Kings Make A Royal Appearance Around Tampa Bay

With the Gulf temperature at about 78 degrees, things are just right for the fall migration of king mackerel through Bay area waters. The fish seem to prefer the 78- to 68-degree zone, moving south in fall, north in spring to stay in their comfort zone.

Kings are a popular target among coastal anglers because they have the speed and power of true pelagic or bluewater game- fish, but they're found much closer to shore. Many are caught well inside Tampa Bay each year, at least as far north as Port Manatee, and the main migrations typically pass our area from 100 yards off the beach to about 10 miles out.

Kings grow fast and reach prodigious size. Twenty-pounders are common, and 40- to 50-pounders are caught along our shores each year. The average of school-sized fish is 7 to 12 pounds, and at this size a king is easily capable of ripping off 100 yards of line from a spinning reel in seconds.

Because kings travel in schools, it's not uncommon to catch a dozen or more where you catch one. Find the baitfish schools - they make themselves highly evident at this time of year by boiling on the surface - and you'll likely find the king mackerel. Flocks of gulls and pelicans diving from above make it even easier to find the fish, and often there's also a fleet of boats.

The best bite on top is usually from dawn until about 9 a.m.; the early bird really does catch the worm, in this case. After the sun gets high, the fish tend to drop down a bit, and most anglers switch to No. 1 or 2 planers or downriggers to deliver a spoon or rigged bait well below the surface.

Trolling is the favored tactic for those who simply want some kings for the table.

The school-sized fish are easier to catch than the much larger "smokers," and also have a lower mercury content. Fish longer than 30 inches have been shown to have fairly high mercury levels in past years, so eating them should be avoided.

One of the favorite trolling rigs is a cigar minnow, ballyhoo or blue runner rigged with a small skirt and a chain of two or three hooks trailing down the belly. The extra hooks prevent the sharp-toothed kings from cutting the bait in half and missing the barbs - or at least they do sometimes.

Also effective is slow-trolling a live blue runner or threadfin, or a small bluefish or ladyfish. Again, most anglers add extra "stinger" hooks, usually No. 6 trebles dangled along the sides on a short piece of No. 6 wire. These baits are pulled at the slowest possible idle speed, and many anglers put out a trail of menhaden oil in their wake to chum the fish in. This is the preferred tactic by many who fish kingfish tournaments seeking the largest fish; it can be awhile between bites, but it works for the big female fish.

Kings are anywhere the bait is, but they often hang around hard bottom areas, ship wrecks, artificial reefs, main channel buoys and anywhere there's a "color line" between the dark inshore water and green offshore water on strong current flows.

A current bonus in kingfish water is the schools of monster redfish that are prowling around the bait schools. Captain Richard Howard reports seeing numerous schools of several hundred fish, all of them in the 40- to 50-inch range, in recent days.

"There are so many they actually turn the water a reddish cast," Howard said. "And they eat just about anything you can get into the school."

The big reds are off limits for harvest - maximum size is 28 inches - but they are incredible gamefish, and withstand catch-and-release fishing easily.

Kings are limited to two per angler per day more than 24 inches long. They're excellent table fare, particularly when cut into 2-inch-thick steaks and barbecued on a very hot grill. Cut away the skin and red line, and serve with a squeeze of lemon and a dash of butter.

It's a meal fit for a king.