Beaufort Cobia report May 24 to May 26

[sfprovyn]

well boys I've officially decided to retire from Cobia fishing. IMHO its not what its cracked up to be .After three days of chumming , wreck fishing and drift Fishing I think I know every shark , sting ray and sea turtle in the beaufort area on a first name basis. Chumming works very well especially if you like catching large sand tiger sharks that will fowl all your lines but they are a hoot to catch .I caught 3 sea turtles at the AR 315 wreck on dead mullet which I de hooked but I hate to catch them. For some reason sting rays are all over the place and I hooked my anchor line to an anchor ball 6 times to be pulled all over the inlet by some big ones until I saw what they were and cut them off. The spanish are coming on strong so i think I will try to catch some...Frank

[Blue_Runner]

So you didn't see any cobes at all? I've never specifically targeted them by I can see that bycatch would be a problem.

[sfprovyn]

I saw some kids with an undersized one that they measured wrong but they kept it anyway. The fork of the tail vs the tip of the tail will cost them $200 if they get stopped..I am convinced that most of the big cobia break offs are actually sand tigers that look like a cobia until you get them right next to the boat. This morning a guide with tower was right on the inlet day marker about 6:30 am in 17 feet of water and had two guys throwing big white and yellow big eye bucktails with 5 or 6 inch green trailers but no takers. He must have saw something because he was telling them where to cast. I was trolling for spanish and went by him and came back a hour later and he was still there. It reminds me a lot of blue cat fishing, you can sit there all night waiting for him to bite catching turtles and gar but when he hits hold on...Frank