Hello all. Tried for cobia for the first time with my brother who was visiting from Cincinnati. (this was on Tuesday, so the report is old--we were vacationing at The Homestead the rest of the week). Went to grafton bait and tackle to get some Gammi hooks, leaders, eels, large minnows (for flounder later), chum, and advice.

Headed out to bluefish rock-conditions were a little rough, but manageable. Anchored up with 3 other boats in sight. Put out the chum and the eels, along with bottom rigs to try and pick up a croaker or two to try to put a variety of food on the buffet for the brown ones. Rocked and rolled in the boat for a few hours with one good run that bit the eel in half (maybe should have hooked it in the tail instead on the lip--but with my luck the head would've got bit off then). Caught two fish that resembled croakers, but more streamlined and about twice the size. (found out later they are called Kingfish). Finally pulled up to drift the bar with squid and minnow samich for flatones. Great drift in perfect conditions in depths raging from 25-10 feet for about two hours with not one flat one. Lots of small croakers back in the drink.

So, didn't see any brown suits, but caught one species I had never seen/heard of. Hope to try again soon.

I was really hoping a cobia would slam down on the two foot eel I had drifting behind the boat but no luck. Nothing on one footers eithers. Nothing on live fish. All this after hours of chumming and my live fish started checking out, so I switched to cut bait and started chunking. That turned out to be a good idea, check the pics on the cobia sightng post. It was my second attempt of the year.

good report naved- be persistant and you will get em- wish i had known you were off- i was too and didnt have anyone to fish with- fished by myself on tuesday and wednesday. (dont tell the old lady!!!!) hahahah, craig

I was skunked 3 times on cobia until this Saturday caught a nice 38 in cobia. Persistance pays off. I caught the cobia at the IMG 100 yds from CBT on ocean side using chum and cut menhaden. I am sure glad I finally caught one! Very exciting too. Had the fish break thru the net at first then gaffed him. had a few more good runs with a broken in half hook and a hook pulled out on another one. Good luck next time.

Hey NJ1,Try hooking the Eel through the Skin just behind the head they wont go into a pretzel knot and swim more hooked like that.It seems like you have to put about 30 hours of fishing time for each Cobia these days.

Thanks for the tips guys. I've got about 3 of the 30 hrs. in, so I guess I've got some more dues to pay (not like schoolie stripers I see).

Craig, give me a holler next time, I'm always looking to learn a thing or two and can bait a hook and rinse off a boat pretty good..lol.

We were sheephead fishing and decided to put out a mullet or two and BAM..125 yards were pulled off with drag singin. Before we could get untied it had already made it deep into to the pilings. This happened 3 more times before we could attempt to drag them to deeper water..and that was a joke..they drug us where they wanted to go. Any suggestions. Never saw them so dont really know if they were cobia or not, but from what I understand thats their stile. One broke the hook, so we went bigger A/O 40lb with steel leader. Pilings were the end of the rest even after long fighting with them.

Did it come up to the surface or stay down on the bottom?

my experience is that cobes and reds will usually come to the top within a few minutes of a good hook set and will hang higher in the water, whereas sharks and rays will stay on the bottom until you force them off it. Fish seem to use the water column much more than critters. There are always exceptions, but I have to wonder if you hooked a big ray or shark that cruised off with your bait. This may be what Mega Bite was hinting at...