Sight fished the Broad this morning on the last of the incoming tide. Looked from the Cobia Hole up to the bridge. Great conditions but did not see any Cobia on the surface. The biggest surprise was the absence of boats. I counted 3 up near the bridge, 1 at the Turtle, 0 on the PI rip and 0 near the Christmas Tree. Did see 4 or 5 other boats cruising around sight fishing. Never in my lifetime would I expect to see that few of boats on the Broad in the middle of May.
Sounds like a good day!!
My friend was the one at the turtle. He said conditions were perfect, bait was plentiful and Cobia were absent. Fished long and hard and through the tide change. He and I learned the Cobia fishing together right there where he was. He is an expert supreme… NOTHING!!! Except for a bunch of sharks. They are gone. He also commented on the lack of boats. He couldn’t believe he had it all to himself.
John Tolerton
Same area couple weeks ago for two days, 5-6 boats at most for both
days,no cobia then either!
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For the first time in many years, you won’t see mine out there either.
Capt. Larry Teuton
912-six55-5674
lteuton at aol dot com
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
Sad that such a unique and amazing fishery has been ruined.
Fishing’s ‘shifting baselines’ continue in a slow-motion demise.
Sorry if I missed the answer to this question, but why can’t SCDNR decrease the limit to one fish per day, or make a slot limit so that the large spawning females are spared? I would even go for making them only catch-and-release for several years, and then maybe changing to a limit of one.
I can’t understand why nothing has been done about it. Is there some change in the works that might help the situation?
(By the way, I was one of 12 or so boats at the bridge on Sunday- where I saw nobody catch anything. Not even a shark. Possibly there might be some toxic concentration of chum in the water that is responsible…)
SCDNR cannot make laws related to fishing. The SC Legislature must do it. Cause they know all there is to know about fisheries…
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When things are managed by consensus rather than science this is the end result. Stay tuned for the latest on Flounder and Blue Crabs, its my understanding they are not fairing much better.
quote:
Originally posted by hungryneckWhen things are managed by consensus rather than science this is the end result. Stay tuned for the latest on Flounder and Blue Crabs, its my understanding they are not fairing much better.
Yep, but if you’ll look back at the original thread on this cobia issue from a month ago or so, you’ll see ostensibly intelligent folks fighting tooth and nail to not close the fishery. I think one person went so far as to propose a “limit” of 6 per boat…SIX PER BOAT PER DAY!!! And people can’t even catch one…insanity.
These are limited resources, folks. The flounder? Yeah, with the gigging limits as outlandish as they are, any surprise they are being depleted? The blue crabs? Blatant commercial exploitation…for non-SC markets primarily!
We may not want to admit it, but we have a huge problem with the “game hog” mentality in this state…both recreational and commercial. Catching and keeping with little to no discretion.
Next time you come in, come heavy, or not at all…
Very interesting…I lost a keeper cobia (probably 35") that morning at the gaf and counted 12 cobia on top right at tide change, my fishing partner was able to cast to 6, i casted to 3. One bumped his buck tail, nothing even looked at mine. There was too much bait in the water for them to be interested in the bucks. I have seen several cobia caught, most early may cobia were all dinks but have seen two go over 50lbs and another not far behind. Definitely not record numbers that I’ve seen and i wasn’t here fishing in the 80’s like some of you salty dogs, but out of the 6 seasons I’ve been here this year is far from the worst.
“Lock em’ down”
Hopefully this is cyclical…I think Cobia are fairly prolific, so I would hope they won’t take long to rebuild. One thing is for certain is that the limits should be adjusted to the fishing pressure. I like a tag system like deer or turkeys. When you are tagged out, move along and fish for something else.
quote:
Originally posted by Warblerquote:
Originally posted by hungryneckWhen things are managed by consensus rather than science this is the end result. Stay tuned for the latest on Flounder and Blue Crabs, its my understanding they are not fairing much better.
Yep, but if you’ll look back at the original thread on this cobia issue from a month ago or so, you’ll see ostensibly intelligent folks fighting tooth and nail to not close the fishery. I think one person went so far as to propose a “limit” of 6 per boat…SIX PER BOAT PER DAY!!! And people can’t even catch one…insanity.
These are limited resources, folks. The flounder? Yeah, with the gigging limits as outlandish as they are, any surprise they are being depleted? The blue crabs? Blatant commercial exploitation…for non-SC markets primarily!
We may not want to admit it, but we have a huge problem with the “game hog” mentality in this state…both recreational and commercial. Catching and keeping with little to no discretion.
Next time you come in, come heavy, or not at all…
I don’t think the Game hogs are as bad as you think. There are a few bad ones out there, but not the normal by far. And there have been a lot that are catching Cobia this season.
Why do you think the gigging limits are “outlandish”? Go to all our public landings and actually count just how many are gigging and for those that do how often do they get a full limit. It will probably suprize you. Flounder are still pretty plentiful if you know the proper technique for catching them.
What I think needs addressing are the individu
I don’t know the answer for cobia management, but I know 2 things for sure. I want to fish with the guy who saw 9 cobia, and with the guys who catch 50 reds. I am apparently not fishing he same spots ( or be same planet).
I think it is great that Few people are fishing the broad. Maybe our forum is being taken seriously. Self discipline is what everyone said would make a difference.
Gaffing a “probably 35 inch” fish is an ongoing problem too. Not only is that an easy fish to handle with a net (or by hand for that matter) it is a fish that might not even make the 33" slot. So what then? Release an undersized fish with a hole in it’s neck to die a slow death?
Never understood the urge to gaff any fish you can - especially small fish.
Back in the early 90s I used to fish for Cobia with catfish. My routine was to launch out and find a crab pot and anchor nearby. I would then toss a bottom rig out in the following current from the trap where the hardhead catfish would typically be hanging around. I was quite successful with the catfish with cobia, and surprising did not have to fend off the sharks with them. Now there is a restriction on catfish as they have disappeared. I wonder if the absence of catfish is having an impact on the cobia stock?
We also used catfish for cobia bait and they were very plentiful and worked great. Snip off the spines and hook them up. Caught a lot of cobes on catfish. Have not even caught a catfish in 3 years. I think it is all related. We don’t have a bounty of shrimp and crabs that we had a few years ago either. I still think it is all related to the amount of new waterfront developments, fertilizers, weed killers, pesticides and everything else that is running into our rivers now. Plantations, golf courses, huge nice waterfront lawns, they don’t happen without chemicals, county spraying regular for mosquitoes… nobody can convince me that they don’t do harm to the food chain, from the bottom up.
How in the heck can we solve that problem?
Capt. Larry Teuton
912-six55-5674
lteuton at aol dot com
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
I think a slot limit should be incorporated in to the catch limit. The bigger ones are breeders and full of mercury anyway.
I’m fairly new here and caught my first cobia the other day at the Betsy Ross. It wasn’t real big and that gave me the idea of a slot rule.Something like 33" to 45" slot. It was the best fish I’ve eaten.
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Very true Cracker Larry - all those things have to be playing a big role too. Look at the mess in FL being caused by the same thing, not to mention farming runoff they are dealing with.