It’s kingfish time on the Space Coast! Summer is in full swing and the beach is getting good! The last few weeks the kingfish bite along the beach has been very good, anglers can find these fish in a variety of depths.
The biggest factor is looking for bait pods such as threadfins, pilchards and pogies, in clean water, the more blue the water the better the odds and these fish will hardly ever hangout in dirty muddy water, the best method for catching these toothy critters is slow trolling, typically bump trolling with your engine or even a 4/5 speed on your trolling motor is perfect.
When king fishing, your spread is crucial, in order to keep lines from getting tangled I like to use two rods, one set really far behind the boat and one very short 15-20 feet or so (in the prop wash). Often times these fish will get curious and come up close to the boat and any of the baits mentioned will do the trick!
For those looking for an easy day with no cast net or sabiki rigs, these fish can also be caught trolling plugs such as the rapala x rap. I like natural colors such as blue or white and a bigger profile works better in my opinion so an 8-10 inch plug with a big lip to get down 10-12 feet is my go to! If you’re finding you’re marking fish down or seeing fish that just don’t want to commit, it’s not a bad idea to run a down rigger or planer system to get your baits to the appropriate depth. This will often yield more strikes, summer is a great time to catch these kings and can even produce some big fish to 40-50lbers!
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