The beginnings of a plan...

[imnotoriginal]

Ok fellas,
I've got my trips to tangalooma coming up in a few months and as I love to do when I've got too much uni work in front of me, I've started thinking about my holidays. Now for years I've heard of fellas catching cobia off the jetty at moreton and I've even seen a few hanging around behind manta rays, but as for catching one of the buggers...the score lies nil on my side, with the cobias happily in front... [smiley=angry.gif]

So here's where I begin planning. [smiley=sneaky.gif]

A year or two back I noticed a few people saying that cobia just love crabs and I got to thinking about all those little white ones that hang around the beach at moreton. Fun to catch, all you need is a glove and a bucket and bob's your uncle, there's some bait. I tried it one year but wasn't particulary successful or all that persistent to be honest, had issues getting the buggers on the hook etc... Have been re-thinking the old plan and thought I might try and get some advice from those in the know [smiley=vrolijk_26.gif]

So I guess my questions are this

1- will those little white crabs work as bait [smiley=question.gif]

2- How would I hook them [smiley=question.gif] (I was thinking this time a bit of bait mate around the middle and looped round the hook might be easier...would probably work well with a circle hook too...)

3- How should I rig them up [smiley=question.gif] The blokes I've seen targetting them use floats, but would it really look all that natural having a crab floating round in mid-water.. [smiley=question.gif]

4- any other tips [smiley=question.gif]

Cheers for any help fellas [smiley=whip.gif]
Joel

[LIVE_2_FiSH]

just for the record m8
we saw some serious tuna in the shallows off that jetty just the other weekend. I'd say about a metre long. However, i failed to identify what sort of tuna it was. I didnt see any cobia tho.
Good luck with the cobes

[backhoe]

there's a way you can rig them up with a rubber band onto a circle hook
Think it might be in one of Geoff Wilson's books
kev

[fish_outta_water]

hi guys
cant tell you much about crab as bait fir cobia , but some species of crab get around in the water table . have seen plenty 20 /30 foot off the bottom , and taken em out of guts of fish caught at bout the same depth.
on a separate note ive heard of cobia eating whaleshark crap , were real keen on it by all acounts (hit it hard)
tightlines

[imnotoriginal]

Kev,
tis where I got the idea mate, with his use of whiting heads, bait mate and circle hooks for snapper fishing down south.

Live_2_fish,
The tuna seem to be there one minute gone the the next whenever I've been over there.

FOW- cheers, good to know my crab won't look too suspect.

Any other thoughts or ideas????
Joel

[scottv50]

I just read somewhere recently about using crabs for Cobia bait. I can't remember exactly how it was rigged but it was definitely using a rubber band.

For some inspiration have a look at this:

http://www.ausfish.com.au/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1157847416

Especially the photo of the Cobia's stomach contents with all the crabs!

[imnotoriginal]

Bump bump... any other thoughts fellas, on rig or bait or setup???
Joel