In our second attempt at Cobia fishing this year, we booked Capt. W.C. of Allure Fishing Charters, LLC through FishingBooker.com in early August.
Whereas our May trip came on the early side of the Cobia season, this trip took place in August during what should normally be the peak season.
Captain W.C. runs a 23 ft Parker sport cabin boat, which was a great size for me, my brother, and my dad to fish out of. He runs out of Saluda, VA and our trip was to the mouth of the Rappahannock to fish in the Chesapeake Bay.
Despite being in the middle of summer, we picked a great day weather-wise that wasn’t too hot and had a gentle breeze. The water was fairly calm and was only around 1ft seas. Having been out there in 2-3 ft seas, it was a please experience to what it can sometimes be.
We had lines in the water with about an hour left until tide, unfortunately the tides didn’t line up with our departure time perfectly. Unlike spot fishing where you look for and chase the Cobia, we were chumming and bottom fishing with eels.
In this method of fishing, it’s important to have a moving tide as Cobia are sensitive to tide movement and are most active during this time.
Once low or high tide is reached, the water does not flow as quickly and it’s referred to as slack tide.
A moment of excitement came when something took one of our eels and ran with it for about a minute.
Once it slowed, we engage the drag in order to set the hook, but unfortunately the fish hadn’t fully taken the bait yet and it popped out.
Cobia will initially take bait and run with it before fully swallowing it, so the idea is to give it long enough before setting the drag to put tension on the line and set the hook.
Bad luck there let what he assumed was a Cobia get away.
A little later we had one of the lines start to slowly go out and in circles around the boat.
After some time, we set the drag and reeled it in only to find that a small shark had taken the eel and proceeding to go after the other lines, getting himself and our lines all tangled up into a big ball.
However, once slack hit we had a school of Spanish Mackerel start hitting the surface all around us, so we pulled out light rods and started casting small spoons.
Within an hour we had close to a dozen mackerel, which are excellent eating fish.
We also trolled for a bit and picked up a few more until the tide resumed and set back up for cobia.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have any more action for the rest of the day other than a missed hit taking off half of a jig tail.
Captain W.C. was a lot of fun to fish with during the day, being friendly and helpful
He has modified his boat to add a custom top to cover the back of the boat, which come from the manufacture uncovered.
This allows you to fish all day and stay out of the sun, which is a nice added bonus.
If you are in Virginia and are looking for a charter on the Rappahannock or the Chesapeake Bay, I highly recommend you give Captain W.C. at Allure Fishing Charters a call.
His boat is the perfect size for 3 to 4 adults to fish on.
Here is a link to his page on Fishing Booker: https://fishingbooker.com/charters/view/13041
