia into eating. It’s a perfect imitator  of offshore eels.

Colors: Black is the best for cobia here in Charleston.

Retrieve: The key to catching these cobia on soft baits is to keep the bait in motion. Often times when a fish is following the bait, if you pause for very long they may loose interest. I find the best hook up ratio when maintaining a steady retrieve or even speeding up the retrieve on the way to the boat. If they refuse the bait, I’ll toss the Flounder and Barbarian Jig Head combo and let it sink all the way to the bottom. Often the cobia will follow it to the bottom and inhale it.

OUTFIT

Rod: Medium-Fast  action 7′ 6″ St. Croix spinning rod with a medium fast tip.

Reel:  Shimano Stradic or Bait Runner 6000 – 8000.

Line: 30lb power pro braid for my main line. For leader, 40lb Fluorocarbon is perfect for cobia. Use a uni to uni knot for line to leader connection.