Today I would like to share one of my most awesome catches to date, the Cobia or also known as Prodigal Son.
These strange looking fish are the only members of the Rachcentridae family in existence. It's features are very destinctive. To me it looks alot more like a fresh water fish than a marine fish with it's flat head, huge mouth and small eyes. .
They have elongated bodies and forked tails with a very dark brown to black color ontop with lighter horizontal stripes
that grade into the white of the belly. They kind of look like a overgrown remora and also likes to hang out with sharks to scavenge for morsels of food from the predators meals.
When catching these fish they are often mistaken for a shark as I did when he became visible from below. I was so happy when I realized that I had actually caught one of these amazingly tasty fish and not another 'taxman'.
Cobia habitats include any type of under water structures and floating objects. They are found in sub tropical waters around the world because of the warmer temperatures.
Males mature at the age of two years where it takes females a year longer to grow to adulthood. They are usually solitary until breeding season comes around. Females can spawn upto thirty times in on single season releasing thousands of eggs into the water to float with the plankton until they hatch.
This species can grow upto two meters in length and can weigh upto 75kg. The life span is around 10 years.
Not one of my favorite fish to handle as they are pretty slimey too!
Many African angler's never get the chance to catch one of these awesome creatures and I felt very privileged to have caught this one.
I have been trying hard to target these fish again but with no luck again thus far.
I have done alot of research to find out how to tempt my little scaley friends to my hook again but it seems any kind of reef fish will take a squid or prawn drop shot lure. Every time I hookup I'm hoping for my next Cobia 🤞 but they remain elusive.
These lures would be my recommendation when trying with artificials for this species. Bait (squid or prawns) will also work well and some angler's believe that chumming works wonders to attract the fish. I don't like attracting sharks to the jetski though, I've had two very scary incidents with no chum in the water haha. 😅
Have you ever caught a Prodigal son before? If yes I would love to know what lures worked for you.
Photo credits: IGFA
Jacob Hiles
Neo Saraiva
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