From Texas all the way around to Virginia, cobia are beginning their annual beach trips. Specific times will vary by water temperature, but as the water warms, cobia will head for the beach. It’s a spring break of sorts for these hard fighting fish.
Cobia are in a class all by themselves – literally. They have no close relatives scientifically speaking, and quite frankly they behave like no other fish.


At one point they ignore every bait presented to them, and in an instant they can turn on and strike anything that comes close to them.

What to Look For

But, this time of year, they like to run the beaches in search of food. Larger cobia are often mistaken for sharks, while smaller ones look very similar to a remora – the pilot fish that attach themselves to sharks and other large fish.
As they roam the beaches just beyond the surf line and breakers, their dark brown silhouette can be seen at some distance from almost any size boat. More often than not, they will travel in pairs or threesomes, and usually will be following some other species of fish.

Stingrays, leopard rays and even manta rays are the cobia’s favorite traveling companion. Cobia often practice what many anglers call “riding the ray” – that is simply swimming along just over or under the back shoulder of a slow moving ray. They seem to like almost any object in the water, and their curiosity plays an important part in anyone’s fishing plans in the spring.

They appear to be slow swimmers, not really interested in high-speed bait chasing, choosing instead to scavenge with the rays or with a school of large redfish. But don’t let their lethargic appearance fool you. Once they are hooked and realize they are hooked, it can be Katie bar the door!

How to Fish

Catching cobia this time of year can be relatively easy and can be done from almost any size boat on a good day. Even kayaks get into the action from time to time.
The process is simple, really. Head to the beach and stay outside the breakers and the surf line. Get as high in the boat as possible and look for anything dark in the water. Rays have a peculiar habit of jumping from time to time for no apparent reason. Keep an eye out for a jumping ray.

Once you find a ray, and they are relatively easy to find this time of year, simply stay in contact. Stay far enough away to avoid spooking the ray, yet close enough to see any following fish. Have a bait or lure ready to cast as you idle along watching the ray.

When a cobia shows up, you will see him on the surface. The trick now is to get ahead of the ray/cobia combo, shut down the engine and get ready to cast to them.

The cast has to be gentle and needs to be far enough ahead of them so as not to spook them, yet close enough that the cobia will see the bait or lure. Live bait needs to be directly in front of them, while a lure needs to come at a right angle to them, across their path and within their sight range.

If the first cast does not draw any attention, sit still and let the combo continue past your boat. Once they have moved a distance away, start your engine and repeat the entire process. Sometimes multiple attempts are required to draw a strike, particularly with a lone cobia on a lone ray.

In a situation where several cobia are following one large ray, the picture can be quite different. There will be competition among the cobia, and it will not be unusual for several of them to be fighting over which fish can get to the bait first!