Captain's Report - March/April, 2008

by Capt. Dave Mistretta

Spring kings: King fishing should start to pick up this week. Already, anglers fishing off Sarasota County have been steadily catching the big macks. We have had scattered reports off Pinellas for the past 2 weeks. As water temps begin to creep towards the seventy degree mark, we’ll experience the big pushes of fish.

Following their migration: This time year the kings will travel in big schools, as they migrate up the coast. It’s common to have hundreds of fish in a single school. They don’t necessarily settle in areas that hold baitfish in the beginning part of this spring run. That’s why it’s best to cover some area searching. Artificial trollers seem to have the best luck locating these big schools in the early part of the season. With speeds of 4 to 7 knots, anglers can cover some grounds in search of these big schools. The fish will be starving from their long journey, so expect lots of action once you have located them. Just about anything that wiggles will get devoured.

Here today, gone tomorrow: In the beginning of the spring run, these schools of kingfish don’t stay in the same location for more than a few days. It’s quite common to catch a bunch of fish for 2 or three days. After their short stay at the same location, the school will vanish overnight. Once water temps go above 70 degrees, more kings will arrive, settling in for longer periods of time. That’s when common hot spots become more active. All the arterial reefs are great places to start. They will be the first places to hold large amounts of bait, allowing the kingfish to eat aggressively.

Here’s some good advice for any anglers wanting to give the kingfish tournaments a whirl. First and fore most, practice makes perfect. Getting as much time on the water chasing these big macks will really help you understand their feeding habits. My suggestion: fish as much as possible!

Water temps dictate their arrival, but a common food source is really what I am constantly observing. The king mackerel is always on the lookout for a tasty meal. And a challenge has never slowed them down. A speedy pursuit of quick darting baitfish can get a big king really worked up. A large mullet is a perfect example. These hearty fish can leap from the water long distances to avoid the razor-like teeth of a kingfish. Their frantic leaps won’t detour a hungry king from relentlessly attacking until the job gets done. This past spring, we had a giant kingfish sky rocket 6 times out of the water after a mullet before finally devouring it in mid air. The first few jumps were extraordinary, with the 5 foot mackerel leaping almost twenty feet in air, chasing after the frantic mullet.

Massive schools of white bait and threadfin herring are one of the biggest draws for kings, during the spring and fall migrations. If you find large concentrations of bait, eventually there will be big kings. Some times it takes a day or two for the giant macks to locate their food source. But eventually, it will happen. We often mark the schools of baitfish with the GPS plotting system. That’s when it time to play “hopscotch”. We will troll around each of these schools of bait until we hit jackpot. Most schools will stay in the same area for a weeks, until a major weather or tide change.

Captain's Report - March/April, 2008

by Capt. Dave Mistretta

Past Captain's Reports