Judging from the number of boats I see with people perched in the towers, I am not alone in that anticipation.
Cobia migrate from the southern part of the United States around Florida and the Gulf of Mexico and move up the Atlantic Coast following the rising water temperatures in the spring and early summer. Generally, they will start showing up in the Bay sometime in May and will stick around in early in the fall, although the fishing season for them starts in the middle of June.
Cobia will use the Chesapeake Bay to spawn and to feed on the bountiful crabs, shrimps and bunker that also call it home.
My preferred method of fishing for these migratory visitors is to sight fish for and throw a mixture of live bait such as eels and jigs, but people will also anchor up, start a chum slick and find success doing that as well.
Our previous trips for cobia had been earlier in the summer, but last year I had started to notice a young captain on Instagram posting videos with what seemed like every day of double and tripling up on cobia, and I decided I needed have some of that action in my life.
I reached out to Colt with Litigator Sportfishing late in the spring and booked a trip for early in August and of course I had to talk a few friends into joining me as well. If you have been reading my articles for awhile you already know that my buddy, Brian, is down for any adventure, and we convinced Eddie, who has done our northern trip a few times and our buddy Hutch, to join us for the adventure!
We pulled into the marina in Poquoson, Virginia, and you can tell that Captain Colt and his mate were fired up for the day. They felt confident we were going to have a good day of fishing.
I have learned to go into a trip with my expectations lowered but their enthusiasm was contagious.
One of the first buoys that we pulled up to had cobia on it and they would follow the bait but would not commit. I could hear Captain Colt talking to himself and expressing his disbelief that the fish would not eat a live bait, and I remember thinking in my head: “here we go again.”
We fished a little longer and finally the boys in the tower spotted a pod of cobia and fired the bait out towards the pod and it didn’t take long before we had our first one on!
Hutch had never caught one so we had agreed he would get the first rod, but he was slow to engage, so I figured I might as well attempt to put the fish in the boat.
Just a minute or two into the fight and we were hooked up on another cobia. So here we are in the Chesapeake Bay doubled up on cobia, does it get any better?
We both fought our fish to the boat, and they were both a little undersized, so back into the Bay they went to continue on their journey back down south, but after that the fishing was wide open.
Shortly after the double, Eddie and Brian both battled with grown cobia, and we had our two keepers in the box! Now with the pressure off with the keepers in the boat we would just focus on having fun and enjoying the beautiful day.
Captain Colt had us around fish all day and Huch and I once again doubled up on some really nice-sized cobia and at some point, Hutch broke out the Buffalo Trace bourbon and we were having a time of it!
Towards the end of the day, I spotted a pod swimming off the starboard side and two of those salty bandits bit, but both managed to evade the hooks.
Just a minute or two later Colt spotted another pod of cobia swimming and once again it was game on.
Brian and Eddie were back up and they had to deal with two angry cobias, some crossed lines, and Eddie tripping over a cooler! I had to check and make sure Eddie was ok before I could laugh at him, but he was fine, and still had he rod and fish on. Brian had to fight his around the back of the boat before they both finally brought the powerful fish to the net. We decided that was the perfect ending to a great day, and after a few photos we were on our way back to the dock.
I’m already daydreaming of next summer and chasing these fish around the bay but before that I may have to get back out with Capt. Colt one more time before these fish pack up shop and head back down south. He told me that while the season closes in the middle of September the fishing can be good through the end of the September.
What fish are you dreaming about catching? Let me know on Instagram at @Psuaaron and look up Capt. Colt on Instagram @Litigatorsportfishing.
