Miss Judy Charters
Captain Judy Helmey
"Kicking Fish Tail Since 1956!"
124 Palmetto Drive
Savannah, Georgia 31410
912 897 4921 or 912 897 3460 fax
www.missjudycharters.com
May 21, 2007
King Mackerel Catching for the Big Girls and Boys!
King mackerel Part Two
Will Duncan emailed me last week with some great questions in regards to seeking out and catching large king mackerel. They were such good questions that I wanted to share with you and Duncan my answers. These answers are formed from past experiences that I have had while just fishing and not really targeting king mackerel. However, I did find that these methods used did work time and time again when I started to get serious about catching large king mackerel!
The largest king fish that I ever caught hands down ate a 4-pound Spanish mackerel. This bait wasn't alive, but recently caught. There is one special secret to using Spanish mackerel as bait. The main thing that you need to make sure is that the bait keeps as much of it's natural shine as possible. The best way to accomplish this goal is handle the fish the least as possible. Every time you touch a mackerel some of it surface covering comes off on your hand. As soon as we catch a Spanish that we intend on using as bait we put it in water, which is the least abrasive. If you have along distance in which to travel or you plan on using the bait tomorrow I suggest icing the fish down. However, you don't want ice rolling over the fish. This will also wash the fish out. We just leave our fish in the live well when making short distance runs to the fishing grounds. Spanish mackerel don't last long in a live well, because they have to swim continuously in order to survive. Most live wells won't support this sort of movement.
I have found that over the year all sizes of Spanish mackerel work in regards to getting the attentions of a large king mackerel. It seems that a mid size freshly caught mackerel has worked the best for me. As you know I do a lot of bottom fishing. While bottom fishing I always like to let put a Spanish out, when available, and just let is "free lay" in the mid water column. As the boat drifts the bait, which is dead, but appealing gets a little added artificial life when the boat rocks. This is one bait that works, because any sort of light reflex's off of the fish's shinny skin getting the attention of all kings in the area. The good news about a king is that they have incredible eyesight. Their nickname is "brown eyes!" I think it should be "big brown eyes! The better to see you with!
Duncan asked:
How can you predict which spot or spots will produce big kings?
In my case I fish a lot of places. Not only that but I get the opportunity to gather good solid information from those that fish all of the time. As far a knowing where to look, is to have a base line on where which kings should be where during which time frame. For instance, large king fish don't usually migrate to the beach fronts until mid July till about early October. The months of July and August are prime times for targeting a large fish close to shore. Now I must add when targeting just a large fish you are limiting yourself to catching. The reason being is that a large king is going to be a loner. The reason being is it probably has eaten all of its friends. So therefore migrating and traveling is a lonely job for a big king fish.
There is one thing that you could do is to check the stats on where fish were supposedly caught using information from past tournament participants. Although some information isn't always true it's easier to get information after a tournament or listening to all of the talk also helps. Listening on the radio is another way to get information. When fishermen catch fish they normally like to share a little of what they caught, but not necessarily the location. However, listening can prove very informative. Another thing to check current and pasted records to see what size fish were caught where. Gray's reef is another place that holds the interest of lots of large smoker king fish. Here's a suggestion that will work, but it will take a little time to get the information together. Get yourself a chart of the offshore water in this area. Start making notes of date and time where landing were reported. For instance: Until the first week of May we were catching our limit of king mackerel every day. The mackerel catching started in late March and ended the first week in May. All fish were caught in around 95 feet of water. About a week before we started finding the kings staging out by the naval towers and in close holding over live bottom areas in a little shallower water. It looked at the time like the schools exactly split with one group going offshore and other heading inshore. The kings caught were from snakes to smokers.
Fish are driven by the available food source. When we were catching king mackerel while trolling fast with our Drone spoons they were full of cigar minnows. We stopped to try to slow trolled live cigar minnows, but not a hit did we get! My take was that they there were so many minnows, why hit one that looks funny with all of that metal sticking in it. As the month pasted the minnow migrated out and juvenile squid became their eating focus point. This bite pattern lasted another week with most fish regurgitating squid all over our decks and inside our coolers. The king bite was so strong that I knew it couldn't last much longer and it didn't. Some fish are still being caught while trolling the naval towers and the blue water of the Gulf Stream. The fish as well as the bait has moved. The artificial reefs, which usually are covered with Spanish sardines, cigar minnows, and other air bladder-less small fish, are bait barrow! My suggestion is that when you find any sort of bait holding is to fish the outskirts to see what's hanging out there!
Duncan asked, do you use one of these Internet sources to locate these "up wellings?" If not what do you look at or for to find them? Do you think from your experience that these Internet sources can be a valuable tool in finding big kings?
It's true you can purchase "read outs" (Sea surface temperature read outs are offered free from sstcharts.com) that can indicate such occurrences. However, it has been my experience that an "up Whelling" is formed when strong currents crosses/flows over some sort of upward bottom structure, hole, or ledge. Now that's a mouth full! With that being said, " I suggest starting to train your eye for such occurrences." There are many locations in which there are so called "up whellings" taking place inshore. For instance: At red marker 16 located in Warsaw Sound there is normally is a great example of an "up whelling!" Water boils up in this area due to the fact that there is a ledge present exactly where the current speeds by. Now this is not always present. However, when the current is running the "up whelling" is boiling! This is a good point so as to get any idea of what to look for in an "Up Whelling." Another good spot to look is at where Turner's Creek and Wilmington River meet. There is a ledge located here where when current passes over an "up whelling" is formed.
Water basically boils in a couple spots in these particular areas. These would be great spots to study so that you will know to look for offshore. The good news about offshore is that the water is clearer and you can see down into the up whelling, which normally is lined with something. These occurrences offshore are usually lined with nutrients picked up from the bottom and any sort of debris that floated by. When we caught the large 50 pound king a couple of weeks ago there was a large "Up Whelling" formed holding all sorts of debris and nutrients. These formed areas should be called "fish callers" instead of "up Whelling, because that's exactly what they do! Duncan I hope some of this information helps! Thanks again for the e-mail! Good fishing and also I wish you the best of luck with the tournaments!