Terry Lacoss
Certain factors indicate that a kingfish bite is soon to happen. Seasoned king mackerel fishermen exercise unique skills that shorten their connection with a major kingfish bite.
One of the most trying situations a kingfish team faces is a grueling and long wait between kingfish connections. A slow bite frequently asks even the skilled king mackerel angler, how long more can we wait for a kingfish bite to happen before navigating to a second kingfish habitat?
A second factor surfaces when other species of striking fish intercept kingfish baits and lures ahead of the speedy and fast striking mackerel. A variety of game fish can beat kingfish to your barbed baits, leaving your kingfish team with that never ending question, “Are there kingfish nearby, or did we just land smack in the middle of a huge ‘cuda bite?”
Jacksonville, Florida’s captain Mark Williams has an answer for those common cuda bites.
During a past Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament, sanctioned by the Southern Kingfish Association, Williams and his seasoned kingfish team were slow trolling live menhaden some twenty miles offshore of the St. John’s inlet at the Tanzler Buoy with little success.
“I just had that feeling that the kingfish bite was just not going to happened,” Williams said. “We had connected with a few small king mackerel, but the big kings that we had caught during pre-fishing at high noon, just did not happen. You hate to leave a spot that you know might turn on the minute you crank up your boat’s outboards, but at the same time, a worse scenario would be returning to the SKA tournament scales without a money winning king mackerel.”
Captain Williams and his tournament team made their decision to run back closer to shore and fish a big rock ledge located at Haddocks Hideaway where large concentrations of bait fish normally hold to the steep ledge. The only downside to their game plan were the big numbers of barracuda who also called the fishy structure home during the warm summer kingfish season.
Here, Captain Williams used his many years of offshore fishing skills to avoid both barracuda chewing on expensive kingfish baits, or cutting a hooked money winning king mackerel into halves.
“Too many saltwater fishermen make the mistake of trolling right over an offshore fish haven,” Williams said. “Obviously large kingfish baits trolled right through a major concentration of bait fish and barracuda is going to be intercepted by an opportunist ‘cuda. Certainly if you are lucky enough to hook a large kingfish, a barracuda attack will often claim your big king.”
“What our kingfish team has discovered from many past kingfish seasons, is live bait trolling outside of the outer edge of the baitfish schools, barracuda, and big ledge below. Here we have found that the larger king mackerel are holding within good striking distance of the bait fish and when the dinner bell rings, kings will make a stealthy and speedy attack. More importantly when a smoker king is hooked, you can allow the big king’s run to take it away from the big ledge and razor sharp teeth of nearby barracuda. Here, setting the drag system just tight enough so that the spool does not backlash during the speedy run, is key.
During the afternoon kingfish bite at Haddock’s Hideaway, Captain Williams’ kingfish team boated three king mackerel weighing in the high thirties and were, as many SKA teams say, “In the Money!”
There are without a doubt, several instances when kingfish teams will arrive at their favorite kingfish waters and begin searching for king mackerel. And without saying, the very first thoughts that enter their minds include, “Are we fishing in the right spot?” and more importantly, “is there a big school of king mackerel holding right down through the water column that will make our day a big success?”
The first sign that any fisherman looks for is surface activity. If there are baitfish schools holding close to the surface, this is certainly an excellent factor that should determine spending more time king fishing at your designated kingfish waters. While this is no fishing secret, freshwater fishermen have been using this same indicator for many fishing seasons now to determine if their targeted freshwater game fish are active, or they will need to slow down their fishing techniques for semi-active game fish.
Needless to say the first option for many freshwater fishermen is to tie on a buzz bait, or surface lure and work it fast over a prime fish structure. After fifteen to thirty minutes of working a surface lure with a rapid retrieve without success, freshwater fishermen have been told by the fish “gods” to go deep with sub surface lures and slow down their presentation.
This same technique also works very well while king mackerel fishing. Select your largest live bait and fish it far back on a flat line along with similar live baits in your trolling spread. While the live baits are frisky and able to swim hard, speed up your trolling speed a half knot while trolling right over your prime kingfish habitat.
If you don’t receive any kingfish strikes on the surface after fishing from fifteen to thirty minutes, reel in your kingfish livies and motor to a second kingfish habitat.
There is always the scenario that you are watching nearby kingfish boats hook up to king mackerel, which may sway your kingfish team to spend a little more time fishing before making a move. Obviously, if you see bait fish schools holding close to the surface where Spanish mackerel are occasionally striking the surface as well, this makes for another good reason to spend more fishing time at your present location.
Many seasoned kingfish teams won’t take the time to engage live, or dead baits with downriggers, which would certainly slow down their search for a hot kingfish bite.
As an offshore charter captain for many kingfish seasons now, too many now that I have personally lost count, I am always faced with that age old problem of putting my charter clients on fish and in a lot of cases, in a very short period of time.
On one particular charter we ran some forty-five miles offshore with the aid of a slick calm ocean. Our targeted kingfish spot was the famed Georgia Brunswick Live Bottom. Taking into consideration that this was a half day, four hour fishing charter, I had little time to search for king mackerel and other species of striking fish when I arrived at the hard bottom. I had several likely spots programmed into my GPS and upon arriving, simply began running over these small rock ledges and hard bottoms and at the same time, kept a close watch on my fish recorder.
While running over the third area, I spotted what most king mackerel fishermen are thankful to find, baitfish on the fish finder showed up as large clouds on the screen and Spanish mackerel were working the surface. We spent two hours live bait trolling at the fishy live bottom with excellent success, then returned to the marina with a limit of kingfish, a pair of dolphin and a forty-pound cobia. All before high noon!
Certainly after filling your boat’s fuel cell with expensive fuel and entering a high dollar Southern Kingfish Association king mackerel tournament, your first priority should be to recognize if you are king fishing in the right location.
Seasoned blue water fishermen that take their sport seriously will often tell their crew to nap later and take various positions on the boat while running to spot signs of game fish. Drinking a cold drink or taking a short nap in between fishing destinations will certainly limit your success on the water.
I can tell you first hand that skilled king mackerel teams are always searching the water while running from one location to another hot spot. Diving birds, Spanish mackerel on the surface, and more importantly, skyrocketing king mackerel, may direct your team to a big kingfish connection.
Great king mackerel fishermen possess the ability of sensing if there are king mackerel present from many kingfish seasons of reading the waters and learning the signs that lead to a major kingfish bite.
Angler magazine, April 2011
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