Sample Florida's diverse cobia sight fishing three ways.
By Frank Bolin,, Associate Editor

Imagine yourself chasing cobia around Florida's nearshore waters, spinning rod in hand, eyes glued to the horizon scanning the surface for the next fish.

This has long been my preferred approach to catching these hard-fighting, good-eating fish. Over the years, I've uncovered certain clues about sight fishing various Florida locales that may well add some hookups to your next outing.

First, get the basics down. This is most often a team operation, and you'll want to be clear when you're directing your fishing partner. Twelve o'clock is straight off the bow of the boat. Three o'clock is 90 degrees to the right, 9 o'clock is off your left shoulder and other o'clocks are just as they appear on your watch. Make this cast clock second nature and you'll be ready to embark on some cool cobia adventures.

Techniques vary from one locale to the next. Yes, fishing's different in Miami's Hawk Channel than off Destin in the Panhandle, but if you master the fundamentals, plus learn how to judge casting distance, never leave the dock without polarized shades and keep the sun at your back, cobia had better beware.

You'll also need to develop nerves of steel under fire. Don't laugh. Throw in a 30-pound free-swimming cobia or a gliding squadron next to a ray and buck fever takes over. It has happened to me.

Bucktail Bombers

In spring, cobia hunters from Fernandina south to Fort Pierce embark on a hunt for manta rays. Rays first appear in late winter or early spring off Fort Pierce when Atlantic water temperature rises to between 68 and 70 degrees. Mantas migrate close to the beach and many are flush with cobia. Seems that the fish scarf tidbits—crabs and shrimp—the gentle monsters fan off the bottom. With wingspans that sometimes approach 15 feet, manta rays not only kick up food, they also provide a type of moving shelter that cobia shadow, particularly in the hotter part of the day, say from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.

The trick to hooking fish here is learning how to spot rays, approaching them for a cast and maintaining constant control of your lure. Bucktail jigs are standard bait for droves of cobia anglers who ply these mostly lime-green nearshore waters. Bucktails are versatile—you can work them a number of ways—and cobes crush them. It's an everyday occurrence to see anglers depart from inlets in this region with several rods rigged with bucktail jigs of various sizes, styles and colors.

An array of light and heavy jigs prepares you for anything. For example, if fish are stacked on a ray's back or off its wingtips, a lighter 1-ounce jig is the ticket. It has enough weight to cast on 15-pound gear, but it's not too heavy to work near the surface. Remember, you want to hook fish on top of the ray, not snag the manta. Heavier jigs, in the 2- to 4-ounce sizes, are great for plumbing the depths for fish not visible up top. Heavier jigs sink more quickly, straight into the strike zone beneath rays.

Approaching rays requires subtle throttle control. The trick is to get within casting distance without making rays or fish sound, scurrying for the protection of bottom. An easy touch on the throttle goes a long way in this exercise; rpm changes frequently put rays and fish on guard before you can fire that initial cast.

Time-wise, rays and cobia normally skirt this part of the coast from February through June. To tap into the bite early, make tracks for Fort Pierce and follow the fish north. Polarized sunglasses with brown, vermilion or amber lenses provide the best contrast for spotting manta rays and free-swimming fish in the green, sometimes silty water found along the beaches of Northeast and East Central Florida.

Pinfish Panache

Hawk Channel, which runs along the ocean side of the Florida Keys, is well-known as a cobia sight-fishing hotspot, but if you attack the waters with the same drill that catches fish to the north, for the most part you'll be spinning your wheels. It's a different game here.

Marathon charter skipper and tackle shop owner Dave Navarro is an old hand at ambushing Hawk Channel cobes. He recommends climbing up the tower or flybridge, because the rays and fish you're searching for here often hug the bottom in these clear coastal waters.

There are also two Keys cobia runs to cash in on. Fish flock to Gulf wrecks and Florida Bay in November and December. Navarro says that many of these fish are juveniles that won't measure up to minimum keeper length. Numbers are good, but size usually comes up short.

That changes from January to April when fish show up in Hawk Channel. "Hawk Channel fish are beefier than their Gulf cousins," Navarro began. "There are two predominant ways to target these fish. Either work the humps and bumps [rock and coral outcroppings that offer bottom relief] or focus on channel edges combed with white sand."

Many anglers regard the waters off Long Key as the best of Keys cobia sight-fishing territory. March and April are the heart of the run, which finds cobia saddled to spotted eagle rays migrating along the bottom in depths up to 25 feet. When plying Hawk Channel, Navarro scans the water column from the flybridge for rays that he says often travel at mid-depth. "Cobes suspend above and beneath spotted eagle rays, so take a second look if you don't spot fish at first."

The typical drill is to ease up alongside the rays or position the boat in the line of travel and drop a live pinfish to the bottom. "Cobes can't refuse a live pin," Navarro preaches. One way to up your sight-fishing ante is to work the sand edges and patches in a zigzag pattern. If you spot something that resembles a cloud moving across the bottom, hook on a pinfish and get it into the strike zone.

"On days you don't find rays," Navarro suggests, "focus your efforts around the humps and bumps. Cobes frequently pop up on the surface, particularly on slack tide above these rocky outcroppings." Dragging a large lipped lure, say a Mann's Stretch 30, Rapala CD 18, Yo-Zuri Hydro Magnum, MirrOlure 111MR or something similar, can often net a cobia you didn't spot beside the rocks.

Eel Will

Destin anglers climb the ladder for cobia success. Literally. Then they cast slithering live eels at ling ("Panhandlese" for cobia) from perches aloft. Sighting in cobes takes on new meaning in these parts. Among serious cobia hunters, boats sporting tall towers are the rule rather than the exception.

Angling brothers and captains Paul Dale and Chris Wagner introduced me to their eye-in-the-sky tactics. Sight-fishing season begins in March and lasts through mid May. And it's so easy to spot fish. Emerald-green nearshore waters provide excellent contrast for detecting your next target. Brown ling stand out like sore thumbs over a bottom composed primarily of white, sugar sand.

There's no need to be an early riser, either. Best fishing hours are from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. or so, during the hottest and brightest part of the day (this holds true around the state). The key is to train your eye to ferret out fish traveling the outer sandbar, usually from east to west. Chris steered his 34-foot sportfish Full Pull into the 15-foot depths outside the bar and assigned each of us scanning zones.

"Got one," Paul Dale shouted, pointing to a dark, cigar-shape shadow outlined by the white sand. Chris edged within casting distance and flung an eel in front of the fish from high atop the tower. "Hookup. Pass it down," he bellowed, as the brothers started lowering the rod like it was a hot potato to me in the cockpit. "First time I've seen anyone do that," my wife murmured, impressed that no one had dropped the rod on its descent. To my amazement the fish was still on, testimony that ling just crush eels.

We also tagged and released several fish that slammed jigs, but when it comes to hooking the big boys—cobia reach 80 pounds and more in the upper Gulf—tower crews stick with eels. Jigs, however, are the lure of choice among pier anglers who scout Panhandle shallows for ling. At Panama City Beach Pier, Angler's Pier and Navarre Pier, anglers line up along the color change at the dropoff and across the "T" ends for a shot at cobes. When you see a fish, cast fast. Someone else will beat you to that second chance.

The best part is that you can sample these cobia treats from your own boat. Trailer it to the hotspots. Then bait a fis