Polarized sunglasses help for spotting mantas, below, and presenting baits to cobia.

Tidelines are particularly effective in the spring and early summer, when the first rains are washing fresh water out the inlets. The best lines form around stronger than normal tides, as during new and full moons.

Because tideline rays are actively feeding, they usually won’t spook from a boat. Offshore, rays often dive at the sound of an approaching boat; out here you have to determine in which direction they’re swimming, then either creep up from behind, or run ahead and shut down in the fish’s path and wait for it to come to the boat.

In either instance, you need to be ready with a lure or bait. The first encounter offers the best chance at a hookup. The fish are naturally curious, and probably deem the boat as a larger rendition of the swimming food processor they’ve been shadowing for the last few days.

One of the best lures to throw at approaching cobia is a chartreuse jig. It doesn’t matter if it’s a plastic, swimming-tail jig, a feather jig or the chartreuse version of the Red Tail Hawk jig commonly used in snook fishing. The color and action of the jig will immediately draw the cobia’s attention. I make sure I have at least one rod rigged with this lure before I leave the inlet.

Swimming plugs are another good option, but multiple hooks are somewhat hazardous when you toss a fish into the boat. Again, chartreuse is the color of choice, with floating/diving plugs that can be retrieved with a side-to-side swagger favored over sinking plugs.

Of live baits, given a choice I’d take a Spanish sardine over any of the whitebait species, but threadfin herring, cigar minnows and scaled sardines work just as effectively.

I carry live shrimp in one of my livewells on a regular basis during the spring and they’re outstanding for cobia. A lot of times the shrimp are too small to cast any distance, so I’ll tie on a 1⁄4- or 3⁄8-ounce jighead and hook the shrimp upwards through the mouth. The same goes for fishing live crabs, another good bait. Add a jighead to the crab and you double your casting distance.

On the color changes there isn’t much structure for the fish to break off on, so you can use 12- to 20-pound tackle. The lighter gear allows for longer, more accurate casting with lighter lures and baits. The only requirement is that reels hold at least 200 yards of line, in case a fish makes a long run before you can follow with the boat.

Cobia don’t have much in the way of teeth, but I like a 24-inch section of 50-pound fluorocarbon leader. Last June, I had an angler hook an 82-pound cobia that took him an hour and 40 minutes to land. He fought the fish on 20-pound gear and it spent enough time alternating from hugging the bottom and swimming under the boat that we finally landed it more than two miles from where it was hooked. During the course of the battle and when swinging the gaff, we found extra comfort knowing we had that heavier leader.

Besides the normal color changes created where currents meet, there are color changes made when waters of different temperatures collide. We see these during the summer when coldwater inversions push icy-cold water out of the offshore depths. The colder water is denser and heavier than warm water, so it stays down deep while the warmer water remains on the surface.

Rays react to the chill by moving to the surface for warmth. The coldwater inversions are often marked by cloudy green water. The cold water can range for miles, but where it meets the normal warm ocean water there’s a distinct color and temperature change, and the rays congregate at these areas.

These inversions can take place any time of the year, but consistently occur around the lobster season in late July and early August, when the cobia have migrated north. Still, there’s enough resident cobia to make hunting these color changes for rays worthwhile.

Follow a color change for several miles while scanning for rays; if you don’t find them, it’s best to move on to other locations. If you encounter a ray or two while searching a color change, then that’s a good sign that the fish are feeding along that edge and it’s worth the effort to put in an extra few miles.

FS