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Fall Kingfish Have Arrived

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 26, 2008

GO FISHING is a look at the area fishing scene through the eyes of local charter boat captains and fishing guides. Today: Bill Miller.

The fall kingfish season is under way, and it should only get better. Good kingfish reports are coming in from north of Tarpon Springs to Boca Grande.

Captain Wally Stovall has been limiting out on kings by anchoring and chumming on rock piles west of Big Bank.

Captain Leighton Ingram, running out of Dunedin, caught a pair of 30-pound kings while slow-trolling blue runners along the crab trap lines off Honeymoon Island.

The hard-bottom areas 2 miles west of Clearwater are consistently producing limit catches for captain Charlie Housh. Housh likes to slow-troll ballyhoo rigged with a yellow duster. Larry Mastry, fishing the 7-11 bottom off St. Petersburg, had three kings of more than 20 pounds and numerous schoolies on a half-day trip Wednesday.

Kingfish tournaments will be taking place every weekend through November. These tournaments reward anglers for the biggest fish, not the most. The secret for catching big kings is big bait. Popular baits include ladyfish, mackerel, shad, mullet and blue runners. These big baits will require double or triple stingers behind the nose hook to prevent cutoffs and to increase your hookup ratio.

Fishing on the Miss Pass a Grille party boat has been as good as it has been in six years. Anglers have been catching grouper, porgies, sea bass, gray snapper and an occasional kingfish.
Captain Don Chancey has been catching keeper grouper in 20 feet of water off Homosassa. Chancey trolls big plugs until he finds the grouper, then anchors and uses live pinfish.

Captain Bill Miller hosts "Hooked on Fishing" on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7-8 p.m. on Bright House Sports Networks.

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