How-To — Cobia

We spent 15 minutes on the phone with Capt. Steven Sharpe to discuss sight casting for Cobia on Cocoa Beach in Florida with the Hogy Original Series. Here's what we learned...  Location: Cocoa Beach, FL Tides: Tides are not too important for sight fishing cobia. Ample sunlight and light winds are better for increased visibility when trying to spot these fish cruising on the surface. Approach: When trying to locate free swimming cobia, it’s best to start looking for specific changes in bottom contour or water color and temperature. Often, in the Cocoa Beach area, it’s best to begin looking in the 50′...

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 BlytheWebsite: 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...

TECHNIQUE Vertical Jigging for cobia suspended over structure is an effective way to pin-point target finicky fish as you can use your fish finder to dial in the depths they are holding and focus the jigs right in their zone. OUTFIT My setup for vertical jigging consists of a 6′ 6″ heavy action Shimano Trevalla jigging rod, Shimano Sargosa 8000, and 65 pound power pro braided line. The light weight and strength of this setup allow for near effortless fishing all day. Another advantage of braid is that it’s lack of stretch increases hook up ratios as the hook is...