By Michael Guy
The brown clowns are in town! As a fishing content creator and commercial shrimper, I’ve caught and targeted many fish species, and I have to say cobia are definitely in my top three!
Cobia can be found in many places, including reefs, shipwrecks, sandbars, bridges, and beaches. These fish are very curious and are commonly seen following sharks, stingrays, sea turtles, and commercial fishing boats.
As a commercial shrimper, we are used to seeing many sharks and dolphins following the shrimp boats—and sometimes, with the sharks come the cobia! After catching several smaller cobia and losing some keepers to sharks while fighting them, I knew that if I saw another one, I had to play my cards right.
While the boat is moving and the sharks are feeding heavily on the bycatch from the shrimp nets, it can be difficult to hook and land a hard-fighting fish like a cobia. I saw this cobia come off the sharks and swim right to the side of the boat. I free-lined a live pigfish, locked down the drag on my conventional reel, and put my 100-pound braid and 80-pound mono leader to the test!
With the sharks going after him, I winched the cobia in as quickly as possible and got him in the net!
For anglers along the Atlantic Coast, the Gulf of America, and throughout tropical waters, landing a cobia is an unforgettable experience—whether you’re sight-fishing shallow flats, cruising along beaches, or targeting offshore structure.
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