Cobia Charter Fishing, Australia

Fishing for Cobia in Australia is a fairly specialised form of fishing that requires good local knowledge and a good knowledge of the species. Cobia can be found in a wide range of environments ranging from creek mouths to beaches to jetty pylons to the open ocean and reef. They are a large powerful fish that can grow in excess of 50kgs and some 5-6 feet long. Their primary diet consists of crabs and invertebrates but the cobia will eat just about anything that it can find. Cobia also have a thing for large floating objects that provide cover such as logs or debris or even large manta rays will sometimes have big cobia hanging around underneath them. Ports that have large numbers of big ships waiting to berth will often have a good number of cobia living in the area.

Fish will vary in size depending on where you are. For example Cobia in far north Queensland will typically be small school sized fish of around the 10kg mark where down in the colder waters off the northern NSW coast the fish will be a lot bigger in the 20-30kg bracket. Cobia can be clearly identified by their flattish head and long cylindrical black body. Smaller fish will have a chocolate stripe that runs the length of the fish. Be careful not to confuse the cobia with a shark as bigger fish will often fearlessly swim up to an anchored boat in pursuit of a hooked fish just as a shark would. When hooked the cobia will take long surface runs as well as deep retreats just like a shark and to the inexperienced eye they look a lot like a shark in the water. A cobia will fight doggedly and has a lot of stamina often taking all the line that you have worked so hard to retrieve all the way back to the bottom 3 or 4 times before you wear him out. Bigger fish require heavy gear and strong hooks. I can remember being stretched to the limit on 80lb gear with a fish that ended up weighing in at 39 kgs. That day we saw even bigger fish swimming around the boat so make sure you go prepared when fishing for cobia in Australia. Cobia also particularly like shipwrecks.

Another good technique is to specifically target the large floating pieces of debris or manta rays previously mentioned. If you live in an area where there are large numbers of mantas, simply drive out to the area where you find them and cast lures and soft plastics just in front of the manta. Let the lure sink for a second then a fast retrieve will normally result in an explosive surface strike. It is important to make sure that the lure lands in front of the manta as that is the way the fish will be facing.

Cobia yield large flaky white fillets which are somewhat less fishy in flavour than that of other pelagic fish. They are almost a bit more like reef fish in flavour however it is imperative that the fish be immediately bled upon capture. Large fish is susceptible areas can be prone to ciguatera so check with the locals.

When fishing for cobia in Australia make sure to limit your catch not catch your limit.