# Time to shut down Cobia...ALL WATERS.



## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

At this point , the only thing that will keep cobia viable as a species would be a total closure in all state and federal waters for a minimum of 3 years, at least during spring during spawning. We cannot keep targetting the big egg filled females, anymore than deer hunters could target pregnant deer and expect numbers to stay up.

When I started cobia fishing back in the 60s large pods of cobia were the norm. Old timers would tell you not to throw at those old "shiteaters". Went off in the military and came home in 85. Now people were fishing for them off pier, but very seldom saw boats targetting ling in Panama City. Cobes still came in in multiples and large rays and turtles would come in with anywhere from a single fish to 30 or 40 fish on them. Tournaments were small, local pier contests. Then came the big money tourneys...everybody targetting fish, plus the commercial harvesting increasing. Too much pressure on the fish, too few females making it to the spawning grounds.


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## fairpoint (May 9, 2013)

I've been preaching this for the last 3 years...And now look at the # of fish that came by this year....If major changes don't happen then we have gone down the same path as the buffalo hunters....But lets make sure we protect the ARS since they are in jeopardy...What 
a JOKE....Our lawmakers just SUCK and have their own agenda..,..


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)

Great I finally get a boat and you guys take away the one fish I love to eat the most.


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## dustyflair (Nov 11, 2011)

we need that fish hatchery to be producing BABY COBIA


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

I personally believe that the oil spill had a huge impact on our Cobia migration.The reason I say that is I still have friends back on the East Coast and they are having a increase in Cobia. So maybe just maybe they just switched directions they are migrating.


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

Lobsterman, the cobia were decreasing rapidly BEFORE the oil spill. You cannot keep targetting all the breeding females and expect any species to increase. We had shut seasons for spawn during specks for that reason...why not cobia?


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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

If it an issue,why don’t we just stop commercial harvest and see what happens


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## Hook (Oct 2, 2007)

In the 60's I also saw groups of cobia in large numbers of 30 or more. My understanding is you either put out an illegal fad or run to rigs to compete in the tournaments. *SHUT DOWN ALL TAKING OF COBIA FOR NOW OR THERE WILL BE NOTHING ELSE IN THE FUTURE* !


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## Ocean Master (May 20, 2008)

My father fished the beach pier in the 40’s. He started taking me in the middle 50’s. There were Cobia caught every day and many seen. There were Pier tournaments back then. I spend many days on the pier catching them. Now we don’t even fish for them. Its that bad...


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## Lawdog88 (Oct 9, 2009)

Interesting thread.

Here's a link to general information about Cobia behavior and migration.

http://coastalxp.com/cobia-migration-patterns/


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

DLo...because it may be too late to just shut down the commercial side. It is going to take radical action to increase the numbers.


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## lettheairout (Mar 11, 2008)

Protect snapper cause everybody makes big money on them. Law makers only care about the dollar. Since cobia aint a huge tourist target nobody cares


fairpoint said:


> I've been preaching this for the last 3 years...And now look at the # of fish that came by this year....If major changes don't happen then we have gone down the same path as the buffalo hunters....But lets make sure we protect the ARS since they are in jeopardy...What
> a JOKE....Our lawmakers just SUCK and have their own agenda..,..


sent from outside your bedroom window


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

kingfish501 said:


> Lobsterman, the cobia were decreasing rapidly BEFORE the oil spill. You cannot keep targetting all the breeding females and expect any species to increase. We had shut seasons for spawn during specks for that reason...why not cobia?


That is all well and good but please explain the sudden triple increase going up the East coast!


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

lobsterman said:


> That is all well and good but please explain the sudden triple increase going up the East coast!


Easy, different stock based...and their run starts in June...AFTER the fish have spawned. They also don't have the sheer number of people hunting cobia that we do.


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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

This sounds like the same sort of knee jerk reaction that they had with the snapper because some vocal/influential areas of the state had seen decline in numbers, all of a sudden the whole state and region has to pay for that. Well there may be another reason, isn’t it possible that the cobia have adjusted to the current conditions (constant harassment by the armada from March to July)and pass us by in deeper water instead of on the beach?


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

DLo...the numbers have steady been decreasing over decades. Bury your head in the sand, but cobia are well on their way to becoming a strictly catch and release fish FOREVER if action isn't taken right now. Many fish species have been dropped to ultra low levels because some people are so damn afraid of losing the chance to catch one that they ignore the obvious.

Scallops...when the numbers dropped, no action was taken. Grey trout, looked like a big white trout, went from common, when I left for the military in 1972, to gone when I got back in 1985. Big croakers, the size of small redfish...gone. Horseshoe crabs , saw them everywhere...rare critter now. Redfish, damn near wiped out at one point, action was taken and the redfish are back.

I am guessing that you scream about the closure of specks during spawning season...or snook? Resent that tarpon require a tag to land?

He'll, let's just do away with any closures and kill every last fish in the gulf...then we can all sit home and play fishing games on Xbox, right?


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## tinboater (Jul 31, 2016)

i remember the pier mantra a few years back was "kill em all", how ironic...but the oil spill, tournaments, commercial sale & FADS are all major contributing factors...it is great to see we all agree that there is a problem on the gulf coast...now what are WE gonna do about it...i would hate to have to tell my kids/grandkids that i had a chance to make a change to a worthy cause, but was too busy/lazy/high/etc.


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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

This is great, you have a “the sky is falling” argument, with anecdotal evidence to back it up, then when someone offers an alternative to your argument you throw the ol “you’re probably the guy who...blah blah blah” argument, then to finish it off you throw out the “if we don’t take the most extreme measures right now without taking another breath, then it’s the same as doing nothing” This is not a conversation, it’s a declaration, you should have had the mods lock it after you made your point of view known. If you want to talk about it then stop with the emotional reactions and we can trade ideas, otherwise I’m done with this thread. And just for the record I have been fishing the Gulf for a long time and I understand there are far fewer ling seen than even in the recent past, but I don’t believe in a response for a response sake, it needs to address the actual problem, and once the government has issued a stop to all cobia catches, then we may have to fight to ever get it back.


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)




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## Joraca (Dec 29, 2007)

Boat-Dude said:


> Great I finally get a boat and you guys take away the one fish I love to eat the most.


Admit it. You love mullet the most of anything that swims.


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## Yakavelli (Mar 17, 2010)

I was thinking the same thing. Have the government shut down the fishery entirely, and it could be very hard to get it back. A couple years could turn into a couple decades real fast...all it takes is a little bad science. We know there's plenty of that going on.

I'm betting outlawing cobia tournaments alone would have a huge long-term effect. Outlaw Cobia tourneys and have a slot limit.


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## captken (Feb 24, 2008)

*I've been beating this drum for several years.*

My son and I didn't kill even one last year out of several legal fish caught and I don't plan to kill one this year. 

When I was chartering several years back, Cobia were, nearly always, the biggest fish in my box all summer long. It was an unusual day when I didn't have a Cobia in the box every day from late March all the way through until mid-October. 

Down here in the Crystal River area, most of the Cobia we catch are under 35# or so but some years I caught a dozen or more in the 60# plus range. In 30 years, I never saw but one over 80# here and my clients didn't want to catch her. This one was probably closer to 90# and swam up to the boat while we were catching bait. She was fat, dumb, and happy and ready to eat. I don't think anybody caught that fish here because I probably would have heard about it.

I'm not a huge fan of Cobia for the table. I ate way too many as a kid. They can well and beat the heck out of Tuna for a fish salad though.

I've caught 3 Cobia that each weighed 84#. One of these was caught off the Gulf Shores long before the pier was finished. I jumped off the pier and swam/waded to the beach to land it a mile west of the pier. Jeanie Romeo from Romeo's by the Sea weighed the fish for me. That must have been in the early 70's. I've never seen a 100# Cobia. (weighed)

Yeah, let's leave them alone for 5 years and hatchery raise and release as many as we can.


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

DLo...you offered no "alternative" to many of us old timers saying shut down Cobia for recovery time. You offered a " what if" . Give me an alternative solution ...not say " what if "....we can both do that...what if they are catching flights from Tampa to south Texas...what if UFOs are beaming them from place to place?

Two alternatives...shut it down completely for 3 years...or shut it down during spawn for 5 years. What's your alternative? Pretend the fish are in record numbers and finish killing them all?


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## fred (Dec 28, 2008)

This paper has stats for Atlantic cobia. The main pressure there does appear to be recreational.

http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/2016SummerMtg/SouthAtlanticBoardSupplemental.pdf


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## sfmill (Apr 3, 2015)

*cobia*

There is no doubt these tournaments have a impact on them. When Alabama 
held its Red Snapper world championships it had a huge impact on the R.S.
But i can not believe no one is talking about the king mackeral commercial gill nets.
Florida allows gill nets to be set for kings 9 miles off of the beach. Millions of 
pounds of kings are netted every year and if no one thinks cobia is a by catch??..... 
Just look at the migration map.
If a gill net kills a dolphin or porpoise then a simple form is filled out. Done. 
Cobia migration is right where the nets are???
So if no one thinks cobia are not chasing bait balls like kings are then???.... 
I still think these tournies are bad, but it is totality of all fisherman going after them. 
Yes shut it down to all fisherman for a while there numbers are nothing like they use to be.


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## sfmill (Apr 3, 2015)

Commercial numbers from NOAA http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sustainable_fisheries/acl_monitoring/commercial_gulf/index.html


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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

My alternative was to shut down commercial harvest, and I would also be in favor of stopping cobia tournaments, and possibly a slot limit, but I guess that’s not knee jerk reaction enough for you, why don’t we just stop all fishing and see what that does to the fish stocks, that can’t hurt, right?


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## sfmill (Apr 3, 2015)

Wrong. A extreme knee jerk reaction would be stop fishing all together because of one species of fish needs help. 
We all have our own opinions on the problem, 
but If you and i pick and choose who gets to catch and keep fish then we are no better than Roy Crabtree and the Feds. 

Everyone has there passion and methods on how they persue and catch there favorite species of fish.
I may not agree with someone else on what there methods are but it is not my place to decide that. 

The main problem is will everyone get to fish the same amout of *TIME* and be able to *KEEP* a fair amount per person. 

And do so with out depleting the stocks. IMHO.


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## FleaBag (Oct 19, 2016)

the local tournaments that drive large numbers of boats that fish from the end of February to May coupled with every 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th mate with an RS with big bucks on the line that fish EVERY DAY is a major factor. stop all that and give us one token fish to be consumed per boat. per day of course.


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## H2OMARK (Oct 2, 2007)

I remember trolling in the bay/near shore and couldn't keep kingfish and Spanish off my line. Now when I go out, I may only catch one or two combined. Has been declining for years so I see the only way out to save the species is to totally shutdown king and Spanish for a period of three years to see if the numbers will increase. While we're at it, we may as well close grouper, trigger, snapper and sheephead to give them a head start on revival.


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)

This thread is making me hungry for some fried cobia nuggets.


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## 192 (Oct 1, 2007)

Bacon wrapped ling loin with just a splash of Dales. Fine.


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## 192 (Oct 1, 2007)

Or smoked ling dip if you prefer. Smoking up more ribs and bellies today.


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

DLo...your first reaction was a knee jerk reaction...blame it just on commercial fishing. Your latest, shut down commercial fishing for cobia, stop the tournament and place a slot limit, I could live with.

Why not a closed season during spawn? It brought specks and snook back from the edge. 

Whatever is done with have to be done in every gulf state and on federal waters as well.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

I’m not a cobia fisherman but I am glad to see those on here that are have a concern for the species and want to help. 
Seems to me that shutting down during the spawn could help immensely.
But then, several of the suggestions could help to some extent.


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

grouper22 said:


> Or smoked ling dip if you prefer. Smoking up more ribs and bellies today.


I wish I had a job where I could fish all the time....:whistling:


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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

kingfish501 said:


> DLo...your first reaction was a knee jerk reaction...blame it just on commercial fishing. Your latest, shut down commercial fishing for cobia, stop the tournament and place a slot limit, I could live with.
> 
> Why not a closed season during spawn? It brought specks and snook back from the edge.
> 
> Whatever is done with have to be done in every gulf state and on federal waters as well.


I disagree that it is knee jerk to stop commercial harvest, if there is an issue with numbers for a species that ought to be the first default, if there’s not enough for the public to enjoy then there’s not enough for a very few to profit off of, in my opinion. 

And I’m torn about the shutdown for the spawn, for one, it essentially shuts down almost all cobia fishing from the mouth of the Mississippi to Apalachicola, including fishing from all the Gulf piers, I’d like to give some other measures time to make a difference and see if we could avoid that, if the numbers didn’t increase due to the changes I suggested before, then I would possibly be in favor of a reduced season. 

I agree that whatever is done should be across the board, which makes it a federal response, and I just don’t trust those in power at that level to make the right decision.


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## Splittine (Nov 24, 2007)

MrFish said:


> I wish I had a job where I could fish all the time....:whistling:


Get you a sugar daddy like he has and you can.


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## FleaBag (Oct 19, 2016)

state and federal ban on new and used boat sales. shut down all piers.


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## 192 (Oct 1, 2007)

Splittine said:


> Get you a sugar daddy like he has and you can.


The one eyed man is back to running his cock holster.:thumbsup:


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

grouper22 said:


> The one eyed man is back to running his cock holster.:thumbsup:


Gotta give him credit though. You know how long it took him to write that sentence? He can only see half the keyboard at one time.


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

Good Lawd!!


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

I tried googling “one eyed cockholster”, but there’s nothing in there I can post...


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## cobiamand (9 mo ago)

lobsterman said:


> I personally believe that the oil spill had a huge impact on our Cobia migration.The reason I say that is I still have friends back on the East Coast and they are having a increase in Cobia. So maybe just maybe they just switched directions they are migrating.



You mean how our past two cobia seasons have been maybe the worst ive ever seen, 2018 wasnt a banner year either, time for it to shut down on both coast, the east coast migratory fish atleast in Florida are suffering. #savethecobia 
time for cobia to be shut down.


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

Holy dredge up an old thread, Batman!


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## Allgood (Oct 6, 2021)

DLo said:


> If it an issue,why don’t we just stop commercial harvest and see what happens


Why don’t you just stop fishing for 3 years and see what happens!


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

Allgood said:


> Why don’t you just stop fishing for 3 years and see what happens!


Yea!! You teach him! It's only four years later


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## H2OMARK (Oct 2, 2007)

MrFish said:


> Yea!! You teach him! It's only four years later


It's Allgood......LOL


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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

Allgood said:


> Why don’t you just stop fishing for 3 years and see what happens!


Are we really going to rip this scab off and re-open this thread? I haven't killed a cobia in a decade, so my not fishing is not going to makes a shits worth of difference. but I want to to ask why, if you can't even see a ling off a local pier any more that it's unreasonable to ask for that fish to stop being harvested for a select few to profit off of? You can't commercially harvest redfish, that is almost apples to apples with what's happening to cobia.


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

DLo said:


> Are we really going to rip this scab off and re-open this thread? I haven't killed a cobia in a decade, so my not fishing is not going to makes a shits worth of difference. but I want to to ask why, if you can't even see a ling off a local pier any more that it's unreasonable to ask for that fish to stop being harvested for a select few to profit off of? You can't commercially harvest redfish, that is almost apples to apples with what's happening to cobia.


That's called commitment folks. Take notes. DLo came back four years later and picked it right back up.


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## lettheairout (Mar 11, 2008)

DLo said:


> Are we really going to rip this scab off and re-open this thread? I haven't killed a cobia in a decade, so my not fishing is not going to makes a shits worth of difference. but I want to to ask why, if you can't even see a ling off a local pier any more that it's unreasonable to ask for that fish to stop being harvested for a select few to profit off of? You can't commercially harvest redfish, that is almost apples to apples with what's happening to cobia.


Sshhhh they catching the shit out of them off the piers right now. Don't tell anyone. Need to shut down all fisheries for 5 years. Then there will be plenty for everyone to have. 

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

lettheairout said:


> Sshhhh they catching the shit out of them off the piers right now. Don't tell anyone. Need to shut down all fisheries for 5 years. Then there will be plenty for everyone to have.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk


Navarre has caught 4. 1 off Pensacola pier. None off Okaloosa. That's catching the shit out them?


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

DLo...go back to the original post...I said TOTAL closure...which would include commercial fishing. Declare Cobia to be game fish. Simple enough.


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## lettheairout (Mar 11, 2008)

kingfish501 said:


> Navarre has caught 4. 1 off Pensacola pier. None off Okaloosa. That's catching the shit out them?


Compared to none caught at all. 

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

Don't you pier folks have any boats or kayaks to sling lead at? Where are those threads? Y'all all gotten old and calmed your shit down I guess.


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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

MrFish said:


> Don't you pier folks have any boats or kayaks to sling lead at? Where are those threads? Y'all all gotten old and calmed your shit down I guess.


This is how you dredge up an old post!


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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

kingfish501 said:


> DLo...go back to the original post...I said TOTAL closure...which would include commercial fishing. Declare Cobia to be game fish. Simple enough.


I don't think the 5 they've caught off of the local piers is going to make much of a difference, I think the commercial bandit boats that catch them off wrecks while bottom fishing and boats targeting them on the rigs to the west is doing a lot more harm than recreational fishermen. BTW, I took this thread way too personal back then, I agree that something has to be done, it's approaching 10 years past due, and I respect the angle that you're coming from, I just think once they gone for recreational harvest, they're gone.


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## Allgood (Oct 6, 2021)

DLo said:


> Are we really going to rip this scab off and re-open this thread? I haven't killed a cobia in a decade, so my not fishing is not going to makes a shits worth of difference. but I want to to ask why, if you can't even see a ling off a local pier any more that it's unreasonable to ask for that fish to stop being harvested for a select few to profit off of? You can't commercially harvest redfish, that is almost apples to apples with what's happening to cobia.


dI


DLo said:


> Are we really going to rip this scab off and re-open this thread? I haven't killed a cobia in a decade, so my not fishing is not going to makes a shits worth of difference. but I want to to ask why, if you can't even see a ling off a local pier any more that it's unreasonable to ask for that fish to stop being harvested for a select few to profit off of? You can't commercially harvest redfish, that is almost apples to apples with what's happening to cobia.


if you have not caught one in the past 10 years do you think you could catch on if they were thick as fleas? 10 % of fisherman catch 90% of the fish maybe you should take up golf


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

Allgood said:


> dI
> 
> if you have not caught one in the past 10 years do you think you could catch on if they were thick as fleas? 10 % of fisherman catch 90% of the fish maybe you should take up golf


87% of all statistics on the internet are made up. -Abraham Lincoln


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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

Allgood said:


> dI
> 
> if you have not caught one in the past 10 years do you think you could catch on if they were thick as fleas? 10 % of fisherman catch 90% of the fish maybe you should take up golf


I said I hadn’t killed one, not that I hadn’t caught them, maybe you should invest in a remedial English lit class at PJC.


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## FoteeFy (Jan 27, 2021)

Let me apologize up front for the one 30 pounder I'm going to put on the grill this year.


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

Old thread but a current topic for sure. I think a spawning closure for rec and commercial would be a good first step.


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