Spring Water temps / timing

[Srbenda]

For the migration in the spring, do you just idle around in the nearshore area ( 20' to 30' ) looking for them on the surface from a tower?

[big bend gyrene]

For the migration in the spring, do you just idle around in the nearshore area ( 20' to 30' ) looking for them on the surface from a tower?

Not unless you're fishing clear waters like those in the Panama City / Destin area.

If talking about the darker waters inside the Apalachee Bay area, you're better off targeting any kind of structure that draws in bait -- bird racks, rocky areas, reefs, buoy markers, etc. Can also occasionally catch them floating pins behind your boat if / when drift fishing flats areas, though depending on how bad sharks are at the time it can be a PITA having to deal with them hitting your pins.

[Srbenda]

For the migration in the spring, do you just idle around in the nearshore area ( 20' to 30' ) looking for them on the surface from a tower?

Not unless you're fishing clear waters like those in the Panama City / Destin area.

If talking about the darker waters inside the Apalachee Bay area, you're better off targeting any kind of structure that draws in bait -- bird racks, rocky areas, reefs, buoy markers, etc. Can also occasionally catch them floating pins behind your boat if / when drift fishing flats areas, though depending on how bad sharks are at the time it can be a PITA having to deal with them hitting your pins.

Great.

I've got a tower now, so I plan on putting it to use.
I caught a lot of sharks and large trout last year keeping pins out on a flat line- never thought I might end up with a cobia!

[rockyg]

That new to you Dorado has caught a lot of fish over it's life. Hopefully, the mojo is still there. A tower is a great tool for spotting fish.

[Srbenda]

That new to you Dorado has caught a lot of fish over it's life. Hopefully, the mojo is still there. A tower is a great tool for spotting fish.

[woopty]

I usually wait until the begining of April...
Sometimes cobia don't show up till later in the month, but I have slayed them in the past at the beginning of Apr.


woop

[doomtrpr_z71]

Never can tell when one might sneak in early, this short was caught last year at the end of February/first of March

[big bend gyrene]

Another cool thing to keep track of would be number of keeper vs shorts caught on a day. It would be interesting to see how the ratio changed over the summer.

Salty, not sure how much stock I'd be able to put in that data as for whatever reason some days it seems they want to swim up top and the keeper ratio is high... whereas other days we've had double digit hook-ups without a single fish pulled over the gunnels due to cut-offs. Love putting new-to-salwater anglers on cobes, but with the consequence that over the years I'm pretty sure we've lost more REALLY big fish than we've landed.

Again, anecdotal but can share this... I do think the bigger fish we've caught tend to be in the earlier part of the summer than later, though we've caught keepers throughout.

For several years the boat record was a cobe landed in late May by forum member Ranaman's wife Celeste. Boat record was tied a few years later by a cobia that forum member Ontiltttttt landed in the middle of June. I eventually landed one that outweighed their catches by a few pounds and that fish was caught in the beginning of May.