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The King of the Beach is one of the area's largest tournaments and has great participation among everyday fisherman, not just hard-core tournament types. Often, fishermen not on the water every day struggle to catch live bait. Many times folks drive over top of a bait pod and drop sabikis or try to throw a 6-foot net in 40 feet of water. It just isn't going to happen.
Bait is going to hold onto the upcurrent side of a marker or piling. The easiest way to position a boat to catch it is to go stern into the wind. Use your motor to hold you in place while using sabiki rigs to jig bait. If you are going to throw a net, go upwind of your target and let the wind and current push you back toward where you want to throw. Try to throw before getting to the target as the current will cause the net to drift. You want the net to drift through the target area, not land on top and drift past the bait.
The best news about last weekend's King of the Beach Tournament is there are plenty of big kingfish yet to come this way. Of the top seven fish, six came from as far south as Naples. With the relatively mild weather, the water has stayed comfortable for the pelagics, and with the reports of fish well south of us kingfish should be with us for several weeks.
- Mike Whitman charters the Mega Bite out of Gulfport. Call 727 384-5729, view the Web site at www.megabitecharters.com or e-mail capt@megabitecharters.com