Kingfish Frenzy in Steinhatchee

[GrouperMaster]

Seawater temperatures have fallen off considerably, 5-8 degrees depending on what time of day you take a reading. Most fishermen don't pay much attention to changes in water temperature, but the fish are aware on each degree change. The cooling waters have prompted kingfish to start migrating south; Keaton Beach, Steinhatchee, Horseshoe Beach, and Suwannee are directly in their migration route at the moment! What to do, what to do, with this invasion of war-toothed kingfish? Gather up your arms to defend our coast. Here is a game plan. A multitude of boats aimlessly trolling the coast from 15 to 45' of water, creating a undefined line of fire the kingfish must swim through to get south. I troll four lines back (two are less complicated). The reels have smooth drags and loaded with 15 to 30 lb mono terminally tied to 2-3' of #5 single strand wire leader with a snap swivel. One can buy the wire leaders pre-rigged at any tackle shop. Here's the ammo. Flashy spoons with and without trolling weights are good but I like to use plugs because I don't have to worry that my trolling speed will cause the spoons to skip along the surface. Furthermore, plugs are designed to run a varying depths making it simpler to cover the water column, meaning that some baits are running near the surface while the others are running closer to the bottom. Here is a list of plugs that have worked for me, Rebel Jawbreaker, Rapala CD 18 and 22, Bomber Long A's, and Mann's Stretch 18, 25 and 30's. Here's the set up for trolling four rods at once. The two stern lines are rigged with baits that run the deepest and the two forward lines are rigged with baits that run the shallowest. The depth the plug runs is listed on the package it comes in. If you're just trolling two lines, simply troll a deep and a swallow plug off the stern. Make sure you don't have plug out that runs deeper than the depth of water your in, for example, setting back a Mann's Stretch 30 in 25' of water will cost you $12+ for a new plug. Another important consideration is drag setting, make sure the line will slip off the reel by hand pulling line from the reel. It should slip off with a gentle pull, if not, reduce the drag. Kingfish hit a plug like a bolt of lightening and if the drag is set tight the line will snap. How far are the plugs set back? How fast do I troll? There are no hard fast rules, but a starting point is run the plugs back for 20 to 30 seconds while moving forward at 4-6 mph. Where is a good spot to fish? That's the beauty of kingfishing this time of year, the fish are moving around not holding to any structure. However, if bait fish are present, be sure and spend time trolling in that area. Pods of bait fish are like gas stations for kingfish, one will be pulling through every now and then for a fill up. Otherwise, start trolling from east to west taking note of the water depth when the first fish strikes then maintain trolling in that depth moving south or north. Oh, by the by, don't be surprised if a grouper bangs the plug. Grouper have started eating plastic lately! Trolling is a great way to find new grouper bottom; keep a close eye on your sonar unit, a real close eye.
Trout can be fickle when the temperature fluctuates during the day. The mornings have been quite cool so the trout have been moving off to 8 to 12' of water which is warmer. During the day when the temperature warms up and the seas calm down, the trout move in to the 2 to 4' depths. During the cool morning period work the deeper grass beds, then as the day warms fish closer to the bank. Jigs bounced over the beds are working best. In the evenings, the waters are calm and trout are slurping bait fish off the surface. Yeah, top water time! A surface strike, to me, is worth ten hits on a jig. For me the quality of the fishing trip is not necessarily measured by the number of dead fish in the box at the end of the day. I'll reflect about a Top Dog, Jr being flung from the surface, yet not remember how many trout where caught on a jig.
Life is short, fish more often. Take care and thanks for reading.
Capt. B