Cobia are found from the Carolinas to Florida and along the entire Gulf Coast. While most anglers run into cobia on accident while fishing for other fish, you can target these fish specifically and have some good results. Most of the cobia that are caught will average 5 to 20 pounds, but some do grow bigger than 100 pounds. These fish are usually caught offshore, however, in some areas cobia will migrate along the beaches and you can often find cobia following very close to manta rays.
Cobia Fishing in the Mexico Beach, Florida Area
Cobia migrate through the waters of the Florida Panhandle in the spring and fall. The fishing usually hits its peak when the water temperature is in the upper 60s to low 70 degrees range off the beaches. In the spring and early summer, the run is a little more consistent with bigger numbers of cobia while the fall usually brings hit or miss fishing with some nice big fish potential. Find the big rays nearshore along the beaches and you’ll usually see some cobia swimming under them. With all of the nearshore structure around Mexico Beach, there are lots of places for cobia to find a meal. This gives anglers a lot of water that may attract cobia off of Mexico Beach.
Cobia Fishing Tips
The best baits to catch cobia are live baits such as crabs, shrimp, pinfish, mullet and other small bait fish. Cobia aren’t too picky when it comes to eating, so most bait fish will work for cobia.
Visit our Cobia fishing page to learn more.
