Fly Fishing for Cobia
By Captain Charlie Beadon
Fly Fishing for Cobia: As we get deeper into spring we will have more diverse opportunities for fly fishing. Longer days will give us more time on the water and the abundance of sunlight along with overall warmer days will dramatically increase the water temperature. Cobia prefer warmer waters and will generally stay south until we see a consistent water temperature of about 70 degrees. These fish will migrate into the inshore rivers, inlets and offshore wrecks around Beaufort and Hilton Head from about mid April through July. As with any fish there are a number of techniques that you can use to catch them and it’s no different with cobia. For me, I prefer sight fishing when the opportunity arises…and especially sight fishing with a fly rod in hand; yea I said a fly rod! These fish are pretty opportunistic when it comes to feeding so a well placed fly generally represents an easy meal. What I will say about fly fishing for cobia is that you had best be prepared before you hook into one of these bruisers because they can very well hurt you or at least hurt your feelings! First off, make sure that you have the right tackle; I generally use a 9 foot 10-12 wt fly rod with a matching reel holding at least 250 yards of backing and make sure that the drag system on the reel is silky smooth. The stouter rod helps in delivering larger flies but is also needed to fight a good sized cobia. As for fly line, I use a good tarpon line such as the Rio Tarpon Short because these are generally tropical lines made for making both quick casts and shooting line at a distance. Next, you need to think about the leader; the bite tippet should be somewhere in the 40 pound class, but also make sure that you place a lighter line class tippet somewhere into the leader. The line class tippet is primarily for safety; if by chance you get tangled up in the fly line as the fish takes off for open water you will be very glad that you have a “break off” tippet! Moreover, I always use a stripping basket for cobia because it keeps all of the excess line in a safe place rather than around cleats and feet. The stripping basket doesn’t need to be real fancy either, I use a tall plastic laundry basket with a lead rope in the bottom to keep it from moving around. From there the biggest thing to keep in mind is that these fish will take off on a blistering run as soon as you stick them so you need to be mentally prepared to clear the line and get that fish on the reel, from there its all down hill! Until next time, Keep on Casting!
Captain Charlie Beadon