March Madness is here – bring on the cobia! This is the historic time frame that the migration of cobia swims by us along the central east coast. Although we catch them all year long, this is usually the best time. The water is warming back up to the 70-degree mark. Free-swimming cobia are the most fun to target but a few things must come together. One being sunny skies, you must be able to see into the water a little bit and two, try to get as high as possible to see further in the distance and three, polarized sunglasses are a must.
A hungry cobia is not a picky fish nor are they the smartest. My bait of choice is a buck tail with a whole squid hooked on it. This gives a natural look and smell. There are many different types of baits and lures people use.
I also like live bait. Pogies and pin fish work great too. It’s fun to watch a cobia go nuts trying to eat a livey. Sometimes there are days that you will see 30 fish and maybe only 2 actually eat or get Fired Up on a jig. I haven’t had many cobia turn down a live fish. Fishing is just what it says, fishing. Some days they’re on fire other days they swim away from whatever you throw at them.
My gear of choice is 7-foot medium action rod with a light tip to jig the lure and enough backbone to stick the hook. Line is 40lb. braid and a 50lb. leader. If I’m using live bait, I use an 8/0 circle hook and I hook the live fish through the back of the head and cast forward and past the fish. Don’t forget to register in the Sunrise Tournament at Port Canaveral for the month-long Cobia Madness. Good luck!
This report has been brought to you by Captain Chris Cameron of Fired Up Fishing Charters, your premier fishing guide charter of shark fishing Cocoa Beach, offshore fishing Port Canaveral, nearshore fishing Cape Canaveral, and Orlando charter fishing.
