How to catch Big Cobia in Malaysia
By Christopher S.G. Tan
What hits hard, then pulls drag ferociously with endurance, then repeatedly runs hard before slugging it out with great stamina? The cobia! It can be found in all the different levels of water – shallow to deep. It is also found in open water or associated with structure.
Cobia
(Rachycentron canadium)
in Malaysia are caught with diverse methods. They can be
caught using both bait and and artificial lures. More
information about cobia can be found here at -
"Malaysian
Angler's Website"
Click on the “Local Fish” link, then scroll down the page to the saltwater species list and click on the “Cobia” link.
Livebait and deadbait work, and cobia prey on all manner of marine food, from fish and squid to crabs!
This cobia was caught with fish livebait just below the surface under a balloon in open water about 25m deep,. The livebait was a 12cm long selar (baitfish) bridled on a size 7/0 Mustad in-line circle hook (39951NPBLN ) about 2m below the balloon float. Go here for how to use circle hooks - "How to use circle hooks".
Jigging metal jigs is a good way of scoring cobia, and often they are caught with this method near the bottom or in mid-water. The cobia bites can occur in open water or near structure like reefs, drop-offs, FADs or even oil rig structures.
These two cobia were caught on metal jigs in the same area. They often come around in schools and when you hook up one, there will often be another following it. Toss a lure/jig to it, or better yet a livebait and you might get a double hook-up!
Cobia eat squid and trolling a skirted lure caught this cobia off the waters of Port Klang.
Cobia also can be found hanging around flotsam, as they prey on the crabs, baitfish and squid that inhabit the area around this floating debris. They can be sight casted with lures as they can often be seen at the surface or just below at times like these.
Casting or trolling crankbait around structure also works well for cobia. These two big cobia were caught in the same spot, on the same Halco Laser Pro 120 within an hour of each other. The size 2/0 Mustad in-line single hook also hooked up in exactly the same spot on the right corner of the mouth! The second was pretty much an identical catch except that the second cobia was a bit lighter in colour.
The
video
of the first cobia catch can be viewed here - "First
Cobia catch video"
My biggest cobia
to date was a very big 20kg cobia that hit a Halco Laser Pro
120, and ripped out the line continuously
before it turned to run parallel to the boat. Fortunately my
reel, an Abu Garcia Revo Rocket beast had a good line
capacity of almost 300m of 20lb Berkley X5 braided line. The
cobia took out almost half the line. 
This is very much the behaviour of the large cobia - making long hard runs - so having enough line capacity to handle the first long run is essential. Therefore the reel's drag system must be robust and smooth!
Cobia
head makes great fish head curry! The firm meat is good for
curries and stews. I also like it battered and pan-fried
fish finger style as it is very tasty.
Conservation
We need to protect and conserve our resources by practising catch and release of our sportfish and protecting the habitat of our fishes.
