First, there are the ducks. Duck hunting provides a welcome break from the rigors of tournament fishing as the pro circuits pretty much go idle until well after Christmas.

“I like to duck hunt on the lakes around here, on public lands and a few swamps I know about,” said Cobb, who finished 2015 ranked 17^th in points in his sophomore season on the FLW Tour. He also fished his way to third place in the Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Ouachita in Arkansas in August.

“I mostly fish the lakes, though. I hunt wood ducks until the mallards and teal migrate down later in the fall,” Cobb said. “Actually, there are a lot more duck hunters than there area ducks, but it’s fun and it’s something to do for a couple of months.”

And then there are the seagulls. Time to lay down the shotgun and pick up a fishing rod again, Cobb said.

In December as the temperatures begin to go down the gulls migrate in from the coast to look for easy pickings when the water temperatures in South Carolina’s lakes get low enough to cause threadfin shad and other baitfish to start dying off.

“Once the water temperature gets down into the 50s in Lake Greenwood the bass will gang up on brushpiles and channel drops. If you see sea gulls feeding I like to throw a jigging spoon. You will catch perch, catfish, crappie and largemouths mixed in with them,” said Cobb who honed his fishing skills while a student as a member of the Clemson University fishing team.

“The seagulls make it easy to find the fish in Lake Greenwood. When the birds are actively diving and feeding, the fish are more than likely pushing bait to the top. A small ½-ounce or .6-ounce Berry’s Spoon is my favorite for this. Drop the spoon to the bottom and use short hops, bumping the bottom each time.”

Fish can be caught this way on points with sharp drop-offs and around channel swings in 20 to 30 feet of water, he said.

“With the jigging spoon for the most part you are catching perch, white bass, crappie, everything,” Cobb said. “That is what makes it so much fun. You are occupied all day catching fish and you can catch some big bass, too.”

When the bird activity gets really concentrated, Cobb said he likes to throw the Alabama Rig into the pods.

“When the birds are diving like that the fish have pushed the bait up to the top and the gulls see it. Throw the Alabama Rig into where the birds are diving and you can usually catch a big largemouth – or a striper.”

While most of the activity is out over open water in depths of 20 to 30 feet, Cobb said there should still be some shallow bass to be caught this time of year.

“Some bass will still remain shallow and can be targeted with small crankbaits along rocky banks. These fish are easiest to catch on warm sunny days when they move up to feed,” he said.

Cobb said he will enjoy bass fishing for fun on Lake Greenwood until the middle of January when the pro season cranks up.

“The first tournament I have is the third or fourth week of January, the B.A.S.S. Southern Open on Toho, and then I drive south to Okeechobee for the first FLW Tour tournament.”

Meantime, he will spend his time around Christmas and New Years working that jigging spoon magic on the Greenwood bass and playing Santa Claus angler to people who don’t get to fish very much.

“I like taking those people fishing and I especially like taking kids out. You can take that Berry’s Spoon and catch all the fish you want – all species,” he said. “It’s a simple thing. Anybody can do it.”