A wiggly live eel, hooked up through the chin, is the perfect cobia bait.

Within 30 seconds, she picked up on the tempo of the dance. Almost instinctively, she realized she needed to lean back and then reel down. It was obvious when she quit being a holder-oner and became a competent angler. She handled the rod like a pro. Within a matter of 10 minutes, she brought the 40-pounder to the side of the boat. Gilbert gaffed the cobia and swung it into the fishbox.

This would be the first of 11 cobia brought to the fishbox. These, plus the 80-pounder that pulled loose and two more that would be tagged and released, made it a 14-fish day.

Butler learned quickly. She would boat two more, including a 51-pounder. Davis and Kennedy brought the others to gaff.

Fifty-plus-pounders were in the front of the minds of the captain and mates. But in the back of their minds was the hope for that one over 100 pounds. Several had already been caught during this migration. This team had put a 95-pounder in the boat three weeks earlier.

Bryant and his crew knew that other cobia that big had already, or would, pass by the Panhandle coast. It was simply a matter of being at the right place at the right time—completely prepared.

Bryant has his own ideas about the right place. He explained, “We try to target cobia that have not already been messed with by other fishermen. We find that the bigger cobia tend to stay a little farther offshore and not get right up on the sandbars. We may not see as many fish, but those we do see are normally bigger and have not been spooked already. On the bar, for every 25 fish you might see, only about five will eat a bait.”

On this April day, Bryant’s strategy was almost dictated by the dingy water along the beach. “You have to have clear water and a good sun when fishing deeper water,” he went on to say. “Sometimes, the cobia will be 10 feet under the water. Good polarized glasses are a must.”

He advises watching the tidelines in the fishing area. Cobia tend to swim under the tideline and then come to the surface on the other side of the silt. Anytime Bryant locates a tideline, he steers the Class Act along it until he gets out of the water he is fishing.

Along with being in the right area, being prepared with the right bait is equally important. The team aboard the Class Act always has three different baits rigged. The first cast is with a three-ounce jig. The crew is quick to point out that if the cobia is hungry and you make a halfway decent cast with the jig, you are going to get a hookup.

The idea is to cast beyond the fish and try to bring the lure in front of him so that he has to swim after it. If you cast directly at him, you will spook him and he will sound.

If the cobia ignores the jig, the crew grabs for the live-bait rod. They prefer mullet 6 to 9 inches long. But when such baits are unavailable, they use pinfish, rockfish, pigfish, or ruby lips. The baits are hooked just behind the head on a 3/0 treble hook. This allows the fish to swim down—its natural response to a threat—when the reel is in freespool, yet swim upright when worked back to the boat.

The coup de grâce is the live eel. It has been proven all along the Panhandle that this squirmy bait will make a cobia bite when nothing else will. It is hooked from underneath the jaw and out the roof of the mouth.

The basic rule when using a live fish or eel is to let the bait do its own thing. An eel will normally head for the bottom the minute it sees a predator. The same is true with pinfish. Make the cast and leave the bail open. Use your finger to regulate the line leaving the reel. Normally, the cobia will disappear from the surface. When he does, hold on. As soon as you feel him take the bait, let him run a second, close the bail, and hit him hard.

Also in the arsenal is what Bryant refers to as his “no hook rig.” This consists of a 5/0 bronze hook tied directly to the 30-pound line with no leader or barrel swivel. He explained, “Sometimes the fish are leader shy. They might take this bait after the others have failed. Obviously, you have to fight them with a little more finesse and a lighter drag. But at least it gives you a chance.”

Both Sedivy and Gilbert use custom-made 8-foot spinning rods, loaded with 30-pound test, 50-pound leader, and the jig. They are from the old school, having pier-fished for cobia all their lives. The reels they prefer are the Mitchell 307 or the Penn 706. These are chosen because either can be customized with a manual roller replacing the bail system. They feel this alteration allows farther casts and is quicker on the draw when firing to a cobia.

For the novice, spotting a cobia can be difficult. Bryant offers this advice: “Look for something different. Definitely think brown. Look as far away as possible for something out of place. It could be a wake, an out-of-place splash, or what looks like a brown sludge on the water. You know what you are used to seeing. If it is out of the ordinary, you need to check it out.”

Eight hours later, the Class Act backed into her berth in Destin Harbor. Butler’s 51-pounder had been put on the weigh master’s scales and kept the sportfisher on the leader board for one more day.

The mates hung the cobia for a group picture and then the crew and the fishermen gathered around the dockside picnic table to down a cool one and rehash the day’s events.

It was easy to see that the loudest statements came from the smiles, winks, and high-fives.

It had been a good day of Panhandle cobe hunting.

FS