[dropcap]S[/dropcap]eptember is here and summer time is dwindling down. Big kingfish have been here all summer but this is the time of year that more of the big kings will start heading to the Treasure Coast waters on their trek south.
When the waters warm again from the August cold water upwelling, it will be time to find the bait schools of pilchards and greenies off the beach. For the first couple of hours in the morning, kingfish, big and small, lurk around these schools of bait. Once you catch some bait, hook a bait or two up and slow troll the live bait around the edges of the bait schools. This is a great way to hook up a monster kingfish. If the bait schools are around structure, this will increase your chances of hooking up a smoker kingfish.
As the day goes on, the majority of the kingfish will move to deeper waters. Anywhere out to 80 feet will be a good area to find kingfish. Look for kingfish around structure and ledges. When heading out to the deeper depths, try to have a variety of live baits such as pilchards, greenies and big blue runners to put in your trolling spread. If you are running out of live bait, don’t have live bait or would prefer a faster trolling speed, kingfish will hit shiny spoons like the drone spoon and big lipped lures.
Whatever way you choose to fish for kingfish (live bait or lures) always use a wire leader. These fish have razor sharp teeth that will slice through any size mono leader easily. I recommend using a light tip rod equipped with a higher speed reel with a lot of line capacity. Kingfish make fast long-runs and you will want to keep a bend in the rod so you don’t let slack in the line.
We use number 7 wire leader with a small number 4 treble hook in the nose of the live bait. From the main nose hook always attach another 2-to-3-inch piece of wire to another treble hook for a “stinger rig.” The stinger hook then gets attached to the bait in the middle of the bait under its dorsal fin (being sure to leave enough length between the nose hook and stinger hook to allow the fish to swim as naturally as possible). Kingfish will not always take the whole bait on the initial strike missing the hook in the baits nose, therefore, the addition of the stinger hook increases your chance of a hook-up.
I also recommend using light drag because more times than not, a kingfish will be foul hooked in the head or back. By using light drag to fight these fish, it will keep the hook from pulling out of the skin. It is common to catch these fish up to 30-50 pounds. Good luck and have a great time on the water.