The 2017 Cobia season is in full swing here in the Lowcountry of Beaufort, SC! The months of April, May, and June provide the opportunity for us to target Cobia inshore in the Broad River and other surrounding water ways. The beauty of Cobia fishing on Fly and Light Tackle is sight fishing for them because nothing beats watching a big ole 30-40lb Cobia eat your Fly. With the right tides and conditions we are able to idle the skiff around looking for these big offshore species cruising on top of the waters surface. The unmatched feeling you get when spotting one of these big brown fish cruising on the surface is what sight fishing is all about.

What makes these Cobia so special is that they are there own sub species that come into the surrounding sounds of Beaufort and Hilton Head, SC to spawn every spring. Being able to target these fish inshore is a very special occurrence and even more special being able to sight fish for them. SCDNR has closed this Cobia season to catch and release only to reinforce conservation and protect this beloved species. Whats great about closing the season is that its all catch and release so that the population of fish can grow to better numbers. We here at Bay Street Outfitters are very happy about this new law and hope it will help bring our special cobia fishery back to sustained numbers.

The 2017 season kicked off a few weeks ago with our guides starting to see fish in the River. For this early in the season it is great to see good numbers of fish and hopefully will be another promising season here in Beaufort, SC! We use mostly 10wt or 11wt Fly rods with floating line. Our guides love big flashy flies including the flash tail whistler or sea reducer which are all available in the Outfitter or on our online store. Most of the leaders we are using are tapered leaders from 60lb-45lb-35lb, with a heaving bite tippet around 50-60lb at the end. Keeping these leaders between 6-9ft is key for turning over the larger flies and having them tapered helps with the presentation as well. The great thing about Cobia is that they are not very picky about fly patterns as long as its moving fast and you can get the fly in front of the fish!
We will keep you posted on the 2017 Season and looking forward to sharing more stories with you in the future. Cheers to another great Cobia Season here in Beaufort, SC!