Cobia the Dirty Fighters

Cobia is a very strong predatory fish. It is found all over the world, especially in warm and tropical waters. Other nicknames for this fantastic game-fish are: ling, lemonfish, sergeant fish, sugi by the Japanese, crab eater by the Aussies and many, many more.

The scientific name is Rachycentron Canadum belonging to the Rachycentridae family. Ling is the only species in the family and not related to any other species.

Characteristics

The body is elongated with a broad, flattened head. The tail is crescent-shaped. On the back in a straight row are 8-10 short dorsal spines. The dorsal fin and the anal fin which has one spine each and 22-28 long soft rays.

The overall color is dark brown with a whitish belly. Running horizontally are stripes of brown, white and bronze.

The whole shape of this fish is more or less shark-shaped almost exactly like the remora only the suction pad is missing. Like the remora, cobia can be found hanging closely together with large sharks or rays. So take care whenever you hooked on to a ling a great white shark might be swimming close by.

World Record

Weights of 15-30 lbs are common but they can grow to a weight of 100 lbs. which is about 6 ft long. The all-tackle world record is 135 lbs, 9 ozs caught in Australia.

Habitat

To look-out for them their likely hiding places are many. All you have to look-out are flotsam, buoys, wrecks, beacons, piers, marinas and anchored boats. Sometimes they can be found in very shallow coastal waters. They don’t seem to be afraid of noise. Very often happens when we’re deep sea fishing in a charter boat they just simply appear out of nowhere and says hello.

The young are more often found in a school; whereas the big ones are often spotted alone or in pair. When they swim in a pair often one is a male and the other one is a female. The female is usually larger than the male. When one is hooked the other will be still around searching for the partner. In this scenario I think it’s wise to release it back because they might be on a honeymoon.

Diet

Their diet consists of crustaceans in particular crab that is where they get the nickname “crab eater” as well as squid, shrimp and most kinds of small fish.

Tackle and Techniques

The angling techniques are mainly trolling, casting, drifting, jigging and bottom fishing.

Fishing tackle must be heavy duty. Baitcasting and spinning outfits work well. Reels spooled with 200 yds of 15-30 lbs test nylon line are more than sufficient.

Drags of reels, spinning or multiplier must be smooth because cobia can run fast and deep when hooked. They are dirty fighters and have lot of stamina too. Leader of 3-6 ft in length, 50 lbs test mono with a good hook of #2/0-5/0 will do the job.

Baits

As for bait, live-bait of all kinds of small fishes, crabs and prawns are best. Cobia is an aggressive species and readily takes artificial lures like plugs and jigs. And the same goes for fly fishermen they will strike at flies, particularly streamers flies.

Gaffing this dirty and aggressive fighter, especially a big one is quite frustrating even for an experienced gaffer. Often when you think it’s ready to be gaffed it’s take off strongly like a torpedo.

Cobia is also well-known for wrecking havoc onboard to boats and anglers. Captains and deckhands of charter boats will testify to that. So it’s best to take good care.

And for all your fun and effort your reward is that cobia is a very good eating fish. The meat is firm, white, mild and lemon- flavor that’s where this lone species got it nickname, lemonfish.

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