Thread: Cobia Migration

Isn't this the time of year we see Cobia (I'm an old man...they're still Ling to me) migrate past here? I haven't read any reports of people catching them yet. Did I just miss it or are they not doing their thing like they used to?

I don't know where they migrate,
but it is definitely past here... ;-)

Originally Posted by Pier#r

I don't know where they migrate,
but it is definitely past here... ;-)

Cobia caught on GSSP per man hours invested figures out at roughly .000000000000000000000000000000000000000003 fish per fisherman.

Full disclosure there is a fair chance I neglected a zero or two.

I hooked and fought one to the net a couple of weeks ago some thought it was legal some not. So instead of killing I wanted to net oh well it was fun and my first.

Thanks guys....is it fair to say the migration isn't what it was years ago? Maybe just too many people fishing for them now?

There are no doubt lots of factors in play as to the declining cobia fishery on our pier but people have become very efficient at catching them and they get picked at from North Carolina all the way to us from boats and piers. A reduced limit (especially per boat) plus an increase in the size restrictions could do nothing but help. We have seen those types of regs help out other fisheries and I'd like to see what four or five years of strictly controlled cobia fishing in both Florida and Alabama would do.

Delayed gratification..

We spent 7 hours looking for them yesterday in the boat and did not see the first one. I personally think a huge factor to us not seeing them on the beach much anymore is due to the increase in structure right offshore, and the fads that are being put out every spring. The fish can go to these structures and find shade and a food source. Something has got to be done before the population is completely decimated.

That's an alarming report. Are those FADS even legal? Could something be done about that....assuming they're not legal? Do you think that would help anything?

Back in the good old days of the late '60s thru the '80 (they really were good days for cobia) we never expected to see many cobia hanging around structure until after the end of April. The fish were more intent on making their migrations before turning offshore. After the end of April, they showed up more following leatherback turtles (really scarce now) manta rays and slow moving sharks, then on up into May they'd start popping up when we'd stop on snapper structure or occasionally grab a live bait intended for amberjack. That's all ancient history and fish tales now, but they probably haven't changed their behavior, there just aren't very many of them left. We got too good at catching them and a commercial market was developed for them. Bye-bye. Too bad. So sad. I don't boat fish any more, but it sure would be nice to see the cobia fishery shut down for a couple of seasons to see if they rebound. I believe they would.