Broad River Pier 5/27

To the South Beaufort / Hilton Head
1

I fished the pier from 6:30 to 1:30…fished the incoming all the way to high and about 45 minutes of outgoing. i was set up about 75 yards from the end. at first arrival, baitfish were plentiful… one on a balloon 2’ under the surface and one on the bottom <or swifting across the bottom is more accurate> 4 ounces of lead had no chance but i stuck with it for a while since i had a perfectly lively greenie on and didnt wanna retie immediately after putting him on. weed mats started rolling in around 9 oclock making it extremely frustrating trying to keep a clean line and bait in the water for couple hours.

for a long time there were no bites to be had other than (2) small 2 to 2.5 footers i saw caught and one guy caught a bluefish that he donated to a gentleman cobia fishing next to me. he immediately put him on a rod and dropped him down right next to the pier. GOT A HIT ON IT TOO! the fish hit and one minute later wrapped him on a piling. he tried his best to get him out of there but ended up breaking the line. this was around lunch time and the tide was starting to slack off.

during the last of the incoming and for the next hour and a half we saw a few cobia cruising. 3 of them and they all appeared to be keepers but not monsters and none would take a pitch bait. gulp eel/white jighead or wiehgtless greenies.

about 12:30, dead slack high tide i got hooked up. i had a greenie under the baloon and casted beside a piling of the bridge in the shade and just let him swim around there for a little bit. one single mat of grass drifted into my baloon and drug it almost around the backside of the piling where i couldnt see it any more. so i took a few steps to my right where i could see what was going on and started reeling my balloon and bait on through that grass…as i was in motion dragging my bait back in, my balloon started swimming to the right and i felt pressure on the line. FISH ON… fought him for about 10 minutes without him making any long runs and got him up to where i saw color

2

Thanks for a great post about your epic battle. We will keep a look-out for our cobia. Hope you get another shot real soon. Landing a cobia of that size from the bridge is a big challenge, to say the least.

Miss Libby 2
26’ World Cat

3

Ryan,
I talked to Homer (the guy who attempted to gaf your fish) yesterday, sounds like you had yourself a pretty good fight. That grass sure makes it tough to fish, although i’ve had my suspicions for years that cobia hide under the huge clumps of grass, and the last few days i’ve heard more than one story of people pulling boneheads out from under it. I think instead of being upset about the grass i’ll just pick up my sight caster when i see the marsh coming. I would definitely suggest something a little bigger than 25lb when fishing from that pier, if for nothing more than strength to pull them off the pilon such as you seen with Homer’s fish. Good luck.

“Lock em’ down”

4

i agree 100% with your suggestion of heavier tackle! i am not normally a pier guy, but had the day off on Monday and couldnt find anyone willing to go out on the boat that day. made the executive decision the night before that i needed to do some fishing and chose the pier.

i am now looking into getting the stuff needed to be a pier fisherman! <since i have never had any luck catching anything decent from a pier before, now i can justify some upgrades!>

namely a stiffer rod and reel capable of holding more and heavier line, a reasonably priced pier cart, and an aerated bait bucket and a pier gaff or landing net

sorry goes out to Homer, wish i wouldve introduced myself and gotten his name to give proper credit where it was due. stand up guy and was more than willing to assist!

liquor in the front, poker in the rear!