Croakers vs Spot (live lining)

[SkunkApe]

These are dark and dreary times.

I have been kvetching amongst the very few that will hear me b*tch about such mundane & superficial issues, but......
Croaker are much more plentiful than Spot to catch out here (in the season of course...)

Question...

Hook a whole live Croaker that you catch off the bottom on blood worms or squid, and use that for live lining Cobia, or.....buy a 1/2 dozen spots from Long Bay Point for....$8 or more to get the formula right. Does it matter? I know it shows my ignorance in Cob fishing, but hey...what is this forum for??

Skunk

[9 rock]

I dont know where you fish . but in in md croaker has a size limit .
I must confess I have kept a couple of small ones and they dont seem to do as well



9rock

[SmoothLures]

Don't know about cobia, but they're deadly for trout.

[Lip Ripper]

im a firm believer that a big fish will take a small spot over a small croaker. i think the fish knows that if he eats the croaker that he is going to have to deal with that sharp ass gill plate!

[Drumdum]

These are dark and dreary times.

I have been kvetching amongst the very few that will hear me b*tch about such mundane & superficial issues, but......
Croaker are much more plentiful than Spot to catch out here (in the season of course...)

Question...

Hook a whole live Croaker that you catch off the bottom on blood worms or squid, and use that for live lining Cobia, or.....buy a 1/2 dozen spots from Long Bay Point for....$8 or more to get the formula right. Does it matter? I know it shows my ignorance in Cob fishing, but hey...what is this forum for??

Skunk

Are you fishing in Cheasapeake Bay??? If so,I've found bottomfishing more effective than livebaiting for them... On my bday about 15yrs ago,all we could catch were croakers,so that was the only bait.. Caught three cobes that day,yeap all on croaker heads.... Haven't fished the bay in many yrs,but tried livebait many times back then with only one cobe,and plenty on bottombait...

[Tracker16]

Last year I was catching spot to use as bait for stripers and stuck one in my 1 1/2 year old Labs face to let her sniff and she grabbed it and went slurp slurp and it was gone !!! A hole 8 inch fish like that...WOW. I had my cell phone and as you can expect with a dog that crazy had the Vets number on speed dial. He said to just expect some gastro intestinal irregularities. Neeedless to say we left right away and headed for the house where she stayed in the yard for awhile. : ) She was ok but I don't plan to take her fishing with me anymore untill she is alittle older

[butch]

A large spot is the best live baii but a croaker works too. If your pin rigging they are going to get chomped by the bluefish so we end up using a small blue as cobia bait. they work good too. I like using live eels on the bottom.

[VBpierkingmac]

The way I see it any bait is better than no bait. So take said croaker you caught on bloodworms and put him out while he's out doing his thing keep fishing for bait if you get a spot put him out if not keep chunkin croaker because thats what you got. Because unless you know somethin I dont I aint figured out how to catch fish with credit yet.

[dipnet]

Last year I was catching spot to use as bait for stripers and stuck one in my 1 1/2 year old Labs face to let her sniff and she grabbed it and went slurp slurp and it was gone !!! A hole 8 inch fish like that...WOW. I had my cell phone and as you can expect with a dog that crazy had the Vets number on speed dial. He said to just expect some gastro intestinal irregularities. Neeedless to say we left right away and headed for the house where she stayed in the yard for awhile. : ) She was ok but I don't plan to take her fishing with me anymore untill she is alittle older

Well, there you have it, if fishing for Labs spots are the ticket. Hope you were using a circle hook or she was able to poop it out. :eek: :D

[Reelturner]

The way I see it any bait is better than no bait. So take said croaker you caught on bloodworms and put him out while he's out doing his thing keep fishing for bait if you get a spot put him out if not keep chunkin croaker because thats what you got. Because unless you know somethin I dont I aint figured out how to catch fish with credit yet.

100% right on that! I've caught cobia on croakers before,course that was down on the northern OUter Banks.

Reelturner

[05 grand slam]

If im pen riging and all i can catch is a spot ill put up out and let the blues get to them if they are thick and if it get all bloodied up good just means ill hook a blue and then put them out.

But if i was live lineing for cobes id definatly want to use a croaker becasue they well croak and that attracts the cob.

Just like when you use the minno size croaker for trout fishen they attract the fish.

But hey thats what i think

[Lip Ripper]

hey now. spot croak too

[red_fish]

hey now. spot croak too

so do drum i think ima float some 25" pups this year for cobias:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

[chris storrs]

seen cobia caught on everything...spot yea, but just as many on craoker, or mullet, or fatback, or bluefish,pigfish,sandperch, or anything....i think of them as more oppurtunistic, not picky bout what they eat(excludes cobia with lockjaw that wont even look at ANY bait u toss em lol)....ever cut open a stomach? likely to find anything...imo more important than what it is for bait, is that the cobe can catch it...dunno how many cobia ive lost and seen other lose because they couldnt catch the dang bluefish or barjack or blue runner or threadfin shad...they give up easy, especially when the waters hot it seems...spot/craoker alot slower and easier to catch for cobia than the speedy fish...

bottom fishing with deadbait solves the problem of them not being able to catch the bait, but brings up the enemy...rays

[red_fish]

Dude I swear I heard or read somewhere that someone caught a cobia with a piece of fried chicken in its stomach no bs

[LEADDRAFT]

My Pops caught a King on a Croaker once.. Thing is..
As a Poster Above Mentioned....
Some bait is better than none..
Well, this was a Partly SUN~DRIED, DEAD Croaker on a Pin-rig....
20+ king... Go figure..

[Digger]

My Pops caught a King on a Croaker once.. Thing is..
As a Poster Above Mentioned....
Some bait is better than none..
Well, this was a Partly SUN~DRIED, DEAD Croaker on a Pin-rig....
20+ king... Go figure..


Sounds like a real hungry fish to me.

[Dr. Bubba]

big bait, big fish...

bro in law was rod man on an 82lb cobia. Big fish! Caught on chunked bottom bait.
It was killed. While cleaning it we emptied the stomach, and discovered the remains of one of the largest skates you've ever seen. They'll eat a lot of things, is seems.

also have dropped small croaker to large gray trout before....pretty exciting bite!