Now is prime time for catching cobia near Tampa Bay. ‘They’re everywhere.’

When Captain Eric White saw a massive cobia come to the surface attached to Danish angler Per Olav Madsen’s line, he couldn’t believe the size of the fish.

“I lost it,” he said. “We were out pretty deep and it took about 15 to 20-minutes before it started scoping out and came to the surface. It was the biggest I’ve seen in a long time, and there was no way that fish was coming into the boat if I didn’t have the massive ‘turtle net’ onboard.”

Seeing and catching cobia has been a common occurrence over the past few weeks for White. He spends time fishing from nearshore beaches to 70-miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico aboard his Dorado sportfish, targeting typical grouper and snapper to exotics like wahoo and African pompano. The cobia run is in full swing and he isn’t surprised when seeing them.

“The last three weeks, it’s almost like every trip one shows up. They’ve been everywhere, no rhyme or reason to it. It’s not just the wrecks and reefs that people expect, it’s hard bottom when we are fishing other species. From live bait to stinky stuff they have been all throughout the water column.”

As Madsen fought the big cobia to the boat and White readied the giant landing net, he was a bit nervous. Cobia tend to go crazy when boated, not going down without a fight. The size they had that day was so big he had no intention of keeping it, but it could easily do some damage, so when it was netted the anglers luckily had it calmed, unhooked and up for a quick picture before an uneventful release.

“Those big fish don’t have as good of meat as the smaller ones. I didn’t want to kill a breeding size fish that big, so we got one crappy photo and that was it. I couldn’t believe the size of it. I remember a 95-pounder I got with a buddy and this fish was as big if not bigger, probably 100-plus.”

Other cobia run-ins have happened even close to shore. With strong east winds they caught one on the beach when fishing for kingfish and another time in 30-feet when catching bait. With right now being prime time for the cobia migration, it might not last much longer White explains.

“These fish are pushing south, it happens every year at this time. I think once the water really starts getting cold there will be some straggler fish, but not the big numbers like what’s happening now. When the fronts roll back to back that could be the end.”

Captain Eric White can be reached at 941-234-8436.

This story was originally published November 28, 2021 at 9:00 AM.