Beaufort Boat and Dock Supply usually have eels during cobia season, but I sure don’t like using the nasty slimy things and they don’t produce as well as live (or dead) fish or crab. A nickname for cobia is “crab eater” BTW.
I usually spend an hour or so in the creeks with a cast net gathering live mullet, pinfish, croaker, spots, crabs or whatever I can catch, then head out to the river. There is often large schools of greenies (greenback herring), threadfin shad and menhaden swimming in the rips and you can catch them 6 at a time with a sabiki rig. Keep a sabiki rigged up all the time and cast it to the bait schools as they swim by you. Once I set up to fish and get some baits out, then we put out a couple of small rigs on the bottom to catch whiting, one of my favorite baits. Catfish work pretty good too but there aren’t many cats around anymore. Small blackfish are cobia candy and there are plenty of those also, but they are mostly shorts and illegal, so I’m not suggesting to use those:wink:
Anything kicking, except an eel is OK with me
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
Small craft surveying and repair
I might argue with you on the live eels! Best thing in the world for rigging live eels is a handful of Spanish Moss. Slap their head on the side of the boat a couple of times, circle hook in the lip and a treble near the tail. Only bad thing is the sharks love em too.
quote:Slap their head on the side of the boat a couple of times,
LMAO It also helps to put them in the cooler and ice them down. They do work pretty good, I just don’t like messing with them. It’s a personal preference
One thing is for sure, there are plenty of sharks in Port Royal and you’ll catch them on any bait you use. Got to have a lot of bait to cobia fish because the sharks will get most of it.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
Small craft surveying and repair
No ice they just wake up and twist in a knot, gotta whack em and halve kill em.
I was in the middle of the fleet fishing the rip a few years ago (by the P.I. radar tower) and side hooked/snagged a 4’ Black tip. Thought I had mobbydick, had all the close boats attention and also laughter 40 min later when we got it to the boat.
If you follow the cobia fleet a little farther out in the shipping channel you can get into some pretty good sized sharks. On the cobia we have had better luck the last 6 or so years on the St. Helena side. But the baby black tips seem much thicker. Aggravating things.
quote:No ice they just wake up and twist in a knot, gotta whack em and halve kill em
I can tell you have experience That’s the other thing I hate about the basty nastards is the way they tie themselves in knots around your leader then spin in the current until you have 20’ of twisted up line.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
Small craft surveying and repair
Mark Mole. His charter business is called Tailer May’d Charters. I used him last fall and had a good time. We didn’t catch many fish, but he worked hard trying.
If you’re lucky enough to be fishing, you’re lucky enough.
