CAPT. BILL MILLER
“OUTDOORS PROFESSIONAL”
Marketing/Sales Specialist • Grand Master Angler • TV Host/Writer

 

BILL’S FISHING REPORTS
Current Advice for Catching More Fish

Cobia Cruising Around Power Plants

By BILL MILLER
Cobia have made an appearance at Bay area power plants. Captain Ricky Seward reports seeing some monster cobia and a lot of baby cobia following rays in the warm water outflow. Live pinfish are the top live bait, free-lined or under a cork. A 10-inch dark rubber eel rigged on a half-ounce jig head is the top artificial bait. A heavy spinning rod with 50-pound braided line will give you your best chance of landing a big one.
Winter power plant cobia numbers have really been down the past few years. Enjoy the thrill of catching a big “Brown Bomber,” but consider catch and release.
Blacktip and bonnethead sharks also frequent Bay area power plants during the winter. Look for them along the channel edges. Captain Art Paiva says a fresh shrimp rigged on a jig head and left on the bottom will produce good action. Putting a frozen chum bag in the water will attract sharks and sometimes cobia.
Vance Tice reports the sudden drop in water temperature has shut off the grouper trolling bite. Big Mike at the Skyway Piers says a few grouper are still biting, along with some mangrove snapper.
Look for sheepshead to start ganging up for the winter. Bay area bridges, artificial reefs, docks and rocky structures are their winter homes. Pieces of shrimp, live fiddler crabs and green mussels are the top baits.
Captain Bill Miller hosts “Hooked on Fishing” on Thursdays and Sundays from 7-8 p.m., and Fridays and Mondays from 11 a.m.-noon on Bright House Networks Catch 47.

Reprinted with permission of The Tampa Tribune

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