The Heat Is On

Increased water and air temperatures mean two things, Tropical storms and Offshore trolling fish. We will leave out the part about the tropical storms because most of us could do without them but the offshore trolling is once again firing off to be another banner year. This month I am going to describe the best way to catch king mackerel and some of the better ways to catch other trolling fish.

When it comers to king mackerel, I hear a lot of people say things like, "Kingfish, who wants to catch them" and "I really don't like kingfish". If you are in this category, you have forgot the reasons that most of us fish.

Think about it, we fish to have fun with our buddies and family, put some fresh fish on the table and get away from the hustle and bustle of our day to day lives. Not many of you can tell me that you are out there for one reason only and that being to put meat in the box. I say this because I am a boat owner and am aware of the cost of owning a boat, buying equipment, insurance, fuel and maintenance. With these factors taken into consideration, there is NO WAY that most of us can say it is cheaper to catch our own fish as opposed to going to the local seafood guy and buying what he has in the case. Think about what you have spent on a boat and all of the equipment and the fish we catch is going to be around $100 per pound. Much more than seafood market prices.

Now that we have established that we are fishing for the fun rather than to save money on fish, lets talk about catching king mackerel.

These fish are usually pretty easy to catch, put up a great fight, sometimes come out of the water crashing down on our baits and when prepared fresh are pretty darn good eating.

Now lets try to get our rigs set up to catch some of these "FUN TO CATCH FISH".

There are many ways to try to catch kings, live bait, dead bait, spoons, cedar plugs, planers, artificial baits and probably several more.

One of the easiest ways is to drag spoons and cedar plugs. For many years the commercial fishing industry has done this to produce big numbers of fish with little effort.

If you are a live baiter, you will all know that it takes a good part of each day to catch bait before you can even get a line wet. If you are a cast netter trying to get poggies, you have to wait for the sun to come up before the poggies come to the surface. If you are a Sabiki jigger, you have to find live bait at a wreck, then spend from one to two hours catching them before you are ready to troll.

With spoons, you can head out before it gets good and light, get to your spot and be fishing before you ever would if you had to catch bait.

Check out these rigs and give them a try.

Spoons can be drug behind a planer, sent down on a downrigger or drug on the surface. Although most of your strikes will come from the ones sent down below the surface.

I start out with a Pflueger Contender 40 L reel. This reel should be spooled with 40 lb test Cajun Red line. Your rod should be a Shakespeare Custom 30 to 50 pound 6 1/2 foot with roller guides at the first and last guide (roller guides are important because of the constant pressure on the line).

Tolling speed should be between 5 and 7 knots.

Instructions

Attach one end of the double snap swivel to the mono planer leader. Open the other snap and place the rubber band inside the snap (leaving the snap open). Make several loops around the line from your rod with the rubber band and place the end in the snap and close. As you let the lure out, the double snaps and band will go down to the planer. When a fish strikes, the rubber band will break and release from the planer allowing you to fight the fish freely. With a supply of double snap swivels and rubber bands, it is not necessary to retrieve the planer after each strike. Simply repeat the process described above, and collect the double snap swivels at the end of the day. If you wish to use a more elaborate system than the rubber band release, one of many release clips available will do an excellent job.

Instructions

Setting and Retrieving Planers

To set the planer, attach the snap swivel from the planer line to the brass ring on the planer and ease it into the water at a 45-degree angle. Should the planer trip while fishing, it may be reset by pulling the planer line forward (2’ to 3’) and then releasing. This may take several attempts since you must change the altitude of the planer in order to get it from the neutral position into the planing position. A slightly slower boat speed will help. Your planer may be tripped for retrieval by pulling forward and releasing the planer line.

Planer Depth

Planers will run at a 45-degree angle and achieve approximately one foot of depth for each two feet of planer line when used with appropriate line. There is a point where a planer reaches its optimum depth. For example, 50’ of planer line will probably result in a planing depth of 25’. Unfortunately, it does not follow that 100’ of line will generate 50’ of depth. It is more likely that 125-150’ of planer line would be required. Speed will only take a planer down so far and the process reverses itself. You can see this if you pull a planer at very high speed. Eventually, it will actually jump out of the water. Diameter and density of the planer line or cable is an important factor relative to depth. Monofilament lines run deeper than braided lines; and stainless steel cable (275 to 400 lb. test) will obtain even greater depths. For a detailed explanation of planers, how they work and the various factors affecting operation and depth. This can be seen at www.seastriker.com

I usually run two lines like this and one on each side of the boat about 75 feet out behind the boat and one out about a mile, not really, but I do send one out a long way, about 300 feet back. I like lures like the blue and white and red and white cedar plugs, big Sea Striker spoons, Island Lures rigged with a big trolling squid or a bally hoo. All of these will produce strikes. This time of the year you can expect to catch king mackerel, bonita, cobia, barracuda, sailfish, amberjacks, big spanish mackerel and more. Most of these fish are good to eat and all will stretch your string and give you a good battle.

Island lure that I run on my long line. This produces, kings, cuddas, wahoo, dolphin and more. Try other colors, like red and white and blue and white. Be very careful with this lure. Do not get it close to the water until you are ready to send it out. A fish might just jump up and eat this before you get it in the water.

Recipe for king mackerel: Steak the fish in about 2 inch steaks. Trim the belly meat and discard. Take the steaks and let them soak in a beer marinade for a few hours. Get you grill hot. Get a pan and in it put 1 stick of butter, 3 crushed garlic cloves, a splash of beer or wine, some crushed onion, a little salt and pepper. Place the steaks meat side down, baste the top side with butter garlic sauce you made. Cook on this side for about 10 minutes then flip the steaks to the other side and baste. Cook on this side for about 10 minutes and you are ready for some good eats.

Inshore Action:

If the inshore action keeps as it is, we should have a banner year one trout and flounder. Already starting to see a few tarpon in the backwater. Jacks, ladyfish and a few sharks showing up in the creeks. The bait is so thick you can walk on it.

If everything goes just right and you are in the right spot, you should end up with some of these.

Remember, moms and dads, spend some time with your sons and daughters and they will not grow up being problem kids. I PROMISE.

This report is brought to you by

Capt Jim's Fun Fishing Inc.
17184 Dorado Cir
Jacksonville, Fl 32226
904 757 7550
www.hammondfishing.com
jim@hammondfishing.com