Outdoors

Kingfish find warm water welcoming

By DAVE ZALEWSKI, Times Correspondent
Published December 14, 2007

When the last stop of the day is the best one, charter captains are usually accused of keeping that spot in case the early part of the day was not productive. Mother Nature can be accused of the same thing this year based on the great fishing for both benthic and pelagic species the past two weeks.

Although Spanish mackerel activity has slowed, their larger cousins, kingfish, have arrived. November catches of kingfish were not up to par at the South County Artificial Reef and the edges of the Egmont shipping channel, but both of these spots are now teeming with kingfish ranging from 8 to 20 pounds. Trolling Nos. 2 and 3 planers with large spoons and plugs will locate fish along the channel.

Figure 8 patterns around the buoys starting at markers 9 and 10 and working west will help locate the schools. The actual channel edges are located outside the buoys. Watch the depth finder while trolling between sets of markers to find the most productive area.

Schools of large bonita have been active. The water offshore is crystal clear, and once a bonita is hooked several more will often swim alongside it. Have a frozen sardine ready to pitch to the free-swimming fish.

Grouper fishing for both gags and reds has been hot, even with the one-tide days we have had. Normally the red grouper action slows down this time of year on the hard-bottom "swiss cheese" areas in 80 to 100 feet because of the lack of baitfish. Schools of bait can still be found in these depths, along with kingfish at the surface and middle depths and grouper and red snapper on the bottom.

Red snapper are out of season right now and must be released carefully. Snapper fight much differently than a grouper. Reeling in a snapper slowly will increase its chance of survival. Not every bait pile will hold fish, but dropping a bait - either live, frozen or a large jig with a curly tail - to the bottom can be successful.

Because of the warm water temperature the fish are still active and the larger ones will not hesitate to chase down a live bait. Pinfish, squirrelfish and small blue runners have been producing most of our larger fish.

[Last modified December 13, 2007, 21:18:55]