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The Cobia (Rachycentron canadum) named "Kyle G" (Tag ID: GFR12825) was originally tagged & released by angler Eric Gineman while fishing with Captain Dan Zier and mate Garrett of the Second Nature charter boat on December 8th, 2016. The crew was fishing the waters just offshore of Key West, Florida, USA. The Cobia was measured to be 32 inches (81.28 cm) total length and had an approximate weight of 10 pounds. The team used live bait and tagged and released the fish in excellent condition.

Nearly 8 months later, 239 days to be exact, on August 3rd, 2017 that same Cobia was recaptured by James White while fishing with Captain Ray and the crew of the Miss K-C fishing charter out of Panama City, Florida, USA. Incredibly, the Cobia recapture occurred in the northern Gulf of Mexico approximately 415 miles (668 km) away from the original tag location. The fish was caught in excellent condition and had grown to a length of 36 in (91.44 cm).

Species Information: The Cobia (Rachycentron canadum) is a species of perciform marine fish, the only representative of the genus Rachycentron and the family Rachycentridae. Cobia are a torpedo shaped fish with a pointed face and is characterized by dark olive brown coloration on the dorsal side and silver grey coloring below. Cobia are a solitary pelagic fish but are often found near floating objects or any structure in the open ocean. Cobia is sought after by the both the recreational and commercial fishing industry due to their exciting fight and their good taste.

GFR Cool Facts: The predators of the cobia are not well documented, but the Dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) is known to feed on juveniles and the shortfin Mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) feeds on the adult.

Recaptures such as this one are truly amazing and entice us to continue our quest of tagging fish and learning more about each species. Our program is constantly growing with new species being tagged in new regions every day. However, to continue to expand effectively we need your help. We like to deploy satellite tags on various species to take the guess work out of the migration patterns. This Cobia was swimming healthy for 239 days and was recaptured an incredible 415 miles away. One can only imagine where it went between the original tag location and its recapture location. The information we could produce with the data a satellite tag could have provided insight.

The Gray FishTag Research program continues to deliver and the fish recapture rates reamin high thanks to the hard-working professional fishermen on the water day in and day out. Tags are provided free-of-charge to the collaborating professional fishermen, and the tag data is available to the public at http://www.GrayFishTagResearch.org

We are actively seeking funding to continue to provide data and conclusions to the general public at no cost. Get involved today!
The Second Nature charter boat crew in Key West will receive some Gray FishTag gear for their tagging efforts. The tag recovery angler, James White, will receive a pair of Costa Del Mar sunglasses, a Tag & Recovery Certificate, and Gray FishTag gear for reporting the tag recovery.

The tagging and research efforts is made possible by our research centers and sponsors: AFTCO, AA Video, American Fishing Wire, FECOP, Costa Del Mar, CR Primo Fishing Tackle, Seaguar, Shadow Graphics, SquidNation, AquaWorld, Crocodile Bay Resort, Grande Alaska Lodge, Los Sueños Resort & Marina, Marina Pez Vela, The Pisces Group and The Zancudo Lodge.
For more information, please contact us direct at info@GrayFishTag.org or by calling 844.824.8353

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The success of the program is made possible by the participation of the hard-working fishing professionals and the generous contributions from our partners and donors. Any contribution is tax deductible and will go directly to support our cause and help the growth of the program.

Pretty cool deal !!!

awesome!

Bet he would grow more than 4" in 8 moths if he didn't swim the length of the Gulf. Cool species

Just got my 3rd recapture report -- and that's out of 70+ cobia tagged aboard Marine's Dream to date. Not quite the distance of the one you shared, Silverking, but is the greatest travel of the 3 return hits I've got.

First recapture was re-caught a year later in the same spot I tagged it.

Second was re-caught out of Cedar Key (I tagged it out of St. Marks).

This one, also out of the St. Marks area was caught all the way down in Clearwater -- it covered the 167 miles distance (that's straight line distance -- no telling exactly the path it took before recapture) in 193 days.

Very cool. Thanks for sharing BBG! It really is incredible the distances some of these migratory fish cover.

If a cobia grows roughly 5 inches in a year it just goes to show you that it probably takes 5-7 years for a fish to grow to legal size. Think about how long it took some of these 80-120 pound cobia to grow to that size. To me it kind of sucks to watch people kill fish this size. It's in our best interest to release the best and strongest fish, yet we have kill cobia tournaments and such where people are harvesting these giants. Anyway, take what you need but think hard about killing big old fish when you can. Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to go hug a tree

Jim311 wrote:If a cobia grows roughly 5 inches in a year it just goes to show you that it probably takes 5-7 years for a fish to grow to legal size. Think about how long it took some of these 80-120 pound cobia to grow to that size. To me it kind of sucks to watch people kill fish this size. It's in our best interest to release the best and strongest fish, yet we have kill cobia tournaments and such where people are harvesting these giants. Anyway, take what you need but think hard about killing big old fish when you can. Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to go hug a tree

Ok, first off as I said earlier I've tagged AND RELEASED over 70 to date so I'm not exactly a "GAFF EVERYONE OF THEM!" kind of guy (though I've sure seen some boats doing it to some fish I'm almost sure were undersized)... but...

Cobia don't grow at 5 inches a year and it doesn't typically take 5 to 7 years to grow legal size. Instead it takes about 3 years, with fry typically growing about 12" the first year, 10" inches the 2nd and 3rd year, before growth lengthwise slowly tapers to more modest rates (though weight wise as they age girth increasingly becomes a factor versus length alone). There are numerous published studies online that provide growth data, though studies vary a slight bit depending on location (if memory serves growth is bit faster in warmeer waters than cooler ones).

As for the debate on harvesting older fish, though I tag and release many I won't preach to others on what they keep as long as they're following the laws that at least theoretically are set to a degree bashed on fisheries data / science. Also will say that while other areas may be impacted by "kill tournaments" I sure haven't seen evidence of an impact inside the Apalachee Bay area. I've caught them consistently spring through summer since I began to target them 10 years ago and haven't noticed any significant change in the local population. Not saying that's the case for Destin, South FL, or elsewhere... but is my personal observation out of the St. Marks area.

That's really cool.

I'm going to try and catch one soon if all goes well. I think I have a picture of one that was with an 8' tiger last year but it's not clear enough to tell. I know both the tigers I brought to the boat that day had at least one of what I thought were remoras with them.

It's good to hear someone who targets them say the population seems to be stable.

I'm so glad that more and more proof the survival of caught and released fish is showing up. It wasn't that long ago that the general opinion on saltwater fish was that all released ones die for a few reasons that we all know makes it different that freshwater catch and release. They're even catching tagged Redfish now.

cool read!