Anglers targeting big kingfish and Spanish mackerel by slow-trolling live baits use specialized techniques to entice wary fish to strike. One popular and proven tactic involves presenting two live baits on a single terminal rig, which creates a larger profile and more action. These double-pogy rigs can be tied in two basic designs. And while the pogy, or menhaden, is commonly used, this system works well with a variety of other baitfish. Both rig designs use extra-strong hooks and swivels, and employ haywire twists to make connections between lengths of single-strand wire. Skirts or colored beads can be added for color and flash.

King Mackerel Double Pogy Rig

Here’s the list of the materials needed:

• American Fishing Wire pre-cut lengths of camo brown 58-pound-test (12-inch) and 38-pound-test (36-inch)
• VMC 4X strong treble hooks, black nickel, size 4
• Owner Flyliner live-bait hooks, black chrome, size 1/0
• Spro Power Swivel, (single barrel swivel), size 7
• Spro Power Swivel Combo (three-way swivel), size 5
• Skirts or colored beads if desired. I like chartreuse and mylar.
• DuBro E/Z Twist tool for making haywire twist

This rig is built like a single-bait, two-hook rig but you add a second treble hook. Easy to build and tougher to tangle, the three-hook rig can also be used with small Spanish mackerel, large blue runners, ladyfish or ribbonfish — if you run short of terminal rigs built specifically for those baits.

STEP 1: Haywire-twist a treble hook onto each end of a 12-inch section of 58-pound-test wire. Leave approximately 6 inches of wire between the hooks.

STEP 2: Connect another 12-inch length of 58-pound-test wire to the eye of one of those treble hooks and finish the opposite end of the wire with a live-bait hook — again leaving about 6 inches between the hooks.

STEP 3: Haywire-twist one end of a 36-inch length of 38-pound-test wire to the live-bait hook and finish the opposite end with a single barrel swivel.

STEP 4: Below, a finished rig before adding live baits. But now it’s time to fish! Attach one bait to the live-bait hook by passing the point through the nostrils. Attach the second bait to the middle treble hook by passing a point of the treble through the nostrils. The last treble swings freely.

The Four-Hook Kingfish Rig

This rig is a combination of two single-bait rigs attached to the mainline with a three-way swivel. The four-hook rig allows each bait more freedom of movement, somewhat eliminating a tiring tug-of-war between baitfish, but it does so at an increased risk of tangling.

Haywire-twist a treble hook and a live-bait hook onto a 12-inch section of 58-pound-test wire, leaving approximately 6 inches between the hooks. Connect one end of a 36-inch length of 38-pound-test wire to the live-bait hook and the opposite end to one eye of a three-way swivel. Repeat this process with another treble and live-bait hook, but this time, remove 6 inches of the 36-inch length of wire before connecting it to the second eye of the three-way swivel.

Attach baits to the two live-bait hooks by passing the points through their nostrils. Attach the trebles to the bait by passing one point through the skin just behind the dorsal fin. If the treble hooks swing freely, that increases the chances of tangling when the two baits swim together.

Although I always try to pick baits of equal size and friskiness, it’s common for one baitfish to tire before the other, rendering the rig less effective and making it necessary to change out baits more often. However, this extra effort pays off when a smoker king skyrockets behind your boat with your handmade double-pogy rig in its mouth.

The post The Best Kingfish Live-Bait Rig appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

On the last Sunday in July, Joe Vricella and his dad, Dominic, caught a “boogeyman” swimming in New Jersey waters — a 67.45-pound king mackerel. If all the submitted paperwork goes through without a hitch, their kingfish will takeover as the new state record. Dominic Vricella’s catch outweighs the current record by more than 10 pounds — a 54-pounder, caught by Fernando Alfaiate off Cape May, in 1998.

The Vricella team encountered a mix of bad luck and good before the catch happened on July 30.

“We lost an engine while out on the bluefin grounds [around noon] and started limping home,” said Joe Vricella. “Being on one engine, I figured we’d put out a little spread, with 2 wide-trackers and 2 Clarkspoons for Spanish mackerel or bonito.”

King mackerel are not a common species in Jersey waters, hence the use of the word “boogeyman.” In fact, you barely hear of a handful caught each summer. The Vricellas truly hit it big with their unusual catch.

“At around 2 o’clock, we were about 5 miles off the beach near Manasquan Inlet and we got a knockdown on a Clarkspoon,” Vricella detailed. “The hit just about spooled our Avet MXL twice. We couldn’t back down the boat, so we put some heavy drag on him and were able to turn him.”

Vricella’s kingfish catch was even more unexpected, as it was taken on light leader — they still cannot believe they landed the fish in under 10 minutes on 30-pound leader.

“My dad was on the rod the whole time, and he saw it first and had no idea what it was until we got it up close,” added Vricella. They actually thought it was a wahoo or a tuna for awhile.

“I ran to the back, saw the fish come up, and reached out and stuck him with a gaff after we realized it was a kingfish,” said Vricella. “No joke, my first words were: ‘I don’t think we understand what just happened.'”

You can definitely say that again. New Jersey probably won’t see another king mackerel like this for another 30 years. The Vricellas weighed the kingfish at Hoffman’s Marina in Brielle, New Jersey.

The post Motor Troubles Lead to Record Catch off Jersey appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

It had been a couple weeks since the anglers of the 38-foot Edgewater boat out of Hilton Head Island, S.C. had been chasing king mackerel. And the water, bait and conditions were different than expected.

“We didn’t see a lot, it was a lot different than it had been two weeks earlier,” boat owner Jon Vroon told the Charleston Post-Courier. “It was kinda’ disappointing at the time, because you take a gamble and risk going to a location that at one time looked good. And we’re going in the opposite direction of where we’re going to weigh in.”

Vroon and his “Jon Boat” fishing team members Kenneth Nelson and Kenneth Crosby caught and released a few kings under 20 pounds. Then a bigger fish suddenly showed.

“Out of the blue, the biggest kingfish I’ve ever caught takes line,” says Vroon.

Crosby grabbed the rod while Vroon handled the boat, and Nelson got other lines and trolled baits out of the way.

“Sometimes you can tell by that first run how big a fish is,” says Vroon. “But you can really tell on the second run. Then when he runs again the third time like he ran the first time, you know you’ve got a fish on. We knew we had something, and we were trying to track him down.”

The anglers spotted the fish below their boat in clear offshore water and saw lots of color, a sure sign of a big fish, which was gaffed and hauled aboard.

“When we got that fish on the deck, we knew it was a bigger-sized fish but we didn’t know it was a 50-pounder,” Vroon reported to the Post-Courier.

“We put the fish in the fish box and were quiet for a while. We didn’t know what we had, but we knew we had something.”

A bit later after the fish settled down and could be safely weighed with a hand scale. The anglers got a not-official weight of the king somewhere between 48 and 52 pounds. That’s when they decided to run back to the tournament weigh state at Hilton Head Harbor Marina to officially weigh and enter their catch in the Hang Em’ High tournament.

At Hilton Head the fish officially weighed 50.4-pounds, a giant of a kingfish that set the tournament record for the two-year old event.

But despite the fish’s massive weight, Vroon was too sure about winning.

“When you’re fishing against 40 of the best kingfishing guys in the Carolinas, you expect that if you caught a 50 then they can catch a 50,” he explained. “That was always in the back of my mind. It wasn’t until the end of the weigh-in and there wasn’t a boat coming down the creek that it set in. Holy Cow! We did it!”

The 50.4-pound king mackerel paid the “Jon Boat” crew $109,000 for the heaviest kingfish caught by participants in the Hang ‘Em High tournament.

The post 50-Pound Kingfish Wins $109,000 In South Carolina Tourney appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Big kingfish can be caught year-round in Key West, but in January and February more smokers migrate south from the Gulf of Mexico. With the right timing and tactics, anglers can catch the biggest kings of the year.

“It’s just so cool,” says Key West captain Casey Hunt, who grew up fishing in Pompano Beach, Florida. “Catching 20-pound kingfish here is like catching 5-pound kingfish out of Hillsboro Inlet. They’re so plentiful.”

And these big macks grow really big. A year ago, Hunt caught a monster that weighed 71 pounds in his boat. He notes that two days later, the same fish, gutted, weighed 72 pounds on a fish house scale.

In last January’s Key West Kingfish Mayhem Open Tournament, the winning fish came in at 51.7 pounds; seven other kings topped 41 pounds.

Kingfish Haven

Capt. Ron Mitchell, a South Florida angler who has fished Key West king mackerel tournaments for nearly 30 years, has caught many kings over 50 pounds, including a 63-pounder. He also got a firsthand look at a 78.66-pounder caught by another tournament team in 2015.

“There’s so much life there [in Key West], why would the fish leave?” says Mitchell, a member of the Southern Kingfish Association Hall of Fame. “It’s a big old ecosystem that’s holding tons of fish. It just seems like they get a little bigger and maybe they’re feeding a little differently, there are more in an area this time of year.”

Mitchell also thinks that improvements in boats, motors, electronics and tackle contribute to the increase in the number of big kingfish caught in Key West. For example, his boat Bandit, a 39 SeaVee Z with quad 400-horsepower outboards, allows him to cover much more water. Mitchell says it takes him one hour to get to spots that used to take him three hours, allowing him to fish longer. His boat features six livewells, each with two pumps in case one pump breaks or if he wants to increase water flow to accommodate hundreds of baits.

Smoker Kingfish Tactics

To target big kings, Mitchell emphasizes making the extra effort to select the liveliest baits. “I tell my guys to always find the best baits in the livewell. Look in there and find that bright-eyed, crisp blue runner or goggle-eye or speedo or whatever and put him out. He’ll get hit quicker than anything you’ve got in your spread,” he says.

Hunt uses his Simrad sounder to find bait and slight changes in water temperature. He also uses CMOR mapping on his multifunction display to find wrecks and other structure. “Sometimes the current hits the reef differently and there’s bait that’s balled up there,” he says. “Sometimes the water will get really cold, and when you find it bump up a little bit, even if it changes a half a degree, it can mean fish there.”

Winter weather also plays a role as front after front rolls through. “If you go down there for a week, you’re going to have a couple good days and you’re going to have a couple horrible days,” Mitchell says.

Before the front arrives, the kingfish start feeding, and then they shut down. After the front passes and the weather calms the fish start eating. “But I always think that if you put a beautiful bait in front of a kingfish, no matter what’s going on — they might not even be hungry — they see that thing and they’ve got to hit it.”

Finding Key West King Mackerel

Hunt, who runs CN-It Adventures, charters with his 26-foot Twin Vee and also guides anglers on their personal boats. He catches most of his big winter kings about 40 miles south of Key West along a ledge that drops from 60 to 120 feet.

“The bait is holding right where the ledge starts to drop down, and the kingfish are shooting up to eat the bait,” Hunt says, adding that yellowtail snappers also hang on that ledge. “You can fish for yellowtails there as well and hook a big kingfish. Someone caught a 61-pound king on a 12-pound outfit while yellowtailing. There are plenty of wahoos there, too, when the water is clean.”

Mitchell adds that most of his prime spots lie 40 to 45 miles out of Key West. Among his favorites include Tail End Buoy, the Rockpile, the Rocket, the Critter, eastern and western Dry Rocks, Cosgrove Shoals and the current hotspot, the Banana Bar.

Kingfish Tackle and Bait

When targeting big kings, Hunt prefers a 3- to 5-pound live blue runner (his 71-pounder ate a runner) or yellowtail snapper. He bump-trolls the baits, taking the engines in and out of gear to keep the bow edging forward, and fishes only three flat lines at a time. He staggers the lines 30, 60, and 100 feet behind the boat. “The bite is so fast and furious; if the fish are there, they’re going to eat,” he says. There’s no waiting around.”

He doesn’t employ a downrigger line, usually a popular tactic for kingfish anglers, because a deep bait mostly likely will catch a black grouper (grouper season is closed until May 1), an amberjack or a jack crevalle.

Mitchell prefers to fish five lines: a big runner or bluefish 300 feet behind the boat, two flat lines, and two downrigger lines at different depths. However, when seas grow rough, he might not even set two baits. And when the bite goes off: “You throw a bait out the back of the boat, and it gets hit immediately. It can get that good.”

Like many kingfish tournament anglers, Hunt uses very light drag settings. Still, his 71-pounder took only 10 minutes to land. “We let them zip out 200 yards of line and wear themselves out, then we go after them with the boat,” he says.

Read Next: King Mackerel Fishing Tips

His tackle includes Accurate Valiant rods with Accurate Tern TX-500X conventional reels, which have a fast 6-to-1 gear ratio for quickly gathering line after a big king makes its initial run. He spools the reels with 20-pound Momoi Diamond Illusion monofilament line with a 20-foot leader of 30-pound Diamond fluorocarbon and 3 feet of 30-pound AFW titanium leader to prevent cut-offs.

But even if a king bites through the leader or otherwise breaks off, chances are the fertile Key West waters will deliver many more opps to smoke one.

The post Winter Hotspot: Key West Kingfish appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

What it’s all about – One in the boat and two hooked up. The waters off Cape Canaveral are prime feeding grounds for migrating schools of mackerel.

5:40 a.m. – Ready to go. Our 37-foot SeaVee with Eric Castillo at the helm sits at Bluepoints Marina.

6:50 a.m. – Bait stop. The cast net opens wide for Capt. Kyle Kosiba off Cocoa Beach.

6:55 a.m. – Success: Though the small pogies (menhaden) weren’t as thick here as they had been the day before, according to Kosiba, over a series of throws, we managed to sufficiently fill the generous transom-corner bait wells on the SeaVee.

7:20 a.m. – A bait fit for a king: A small ribbonfish (cutlassfish) came up in the cast net. Cutlassfish make particularly tempting baits for king mackerel. Unfortunately for Kosiba, a more unwelcome animal also turned up in the net: a Portuguese man of war. By the time he realized that, the invisible tentacle threads had already done their work and he lived the rest of the day with aching hands.

8:05 a.m. – Time to fish. Rodney Sahr, Columbia’s Southeast Sales Rep, likes to fish two baits, both nose-hooked with small trebles on a wire trace.

8:35 a.m. – After picking up a couple singles, four rods go off at once. One lost and three just about to the boat, with the best fish of the three going to SeaVee’s John Caballero (far right).

10:10 a.m. – Sahr deals with a feisty king, having caught several already.

10:35 a.m. – Kosiba nails a nice king for Sport Fishing publisher Scott Salyers.

10:40 a.m. – Kosiba puts Salyers’ kingfish in pose mode. The skipper uses the two-hook treble rig, nose-hooking the pogy with the leading hook and putting one tine of the trailing hook into the pogy’s back.

10:50 a.m. – Sahr is on again, pulling a king into gaff range, as Salyers, in the port corner, cranks in a bait that was hit.

10:52 a.m. – How is that even possible? How can a king slice through a menhaden as happened here, and manage to not get hooked? Happens all the time!

11:15 a.m. – Brent Brauner, PFG marketing manager for Columbia, flew down from Oregon looking for fast fishing offshore, which he found, and for a peek at the sun, which on this afternoon didn’t reveal itself.

11:40 a.m. – The word is out. Well-known kingfish hangouts, like popular Pelican Flats, attract bait, kings and boats.

12:10 p.m. – Good time to head farther north for some lonelier fishing grounds. Pushed by more than 1,000 horses, Castillo’s SeaVee slices through the chop at a breathtaking pace.

12:55 p.m. – It’s not easy being a greenie – as threadfin herring are widely known. We got into big schools of these baitfish while moving between areas.

1:25 p.m. – Hoping to smoke out the big kings we seek some bigger baits. We hadn’t put anything more than 30 pounds or so on deck and Kosiba professed no doubt to 40- to 60-pound fish being about. We stopped to sabiki small bluefish (left) and blue runners (right).

1:40 p.m. – And there’s no better way to fish a live runner or bluefish than dangling it from a kite. Though kites haven’t caught on this far north in Florida for kings in a big way, they certainly work as we proved on this day.

2:30 p.m. – Big baits pay off. Not quite a smoker, but Salyers’ king was well above the average size.

3:15 p.m. – Last fish of the day, worth a smile for the author. Definitely not a trophy but on the tiny high-speed conventional reel with 20-pound braid, this fish took off on a screaming wahoo-like run and offered one of the more exciting fights of the day. Moral: Stick to light gear and max out the fun quotient on kingfish!

The post Catching Kingfish Off Cape Canaveral, Florida appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Kingfish

Take a break from sailfishing this winter in the Florida Keys. Instead, cash in on the dynamic king mackerel fishing available in the Gulf. Capt. Tony Murphy heads to the Gulf of Mexico’s green waters in the colder months to target 30-plus-pound king mackerel. From December to February, look for water temperatures from 72 to 76 degrees along reef edges to find the kings.

“The break in 45 to 52 feet of Gulf water is great in February,” he says. “In the Atlantic, we fish the inside reef edge from 75 to 120 feet. A west tide is optimal, especially with the predominantly east wind.”

Murphy’s favorite tactic is chumming the kings into a feeding frenzy with live pilchards, then casting a fly rod for the mackerel. But on a normal charter, he uses Shimano Terez rods and Saragosa spinners loaded with 50-pound braid.

“For a leader, I’ll use two rod lengths of 30-pound fluorocarbon connected to 12 inches of No. 5 wire with an Albright knot,” Murphy adds. “The hook size will depend on the type and size of live bait.”

Barracuda Take the Spotlight

Competitors used spin and fly tackle to target aggressive barracuda in the 2017 Cuda Bowl, taking place on Feb. 3-4. The all-release flats tournament got its name because it’s scheduled every year two days before the NFL Super Bowl.

Heidi Andrews of Vero Beach, Florida, released 281.5 inches of barracuda to win the spin division of the 2017 Cuda Bowl Tournament in Key West. Andrews earned the title of divisional grand champion fishing with Captain Aaron Snell of Key West. She also was named top lady angler.

Only flats skiff-type boats with a poling tower were used in the two-day tourney.

Jim Knowles of Round Hill, Virginia, won the Cuda Bowl’s fly division championship after releasing barracuda totaling 229.75 inches. He was guided by Captain Peter Heydon of Key West.

The largest barracuda in the spin division was released by Tom del Bosque of Boca Raton, Florida. He caught the fish, measuring 53.5 inches, guided by Key West’s Captain Jimi McKillip. Joe Skrumbellos of Davie, Florida, scored the largest barracuda on fly tackle at 46.5 inches.

The flats challenge drew 61 anglers who released 418 barracuda.

More Hot Tournaments in February

Tournament anglers can compete to catch the most inches of snook and redfish on fly in the Spring Backcountry Fly Championship Series. Mark your calendars for Feb. 24 and 25 to compete in this Islamorada-based tournament. In this challenge, one inch equals one point, so the bigger the fish the better! Awards are given to the grand champion and runner-up, and to the anglers who catch the largest snook and redfish. The field is limited to 30 boats.

Late February offers offshore anglers the opportunity to target nine offshore species in a family-format tournament. From Feb. 24 to 26, the Islamorada Winter Classic will take place out of Islamorada, Florida Keys. Trophies are awarded to top boat teams in weight and release categories, as well as private vessel and charter divisions. Junior and teen divisional winners also have opportunities to win. Target species include sailfish, barracuda, dolphin, cobia, wahoo, tuna, mackerel, hogfish and snapper.

The post Florida Keys Fishing Trip Planner: February appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

“That is some pretty, pretty water, boys!”

Oscar Garcia backed off his panga’s 200-hp Suzuki as the mouth of Brazos Santiago opened between the jetties of South Padre Island and Brazos Island. The 22-foot raised-prow boat eased off plane to bob along at a putter on a vector parallel to the north jetties, portside. On Garcia’s command, Anibal Gorena and I scooped 8-inch mullet out of the baitwell, nose-hooked them on single-hook wire rigs, and set them over the side. As Garcia held a steady and slow speed, we let out line until the baits were staggered behind us at about 100 feet. Garcia eased along and started a portside turn around the jetty point.

“Don’t get too comfortable,” Garcia warned. “It can happen — now! Your bait, Gonzales!”

Before I could get completely settled in my seat, a slate missile launched out of the water with my mullet squarely in its teeth. It happened in a second flat, but I saw the big king mackerel bite the hapless prey in half, and my line went slack. With a curse, I began to reel the butchered bait back to the boat.

“Drop back!” Garcia said. “He’ll come back around for the rest.”

Just as those last words escaped Garcia’s mouth, my line began screaming off the Shimano Tranx 500HG. After several blistering runs, including one that threatened to dump the whole spool of 40-pound braid, Garcia stuck a gaff in a thick 51-inch king.

As we did a Texas two-step around a thrashing, snapping king mackerel, Garcia looked at me and asked, “Why do folks want to run way the hell out when you’ve got this kind of action 10 minutes from the house?”

Just A Short Boat Trip to the Action

The south Texas coast, most notably from Aransas Pass at the top, to the coastal bend, to Brazos Santiago at the mouth of the Lower Laguna Madre, has long been a haven for the “mosquito fleet,” a colloquialism for the swarms of fishermen operating small (under 22-foot) bay and flats boats in the area. They take advantage of the unique bluewater fishery the region offers beginning in spring and ending with the first major cold front in November. Steady southeasterly breezes and a prevailing current push blue Gulf of Mexico waters very close to shore, often right up to the passes and into adjoining bays. With the clean, nutrient-rich waters comes a plethora of pelagic game fish, including false albacore (little tunny), Spanish and cero ­mackerel, and prized kingfish.

“There are some nice kings out there starting in spring,” says Joe Montemayor, owner of Joe’s Tackle in Pharr, Texas. “You don’t have the big tankers that you find way offshore — those 40- to 45-pounders — but you have plenty of solid 36- to 44-inch-class kings. You will land plenty over 48 inches when the water temperature hits the 80s in the summer. In a 22-foot bay boat, with three fishermen and a bunch of rods and tackle, a 42-inch king can be plenty big enough.”

“When the water is nice and flat (two feet or less), it isn’t tough to run out of Mansfield Pass and look around for a few kings,” says Capt. Chad Kinney, of Bamm Bamm Charters in Port Mansfield. “We can get out there in the 25-foot Shallow Sport X3 multihull I use for inshore. If fish are out there, the action is fast. We even get them with the same tackle we use for trout and redfish.”

Kayak devotees also get involved in the fun, often putting in right off the jetties or a nearby beach and paddling out the short distance to where Texas kings lurk. At times, kingfish will actually roam farther inside the passes ­themselves. On the Lower Laguna Madre near Brazos Santiago, it’s not an uncommon situation for an angler casting to trout and redfish to suddenly lose control of his reel to a scorching kingfish before the leader parts.

Fishing During the Morning Hours

Although there can be days of flat-calm ­conditions from dawn to dusk, most anglers expect southeast winds to accompany warm spring and summer days along the south Texas coast. By late morning to midafternoon, the seas around jetties and passes can stack up and get sloppy, making for tougher fishing conditions. The wind’s upward velocity curve necessitates that “mosquiteers” plan for an early trip, usually from gray light to whatever time the wind and waves become too uncomfortable to handle.

If Kinney is going to chase kingfish for his clients, he’ll get to Mansfield Pass early and troll a few baits initially. Often he’ll work farther from the jetties and closer to the 1-mile buoy, where the water deepens.

“I’ll usually bump-troll with plugs or ­ribbonfish,” says Kinney, “but I’m always scanning for some kind of activity on the water, whether it’s a bird working or fleeing fish. I want clues to where there may be active fish and what they may be doing. I’ll investigate anything that looks out of the ordinary.”

Another favorite strategy that Kinney uses for mosquito-fleet kingfish is topwater fishing. Remarkably, he uses many of the same topwater plugs that he casts to inshore species, such as speckled trout and redfish. With great success, Kinney has thrown Bomber Badonk-A-Donks, Heddon Super Spooks, and a variety of other walk-the-dog plugs to kings.

“It’s pretty exciting when you see a big king shoot straight out of the water 10 feet high with your plug in its mouth,” says Kinney. A short wire trace, usually about 12 inches long, prevents bite-offs from the snapping jaws of an agitated king mackerel.

If you intend to try your hand throwing topwaters at a mosquito king, make sure you’re properly equipped. Popping rods should be in the upper range of what you would use for redfish, preferably in medium to medium-heavy, and a high-capacity reel is a must for the long runs of belligerent mackerel. My typical nearshore topwater rod is a 7-foot Temple Fork Outfitters medium-heavy casting rod with fast action, paired with Shimano’s Calcutta 200 loaded with 30-pound PowerPro braid. The outfit can handle a 1-ounce River2Sea WideGlide (my favorite topwater plug) and still have the backbone to snub most kingfish.

Targeting Larger King Mackerel

If Kinney knows that there are larger kingfish roaming around just beyond the jetty rocks, he’ll switch to the live baits that bigger fish seem to prefer over lures. When he starts fishing live stuff, he’ll break out the hardtails (blue runners) and live mullet. Again, the order of the day is bump-trolling. If there is a bit of a current or breeze, he might try controlled drifts.

Farther south, around Brazos Santiago, Garcia also uses live bait a great deal. He prefers to net 6- to 8-inch mullet, which he believes are the primary forage for jetty kings. He slow-trolls them around the points of the jetties and along the adjoining beachfront. Rather than using the typical multihook kingfish rig, Garcia prefers a single 10/0 Eagle Claw 190 offset circle hook. He may miss more fish than other anglers who use the multiple-hook rigs, but he believes that the benefits far outweigh the costs.

“First, I don’t miss that many fish,” says Garcia. “I may have an occasional fish bite a mullet in half, but I can drop back and give the kingfish a second chance. The single hook doesn’t tear up a fish. Finally, the last thing you need in a small boat is three or four treble hooks hanging from a fish, even one you’ve whacked a couple of times and gaffed. It’s a safety issue.”

Garcia adds that live mullet swim better with a single hook through the nose. Bridle (floss) rigs might work too, but the jury is still out on how to mitigate the fragile nature of the connection in the presence of sharp teeth.

Trolling tackle for nearshore kings is a tad lighter than the bigger stuff that is popular for huge smokers. Garcia uses Penn Squall 20LW conventional reels loaded with 25-pound Ande, matched to 7-foot medium-heavy Ugly Stik conventional rods. Kinney prefers spinning reels, usually a 6500 Penn Spinfisher spooled with 60-pound braid or 25-pound Ande mono. He likes the latter for the shock-absorbing ­qualities on an initial fish surge, which mitigate the risk of pulling a hook. “Besides, you don’t want to get your finger against braid when a big king is making a hot run,” he says.

Kayak Kingfishing

Joe Montemayor, whose tackle shop is a major outlet for Hobie kayaks in the Rio Grande Valley, says that the jetty kingfish blitz time is a favorite season among his kayaking clientele. In the past few years, his inventory and sales of specialized kayaking equipment have risen sharply as the yak population slowly joins the mosquito fleet.

“It’s still an effort to work your way out to the pass and find a big king,” says Montemayor. “Hook it, fight it to the boat with no motor, then gaff it or release it — all the while dodging sharks, other troll fishermen, and big boats heading to the rigs and canyons. But some of my customers love the challenge!”

The kayak is ideal for the slow, almost casual trolling style that Montemayor calls the “yak patrol.” Kayak fishermen troll parallel to the jetties, past the point, and along the surf edge to the third bar and back again. A big, fresh ribbonfish is ideal bait for this application, he says. However, the multihook kingfish rig can be particularly problematic and even dangerous in such intimate quarters.

“I tell a lot of my kayakers they’ll have equally effective results without the extra hooks swinging around by pulling a 1-ounce Rat-L-Trap,” he says. “The steady pace is just perfect to get that lure to vibrate and rattle at the perfect rhythm. Then the only hooks you have to worry about are right in front of the fish, not swinging around your nose and ear.” Montemayor also recommends that his yak customers fish the venerable Russelure spoon and new LiveTarget 1-ounce Pinfish.

If you find yourself on the lower Texas coast sometime between April and November and see sport-fishers gunning for far-off locales, don’t turn green with envy. Turn your skiff or kayak toward the nearest pass and, like a pesky mosquito, provoke a king.

Topwater Action

Wire Knot A Problem

Catching Big Tarpon from Kayaks

It never hurts to have your favorite popping rod rigged with a topwater or jerkbait on a fluorocarbon leader ready for action. Mackerel aren’t the only kings that hold court during Texas’ mild months. Schools of tarpon of varying size, from acrobatic 20- and 30-pounders to mauling brutes topping 160 pounds, are often spotted rolling in the passes. They can be coaxed into striking a properly presented lure or bait. A large white jerkbait such as a Slug-O or Saltwater Assassin is tough to beat.

On a prior trip, a member of our fishing party, “Gator Dave” Rutledge, was pulling up a mullet to inspect its liveliness. Before he could pull the baitfish out of the water boat-side, the bucket mouth of a 7-foot tarpon closed around it and cherry-picked it off the hook in one loud gulp. No one on the boat said a word for several minutes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Calixto Gonzales is a lifelong angler of the south Texas Gulf Coast. He is the proud owner of a BayQuest 200 center-console named The Teacher’s Pet. You can find him trolling for kingfish all summer long.

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The video above includes highlights from Day 1, when we checked out a new software update from Raymarine that incorporates Navionics’ SonarChart Live. Navionics’ Paul Michele demonstrated how the software draws live sonar returns on top of your existing chart. The live data can be saved to your Raymarine unit, or it can be shared using Navionics’ Freshest Data system.

We headed out of the marina on Marco Island and turned south toward the 10,000 Islands. We cast Yo-Zuri topwaters and jerkbaits and Savage Gear soft baits for trout, redfish and snook, using Okuma inshore tackle. We caught about a dozen trout to 2 pounds, but found no redfish or snook.

We also ran several buoy lines for tripletail, casting a small Savage Gear shrimp to seven fish and hooking three but never bringing one to the boat.

On Day 2, we ran offshore with SKA captain Ron Mitchell aboard his 37-foot SeaHunter. We jigged and fished live baits around structure about 30 miles offshore. After hooking several massive rays off the R Tower, we moved to another set of numbers and caught three kingfish to 40 pounds and released two gag groupers in the 15- to 20-pound range.

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Extensive prep time for a successful day of trolling offshore involves breaking ballyhoo backs and clearing ballyhoo poop chutes; skirted lures, crimps and haywire twists; and other technical rigging that can take hours. There’s no better tactic to target marlin or sailfish, or even wahoo or tuna, than using traditional big-game trolling lures and rigs. But for species closer to shore and in bays and rivers, such as king mackerel, striped bass, grouper and speckled trout, trolling lipped plugs is a dynamite option. Check out what these experts had to say about trolling lipped plugs in different fishy scenarios.

Snacks for Macks

Catching kingfish with live baits, Drone spoons, stinger rigs or even metal jigs works well in different scenarios, but Capt. Jimmy Nelson of Crystal River, Florida, prefers ­deep-diving Yo-Zuri lipped plugs as his go-to method in the Gulf of Mexico. Nelson is sponsored by Yo-Zuri, but other lure companies produce comparable popular plugs, ­including Mann’s Stretch series, Rapala’s Magnum series and Williamson’s Speed Pro Deep.

“Trolling for kingfish with a lure can be more effective than live-baiting because you cover so much more ­water,” he says. “Also, I have fewer hooks pulled and skin-hooked fish compared to ­traditional stinger rigs.”

When sport fish attack a trolled plug and find the trebles, the landing rate seems to skyrocket, even when targeting speedy, toothy critters like king mackerel. Just keep tension on that first blistering run! Nelson prefers to troll the Yo-Zuri Crystal 3D Minnow Deep Divers and Hydro Magnums. Because those specific lures run 12 to 25 feet deep, his optimal boat speed is about 4 to 5 knots to make sure his plugs run true.

“Depending on the speed of the boat and how much line I have out, I’m generally trolling in 30 to 130 feet when targeting kingfish, but my favorite depth is 40 to 60 feet,” he says. “The best bottom structure to troll includes wrecks, ledges, or high-relief reefs and rocks, plus anywhere that’s holding lots of bait.”

Nelson switches between ­trolling with medium-heavy spin and conventional gear, though rods must have a fairly soft tip. “I like to troll with a medium-heavy 6500- to 7500-class spinning reel spooled with 65-pound Mustad (one of Nelson’s sponsors) braid,” he says. “From the main line, I tie on 50-pound leader, then 6 inches of wire, and lastly the lure.”

Digging Deep

Using mostly the same lures as Nelson, Capt. Charlie Ellis of Miami, Florida, targets grouper in earnest with lipped divers near local reefs in 25 to 40 feet of water. He prefers to troll in the fall, but also when the season opens in May (2016 Atlantic state waters).

“When I hook a fish, I always keep my boat in gear to drag the grouper out and then start reeling,” says Ellis. “If you [stop] the boat immediately, they’ll head straight back down to the bottom.”

Ellis uses baits like Mann’s Stretch 20s and Rapala Magnums that swim 20 to 25 feet deep when trolled at 5 to 7 knots. “Fish the sandy edges near reefs and rocks, but don’t troll directly over the structure,” he says. “You’ll quickly lose those plugs, which can be expensive. I want my plugs to bump against the sandy bottom, not drag.”

South Florida’s top grouper-trolling target is the gag, with reds and blacks caught less commonly. Reds tend to be less aggressive and blacks not as numerous, Ellis says. He uses conventional reels like Shimano’s TLD II or Torium with enough drag to pull fish off the bottom, coupled with a boat rod that handles 20- to 50-pound braid.

“Braided line is a must when ­trolling lipped lures,” he says. “The line cuts through the water, there’s little stretch, and it allows the best presentation of the lures. I’ll let out 20 to 25 yards of braid when trolling, depending on the lure.”

Besides grouper, Ellis takes cobia and king mackerel incidentally, especially in deeper sections along reefs.

“Trolling covers more territory than drifting or bottom fishing a single spot,” says Ellis. “You’re quickly able to work different structure and depths, and if you get bit, it’s easy to circle back and cover the same productive areas.”

Trolling With Pedal Power

I always have a lure in the water, ­especially if I’m paddling my kayak from spot to spot. And with the popularity of ­pedal-driven and even electric-­powered kayaks, many ­anglers have their hands free to fish while traveling. I’ve caught snook, seatrout, redfish, largemouth bass, kingfish, tarpon, bonito (little tunny) and other species trolling shallow-running plugs over flats, along mangrove-lined river bends, and paralleling the beach in 15‑plus feet of water.

Two necessary pieces of hardware are a pair of aftermarket rod holders from a company like Scotty, Railblaza, RAM or YakAttack. Mount the holders for trolling in the front, port and starboard, for quick access when a fish hits. To be safe, I attach a rod leash to each rod I use for trolling, as I’ve watched friends lose their setups to fish after ­vicious strikes.

The target species determines which tackle to use, though I’ve had equal success with both spinning and ­conventional equipment. Usually I’ll troll two rods, both tips aimed away from the paddle craft, like antennae on a giant ant.

I prefer lipped crankbaits inshore, such as the Sebile Action First Bull Crank, which dive shallow on the move but float to the surface when stopped. There are many times I’ll stop ­pedaling while kayaking, and at those times floating baits help prevent my lure from getting hung up. In deeper bays or along beachfronts, I’ll troll short-lipped stickbaits with longer profiles, such as Rapala X-Raps.

When a fish hits, don’t immediately go for the rod with the hooked fish. Instead, keep pedaling and quickly reel in the other line. The purpose of this tactic is twofold: Keeping the kayak moving sets the hook and keeps tension on the line, in my experience, and it allows you to clear your other baits. If paddling with a traditional sit-on-top kayak that requires arm power, I’ll troll just a single rod to prevent potential tangles. Some kayakers troll with a single rod even in pedal kayaks so they can set the hook themselves instead of relying on the kayak’s propulsion. A strike happens in a matter of seconds, so prepare for the bite and know what actions you need to take. No matter the species, trolling lipped baits is an ­effective tactic.

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