“Kingfish Bonanza”
By Terry Lacoss
“My client was reeling in a nice offshore kingfish when suddenly the hooked king mackerel stopped swimming and simply came to the boat, tailless, “Captain Terry David Lacoss said. “I looked in the water and saw what I first thought was a very large barracuda. However, a closer look proved that it was a giant kingfish who seconds later ate my clients 15-pound kingfish. I have seen a lot of big kings during my past years of king fishing, that king was by far the largest and had to weigh well over 50-pounds”!
Without a doubt the current run of king mackerel has been the best in several years with kingfish schooling at many near shore live bottoms and wrecks. Kingfish have also shown up along the beaches and inlet mouths of Northeast Florida as well weighing up to 50-pounds. During last weekend’s “Ancient City Gamefish Challenge” the top seven kingfish weighed over the forty-pound mark. “Chum On” took top honors with a massive 48.18-pound kingfish while past “Fernandina Beach Kingfish Tournament” winners Dr. John and Barbara Adcox came in a close second place with a 46.70-pound kingfish.
Local saltwater angler Eddie Frey was fishing aboard Karl Mrozek’s brand new 25-foot Black Jack bay boat when he landed a potential new Nassau Sport Fishing Association record king mackerel.
Eddie and I were slow trolling live menhaden in the FA area when a big kingfish struck a weighted live menhaden,” Karl Mrozek said. Eddie was running close to the N.S.F.A. “Angler of the Year” honors so he secured the deeply bent kingfish rod. The first run was very long, followed by several short runs before the tired kingfish gave up its fight. I secured Eddies with my boat’s long kingfish gaff. Back at the Amelia Island Yacht Basin, club member John Burns took several photos of Eddies kingfish. We also weighed the big king on Atlantic Bait & Seafood scales, which weighed 36-pounds, beating the old record of 34-pounds.”
Karl also mentioned that when he purchased his new Black Jack bay boat, he was looking for a boat with a black bottom, which this one had.
“I believe the color black on the bottom of the boat attracts more fish,” Mrozek said. “We’ve had a lot of good luck this year catching kingfish and cobia with this new boat, I have to believe the darker color stands out and actually attracts more fish to our live and dead trolling baits.”
Karl is exactly right, darker colored boat bottoms will show up better for game fish lurking deep in the water column, instead of a white boat bottom that blends in with white clouds. While in many cases any fishing trick that fishermen use while king fishing is energy for a better day of fishing!
Hopefully the current run of kingfish will continue right through next week’s “Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament”, July 16-21st. In past kingfish seasons it has seemed like there is a big run of kingfish during the month of May through the first portion of July, then the kingfish run thins out. If there is a good abundance of forage foods holding in close to the inlets and beaches, the local kingfish run will have a good chance of continuing right through the summer fishing season.
King mackerel fishermen are reporting good numbers of jack crevalle and bonito holding in local kingfish waters which is an excellent sign that there is a lot of bait fish schooling as well. Large schools of menhaden have been holding along the beaches of Amelia Island just south of “Main Beach” and all the way south to the Omni-Amelia Island Plantation resort. At offshore wrecks and live bottoms king mackerel fishermen are also finding good numbers of Spanish sardines and cigar minnows as well.
