Best way to catch Cobia over the weed-beds?

[Mozza]

Hi fellow fishers,

Me and and a buddy are planning to chase cobia over the weed-beds (in Townsville tho' location not necessarily critical).

I've heard lots of reports of big cobia being caught over the reeds and was wondering the best way.

My feelings are to drift with pillies or livies suspended just over the reeds. If so how to rig properly so I don't snag in the grass?

Others will I'm sure suggest anchoring up with a good berley trail.

Suggestions?

Mozza

[Billo]

I would have to say with drift or anchor , either or ....if you can get a good drift you can cover more ground .
If the drifty is not in your favour ...anchor

Berley berley berly ...send out livies if you have em , otherwise float some pillies out ....a simple 2 hook rig ( gang or hitched ) would do the job , don't leave too much gape .
As for the livies , the usual snip through the nosil should do ...just don't give them too much line to run around with .
Cobes can be quite inqusuitive ...and will often come up the berley trail .


How deep are you planning on fishing in ?

[Mozza]

Not very.

Cleveland Bay, Townsville is huge and seagrass depth ranges from 0 to 5m. With wind and tide I was thinking of drifting, starting in about 2m of water and drift until I got bored or something happened.

So you reckon float - does that mean simply unweighted? or under float/balloon?

Thanks for the help.

Mozza

[stunnedmullet]

Mozza
I would also suggest some good quality whole squid rigged on a set of gang hooks. Definitely berley as billo said.
Look forward to the pics [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]
Damo

[frenzy]

go the unweighted floating pilly and burley and you will get em,they r everywhere at the moment ,we got 5 on the 6.11 smallest 13kg biggest 22kg off mackay ,what a day .

[nonibbles]

Got some crab shells? Crush 'em and add it to the burley. Not uncommon to find whole (legal) sand crabs in them when gutted.

[Mozza]

Cool.

Thanks for the excellent feedback!

Can't wait to give it a try (gotta remember the camera)

Mozza

[Mozza]

Is depth an issue?

Frenzy, were you over weed and what depth?

Thanks
Mozza

[Billo]

yep , unweighted on a set of gangs down the berley trail whilst drifting is teh shot !....i rarely use floats ....only for LBG , occasionally whilst at acnhor with livies to get em out away from the boat and to assist a spread.

Crabs is a good idea ...i have heard of live baiting crabs for cobes , we use to live bait crabs for big Cod .
Catch em , put them in a shallow yub ( enough to cover the mouth so the can breath and stay moist and when the back of the shell is dry , super glue a hook to the back .

[finding_time]

Crabs is more than a good idea it's perfect , cobes will smash em. The super glue trick works really well to, they swim up a storm and bring the cobes to them.

Ian

[Burley_Boy]

Billo, you mentioned burley and drift in the same sentence... thats a new one for me, is that effective?

[JewseeTHAT]

Correct me if I'm wrong.. but wouldn't the BEST way be to get a berley trail going and then toss in a plug of gelly? Loads of excitement and no annoying knots to worry about.

[Fishinmishin]

If you are on the drift and they arrive at your transom the burley is just to keep them there, not to make a trail. You can also effectively burley on the drift if not fishing a particular mark and the current and wind are heading opposite directions, but for spot fishing on the reefs BB...throw the pick .
Cheers, Jay

[Mozza]

Hi guys,

One last question. What size crab?

If using swimmers the legal size is 15cm right?

Mozza

[madman1]

Sand crab sizes have reduced over the past 12 - 18 months.
They must now measure 115mm from nothc to notch.

Cheers


MAD