When I'm at work and can't take off and or the seas are 5-7ft stacked up seem to be two factors that coincide for the peak cobia season for me.

I believe water temperature and gulf weather patterns overall are the major factors which will vary each year.

Maybe someone will chime in with water temperature numbers etc

 

What cobia season. It sucks as bad as last year's so far. To answer your question though the next 2 weeks are normally the best. 2nd and 3rd weeks of April.

 

What the best way to reel on in? Break it down for a rookie

 

Our cobia fishery has turned to shit. Not even worth going anymore

 

Simple fix.

I haven't fished for them like I used to for the last 5 years. I feel that we have a simple solution if we wanted to help. Don't participate in the many month long tourneys. :thumbsup::thumbsup: let me have their weekend tourneys if they have to but take the daily bounties off of their heads and stop the sell thru the back doors of the restaurants. Just my thought. Capt. John.

 

Some things will have to change if we want to save a once great fishery. Removing the money making incentive to kill as many as possible wouldn't hurt. IMO the changes are needed not just here but in Ms and La as well.

 

Watch for the boaters vs pier rats death threats topics here on the forum! When it gets to 10 pages! Peak cobia season is in!:thumbsup:

 

Second and third week in April

 

The top boats that fish every day for 10-12 hours a day are only catching a couple fish a week. Pretty depressing stuff, I'll admit the winds and weather haven't been favorable but it's looking even worse than last year at this point.

 

The best two weeks will ALWAYS be the two weeks I can't go fishing !

 

what peak?

 

Don't worry guys, the feds are gonna swoop in and save the cobia soon.

 

I keep hoping it is just the weird weather we have had for the last few years and that is suppressing the flow of fish along the beach. Water temp is still only 66 degrees and will drop even further with rain predicted 4 days this week. Logic tells me they are overfished though.

 

The good thing about cobia is that with a little help they can rebound quickly. They are fast growing and reproduce quickly. Stop the commercial harvest of cobia in state waters and in five years they'd be back with a vengeance.

 

It popped off good yesterday...water finally got to 70 and strong SE winds came along...hopefully next 2 weeks are good!

 

JD7....again, blaming commercial fishermen....like obama blaming bush gor everything.

Before all the high dollar kill tournements, multiple hookups from the pier was the norm, not the exception.

When i started ling fishing, we had no towers on boats....we'd tie a step ladder down in the boat. Fishermen on the pier would tell you not to throw, it was just an old sh** eating ling....while they were stacking up smoker kings on the pier like cords of wood. Seeing schools of 10-30 ling was not unusual.

10 years later, a lot of people fished for ling, but seeing schools was still normal.

Enter the high payoff kill tournements....within a few years, the difference was already apparent. The big schools were gone....the average size of the fish was smaller. Bid sport fishing boats, expensive to chase ling, when there was no money involved, now chase them 7 days a week....pier rats sometimes take a month off chasing that prize money.

Bottom line, not matter that ling grow fast....is that you cannot keep killing off all the big breeders and expect the fish to flourish....all in the name of prize money.

 

And the commercial guys are all catch and release right? Especially over in MS and LA where they HAMMER them. How many of the boats that participate in the tournaments have their RS? A good percentage actually.

I have an issue with commercial fishing. A huge issue in fact. It needs to go like commercial hunting did and simply disappear, at least in state waters.

 

How many of the boats that participate in the tournaments have their RS? A good percentage actually.

every cobe has a bounty on it's head, either for prize money or gas money. 5 thirty pounders today pays for tomorrow! tourneys could become catch and release; fish could be placed in a gamefish status, not for commercial sale. it's really sad to see what our cobe season has dwindled to since the 90s.

 

JD....so...the only people who should be able to eat fish are those who catch them, right? Good enough....but if you ever eat a shrimp you didn't catch....or a crab....or order fish or seafood from a restaurant ....you are a hypocrite.

If you use any bait you did not catch personally....you are a hypocrite.

If you claim to only eat commercially raised fish....but don't make sure those fish are not fed with bait fish caught commercially, you are a hypocrite.

 

JD....so...the only people who should be able to eat fish are those who catch them, right? Good enough....but if you ever eat a shrimp you didn't catch....or a crab....or order fish or seafood from a restaurant ....you are a hypocrite.

If you use any bait you did not catch personally....you are a hypocrite.

If you claim to only eat commercially raised fish....but don't make sure those fish are not fed with bait fish caught commercially, you are a hypocrite.

maybe he's just saying the lemon fish get hammered in LA and MS when they hit the reefs and rigs for spawn and that commercial fisherman put a huge dent in them over there well at least in LA haha, making commercial fishing for lemon fish part of the problem...

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

 

My problem with commercial fishing is that if a particular species needs some.help the FIRST thing that needs to be done is take it away from the commercial guys. A public resource should not be rationed to a select few to make money off of. Snapper of course being the poster child of this argument.

I'm sorry you so strongly disagree but my opinion is just that, my opinion and yours is yours. Sheesh.

Thanks jvalhenson for setting me straight on cobia and MS.

 

JD......so all the boats killing cobia are doing it for free....or just bragging rights....are are they trying for that big paycheck that goes with goes with winning? The guys who take off work to fish the tourneys....love of catching cobia...or dreaming of a big payoff?

Recreational fishermen tell about the tens of millions of recreational fishermen there are when blaming the commercial fishermen.....but alwsys pretend those tens of millions don't affect the numbers of fish.

Newsflash.....commercial fishermen were catching cobia back when we were seeing schools of cobia. The difference now is how many RECREATIONAL fishermen are targeting cobia.

Just remember that when you point the finger at commercial fishermen and blame them, you are pointing 4 fingers right back at yourself.

 

You are not getting my point. My point is NOT what may or may not have caused a decline in the cobia population. It is IF something needs to be done it should start with curtailing commercial harvest because they are a PUBLIC resource and that resource should not be.just rationed to a few for profit guys (commercial). Redfish are a great example here in Florida. We stopped the commercial harvest and they've rebounded big time. And I'm going to.go out on a limb as say there are more redfish tournaments than cobia tournaments.

Oh and you still refused to acknowledge that several of the cobia tournament boats also have their RS....

 

IMO commercial and recreational fishing both share some blame in the apparent collapse of our cobia population. I personally am disheartened by the enormous recreational pressure I see put on these fish when they are at their most vulnerable...spawning migration. I get it about the thrill of cobia fishing and I also get it about the big money to be made in winnings and for fishing related businesses. I myself love to get out there and look for them and I love to eat the smaller ones. I would like to keep doing that just as I have for 40+ years, but I honestly feel a little bit guilty now every time I kill one for the table. I feel bad for the fishermen today that probably will never see strong cobia runs like I was fortunate to see.

 

JD....did you read what you wrote? At least you admit that you don't care if it is recreational fishermen killing most of the roe bearing cobia, it's just an excuse to shut down commercial fishing.

Ahhhhh...redfish. Let's save the cobia the same way.....or did you forget what really saved the redfish? Let's put an immediate slot limit on cobia.....say 33 inches to 42 inches....the same 9 inches the redfish use.
All fish larger or smaller than slot must be immediately, unharmed.

 

No what really saved the redfish was the commercial ban. Period.

Putting a slot on a fish like a cobia wouldn't make sense due to their incredibly fast growth and reproductive rates. Cobia are not slow growing long lived fish like redfish.

I did read what I wrote. It's just unfortunate you can't comprehend simple English. My opinion, like I've already said, is my opinion and yours is yours. But let me say it one more time maybe you will understand what I'm trying to say.

Cobia numbers may be down.
Cobia numbers may be down due to commercial harvest.
Cobia numbers may be down due to the recreational public harvest.
Cobia is a natural resource.
The public owns the natural resource.
IF something needs to be done for cobia FIRST halt commercial harvest.
Being a natural resource, cobia should not be rationed out to a select few for profit commercial guys.

And I'm done...