Beaufort Cobia report May 24 to May 26

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.

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