Cobia on fly and light tackle in the Broad River

BIG cobia on light tackle in the Broad River on May 27

TFO rod and light tackle cobia fight

Fishing with Captain Danny Rourk on Memorial Day led to a chance encounter with my best ever cobia. Fishing with light tackle it took about 20-minutes to fight the fish and reel it in to the waiting net of Captain Rourk. The conditions were flat calm and my TFO-rod with medium-action stayed bent during the entire fight, while the Shimano stradic reel spooled with 20-pound Power Pro peeled line each time the fish sounded. Standing on a raised platform in the bow, I see the 50-pounder swimming directly in front of the boat. I signal Captain Rourk to stop the boat, but the cobia quickly turned 180-degrees and closed the distance to us until it was under the boat. I hurried to the back of the boat and cast the eel into the water. Nothing happened. Captain Rourk went to the bow and began looking for the fish back that way. Just then, my cork began to bob up and down in a rapid motion. The eel had sighted the cobia and began a frantic attempt at escape. The big cobia showed up on cue, eating the eel and taking the float down for good this time. “Go ahead and set the hook now,” said Rourk. “With light tackle the plan is to keep pressure on the fish during the fight, but not to horse it up.” Despite some head-shaking by this cobia, the steady fight tactic worked very well. “I book fly-fishing trips for cobia as well,” said Rourk of TailWind Charters in Beaufort. “I’ll utilize a big and flashy streamer pattern comparable to a tarpon fly. The bigger the better. And I like either a 10-weight or a 12-weight fly rod for cobia fishing.” Paul Burton from Bray’s Island reeled in a smaller cobia on his fly rod and we took its measurement. Since it did not meet the minimum requirement of 33-inches, he gladly released the fish back into the Broad River.

To view more of my feature article click on Colletonian.
To view past blog entries about cobia click here.

Cobia cut-back !!

Paul Burton from Bray's Island with a cobia on the fly rod