It's great to see more and more Cobia showing up this year after a pretty good dip in numbers a few years back. So far this year, we have been lucky enough to catch at least one Cobia on almost every single charter. Still very few keepers due to the increased size restrictions, but still awesome to see the numbers come back to where they once were. They are always a welcome fight and great chance for an angler to fight the fish that NEVER gives up! "The man in the brown suit", as he is called, is a formidable adversary who will literally fight to the death. As table fare, it is one of the best, but very difficult to find a keeper these days.
A few years back, our Cobia limits here in Florida dropped from 2 fish per angler to 1 fish per angler. The original proposal was to increase the keeper limit from 33 inches to the fork to 38 inches to the fork, but after much push back from the fishing community, the state decided to keep the minimum size limit at 33 inches to the fork, but drop the keeper limit from 2 fish to 1. That was a much better option because it now allowed the weekend fisherman a chance to still bring home some filets, even if it did only come from one fish. Unfortunately, the following year, the keeper limit remained at 1 fish per angler (2 fish per boat), but the minimum size was increased to 36 inches from 33 inches. This now made it MUCH harder to find a keeper fish. Even with increased numbers, finding a Cobia that is now over 40 inches overall length is not an easy task. Even the most avid fisherman who spend a lot of time on the water, would still have a heck of a time finding more than one or two fish per season that would qualify for that big of a size limit. We can only hope it soon returns to what it once was.
It has been a wild ride the past few years just keeping up with all of the changes, but I do have to admit that there are now more Cobia in the water than I have seen in years. I remain hopeful that after years of these heavy restrictions, that we are now on the other side of this decline and can one day see a return to normal limits. It's heartbreaking to have to throw back almost every single fish you catch. I am all about catch and release when necessary or even just for good conservation practices, but if you like to eat fish as many of us do, you can't beat the taste of a fresh Cobia when you catch a keeper. Too many that we have caught this season would have easily made the older keeper limits, but are now missing the 36 inch mark by just an inch or two. Until the limits return to a more attainable size, I guess we'll just keep on catching 'the man in the brown suit" for pictures and pray that the numbers once again increase to a sustainable level that can lead to more liberal limits. Until then, have fun catching these strong hard fighting fish and remember to get them back in the water as soon as possible. That same personality that gives them their fight, also makes them very vulnerable to exhaustion once removed from their environment. Always give them lots of time to revive before sending them on their way and they'll let you know they're ready to go with that fast kick of the tail as they shoot to the bottom.
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We'll See You On The Water
Captain Ed