![]() Spanish mackerel may also be around and will beat the blues to the lures if they are retrieved too quickly. Fishermen have different color preferences, but all Got-Chas have gold hooks. They regularly break out their jigging rods and catch blues to stock bait tanks on the ends of the piers. Davis and Crump both caught their kings by suspending bluefish on trolley rigs.īluefish are plentiful in the spring and pier fishermen take advantage of them. Crump caught a 41-pounder and a 36-pounder on that same day. Bo Crump caught the heaviest king taken from an Oak Island Pier on a 53-pound, 6-ounce fish caught on Ocean Crest Pier. Kathy Davis set the IGFA Women’s 16-pound class world record with a 53-pound, 3-ounce fish caught from now-defunct Long Beach Pier on April 27, 1991. Kings heavier than 50 pounds have been caught during this spring run from two Oak Island piers. Some menhaden may be around, but lots of bluefish will be, and kings are feeding on them, so they are the best bait. When this run begins, word spreads quickly, and fishermen head to the Oak Island’s piers and the waters just off the beach. Because the water is warming quickly this spring, it’s shaping up to be an early run. Sometimes, the Cape Fear River sea buoy is too far offshore. These kings migrate right along the beach and are usually found from the ends of the piers out a couple of miles. When this run begins - usually between the third weekend in April and Mother’s Day - the first word is often from the piers. Not only is this the first nearshore run of kings each year, but there are good numbers of larger fish. This run is special and happens so regularly that some fishermen plan their vacations around it. Of the fish that nearshore kings prefer, bluefish are the first to arrive, so it’s only natural they make good baits.Įvery year, the first word of kings arriving comes from fishermen between Cape Fear and Little River on the South Carolina border. They vary in size early in the year, but from about 12 ounces to three pounds, they make excellent live baits. When kings first show up on the beach, my bait of choice is a bluefish. Kings are only inshore from late spring to fall, and such a variety of baitfish is available, they can be more selective about what they eat. That isn’t absolutely correct, but it is a strong truism. ![]() Many fishermen believe catching kings closer to shore requires live baits. Many recreational fishermen forego the long leaders and lures used by commercial fishermen and slow-troll these packaged and frozen baits on what is essentially a heavier live bait-style rig that usually sports a small skirt or duster to pulse in the water and help create the appearance that the bait is moving on its own. ![]() The offshore kings feed on cigar minnows, sardines and chub mackerel and will usually readily hit them even frozen. This requires heavy tackle and isn’t very sporting, but it is very productive until the water warms. ![]() Kings that overwinter offshore compete for food and readily strike spoons and sea witches rigged with strips trolled behind planers and heavy trolling weights at speeds ranging from four to seven miles an hour. Techniques and baits needed to catch these fish can be surprisingly different. The other group moves up the coast from Florida as the water warms and bait moves north in the spring, then returns south to warmer water as the water cools and baitfish head south during the fall. One population of kings is around all year, moving inshore and offshore as the water warms and cools and baitfish move to and fro. Division of Marine Fisheries proved that two groups of migratory kings visit North Carolina waters, one migrating inshore and offshore and one migrating north and south from Florida, and that the inshore-offshore group didn’t intermingle with the Florida group during the winter. In the late 1980s, biologists with the N.C. Thankfully, fishermen have two distinct groups of king mackerel to fish, and one stays close to the beach. Another group of dedicated fishermen have no boats at all and are limited to floating baits from the ocean piers. Many dedicated fishermen do not have large boats to make the trip to the edge of the Continental Shelf, where the kings spent the winter they must wait until the schools move within their range off the beach. The first report of kings close to the beach will bring an onslaught from the mosquito fleet, and marinas, motels and tackle shops will be filled with smiling faces and tall tales. All winter, kings were reportedly caught at the edge of the Continental Shelf, and with such a warm, early spring, the tension has been growing with every warm day. ![]()
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