[O sea D]

I'm traveling down to Cape Charles next Sunday and targeting cobia for 4 days. If anyone has any tips/tricks, I'm all ears.

Planning to sight fish with live bait (bunker & eels) around the tunnel and ships anchorage.

MH

kinda late in season mostly all shorts . Good Luck

 

[mdracer]

My father-in-law was in a charter at Cape Charles in the’50’s. One of the guys got spooled. A few days later a Cobia weighing in excess of 110 lbs. was netted in the area with hook and lots of line. May have been the fish, maybe not.

 

[longtail]

kinda late in season mostly all shorts . Good Luck

Not true at all. We crushed them a few years back at the end of the season, on red hoses

 

[mdracer]

On page one you state you are no expert on cobra and now you call o and d a liar because you had one day of good fishing. Wow

 

[longtail]

I didn’t call him a liar, I just said I had a good day late in the season.

I’m calling you a liar, for saying I called ocd a liar

 

[mdracer]

You wrote what o and d said was not true at all. In other words he’s lying. Wow do you even read what you post?

 

[longtail]

In your words, he/she is lying. In my words, I did really well late is the season, ie not true.

 

[longtail]

So, take all the time you need. Show me in my post, where I called ocd a liar

 

[longtail]

Looking at your avatar, I knew I recognized you.

 

[buckshotgumbo]

Here's our method out of Kiptopeake which has worked very well for years:
Get a flat of fresh LY and a chum grinder. Set up in the morning and chum. We've caught some real hammers like this. Yes, a bit of by catch, but who cares?
Once the sun gets up, around 10 or 11 we'd pack that up and get to sight casting bucktails and live eels. Do an aggressive return on the bucktail. Rip, reel. Rip, reel. Seems that fast pull will trigger the attack. Then around 4ish when the sun starts to get a little lower, we'd set back up on the chum to finish off the day.

When I fish for them from the Middle Grounds and above I'm trolling surgical hose and spoons. #2 -4 down planers with a large bunker spoon as a way back.

 

[mdracer]

That’s what I call a full day of fishing. Bet you slept well that night. Nice report.
I’ve read that sharks are a big part of the chumming for Cobia. Have you caught any and if so do you know what kind of sharks they are?

 

[buckshotgumbo]

We meet at 6 in Cambridge, stop and pick up eels when we get down there, and still be on the water at a decent hour. Back in town by 9:30 pm or so.
Not as exhausting as a full day offshore trip.

Yeah, we'd get sharks and skate and all the things you'd expect. A mixed bag with blacktips and the occasional hammerhead.

 

[mdracer]

That’s wild. I didn’t know hammerheads came into the bay. Thanks for 5he info.

 

[TDog3]

Everything Capt. Nick said and I recommend Tyler Nonn of Tidewater Charters. Agree they are very hard to spot if not used to it. I have always made the casts myself on charters and suggest making some practice casts with the eel before you spot any cobia, to get an idea of how hard to sling it to make a good cast, especially if there is much wind. As you might imagine the goal is to swim the eel in front of the cobia’s face, but don’t give up if your cast is a little off - I had one bite after I dragged the eel across its back. When the cobia takes the eel, I was taught to open the bail for four seconds to let it run and swallow, then flip it back closed and hang on because they will fight you.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[crabby and son]

That’s wild. I didn’t know hammerheads came into the bay. Thanks for 5he info.

Those sharks he is talking about are in the ocean and mouth of the Chesapeake........

 

[UncleRob]

Those sharks he is talking about are in the ocean and mouth of the Chesapeake........

They don't get much further up the bay than the Cell. The first big shark I caught was a Hammerhead off the Cherrystone pier.

 

[buckshotgumbo]

Yeah, we can usually be found around Latimer Shoals.

 

[mdracer]

Never knew what you would catch at night off of the Cherrystone piers. One year it was 3 to 5 lb. sea trout. Another year it was sting rays or skates. One year I rented a row boat and fished the channel out front. Was catching croakers, spot, trout and of all things a remora. Cherrystone was the first place I ever camped. Haven’t been there in years.

 

[UncleRob]

Never knew what you would catch at night off of the Cherrystone piers. One year it was 3 to 5 lb. sea trout. Another year it was sting rays or skates. One year I rented a row boat and fished the channel out front. Was catching croakers, spot, trout and of all things a remora. Cherrystone was the first place I ever camped. Haven’t been there in years.

I have a lot of memories there too. Crabbing, chasing mullet, soft crabbing and fishing for sharks seemed like there was always something to do or catch there.

 

[mikehalseyjr]

We threw baits at a ton of fish, connected with 4 and killed one 46" fish. It's not as easy as it looks, that's for sure. Great trip, good memories and we're all looking forward to dinner tonight.

Here's a photo of all of us back at the dock (I'm on the left).