Cobia fishing the Chesapeake Bay

22 Jun Cobia fishing the Chesapeake Bay

Been awhile since the last post, we have been rigging a new boat and have it ready to go. It’s been busy with fishing biting everywhere!

We cobia fished 2 weeks ago in the Chesapeake bay. We were fishing near the northern limits of where the cobia migrate. It is nice to be able to chum for these guys without the hordes of boats that are present at the Bay bridge Tunnel in Virginia.

Chumming for Cobia is a pretty simple operation. 1st you need a bag of frozen bunker chum, We typically use two 1 gallon chum buckets, they last about 2 good hours each. Try to leave them frozen until you ride out, if you take them out the night before they are too thawed and will disperse to fast. Also, some type of bunker oil or Menhaden Milk is good to use along with the chum.

A chummed up Cobia

Couple tips on using oil: First never get it on the boat, its VERY slippery and you will never get it off. We will buy a gallon jug and then pour off some into a 20oz empty soda or water bottle. fill the 20oz bottle about half, cap it off, tie a string on it and hang it overboard. Then, take your knife and poke a small hole in the side of the bottle, just a pin hole, not a large one. The oil should last all day no problem. It will bob in the water and slowly release. You can also grab it from time to time and squeeze it to shoot some out. Think of it as a 20oz IV bag.

Menhaden Milk can be purchased online

Now the oil is going, chum is out, start by using 8/0 circle hooks and your bait is cut bunker (menhaden.) Take piece about 1.5″ and put them on the circle hook with with a fish finder rig. More fish seem to come off the bottom right near the boat. Sometimes we float a chunk back without a weight, but the bottom baits get hit the most. You will battle sharks and stingrays but hopefully the cobia will come visit! On this day we were in 12 ft of water fishing the incoming tide. Now go get one!

A fat Bayside cobia