Up and down the east coast, as tournaments occur literally every weekend, kingfish anglers all have their favorite baits. We’re talking natural baits here – not artificials. Lures, plugs and chuggers will work from time to time, but by far the preferred baits are live.
Baits
The standard and most used bait is the ever-present menhaden shad. Called “pogies” by most people, huge schools of these shad can be found just outside the surf. They tend to stay near the surface, flipping their tails and causing a large rippling area that is relatively easy to spot from a boat.
Casts nets are the order of the day, and those that have at least a seven-foot radius do well in catching numbers of pogies. Sometimes diving pelicans give the school away. Other times anglers simply look for other boats on the beach already catching their bait.
On other than a tournament day, the VHF usually lights up in the morning with captains asking no one in particular where the bait is located. And other captains usually respond, helping out a fellow angler.
Pogies are not a hardy fish. They die quickly out of the water, and they require lots of circulating water in the live well. Lots of anglers have separate pogie live wells in addition to the ones built into their boat.
Pogies also do not do well in a live well that has any corners. Rectangular or square live wells simply do not work. Pogies tend to swim in a circle around the outside edge of the live well. When they reach a corner, they tend to stick their noses into the corner and bounce off the side of the live well. This causes what we call red nose as their noses apparently bruise in those corners.
Oval live wells work better, but a round live well is ideal. A good high capacity pump circulating water in a round live well can keep pogies alive and fresh all day.
Over offshore wrecks, many anglers use a Sabiki rig to catch blue runners and goggle eyes for kingfish bait. These are excellent baits, but not as dependable as a source of bait as pogies.
Some anglers will use cigar minnows and Spanish sardines caught on those same Sabiki rigs. They can be fished live or rigged and fast trolled over wreck or reef.
Popular among tournament anglers, the ribbonfish is a much sought after bait. The long silvery, toothy critter is a favorite of kingfish, and while hard to find and pricey at bait shops, it fills many bait coolers on tournament days. Fresh caught unfrozen ribbons can bring as much as ten dollars per fish. Brined and frozen ribbons with good bright eyes can bring four to five dollars each at bait shops up and down the coast.
One or more of this gamut of baits are generally found in a kingfish angler's bait well. Sometimes several of these baits are used, one on each rod.
Rigging
Most kingfish angling is accomplished slow trolling live baits. The boat needs to move as slowly as possible. My son says the only reason the boat needs to move at all is to keep the live baits from swimming up to the boat and tangling lines. Other anglers feel like 1.5 to 2 knots is a good speed.
When slow trolling, almost all the baits are hooked the same way. Pogies get a number four or five treble hook through their nose. This hook is wired to a piece of number four or five leader wire. Some anglers want this leader to be no longer than six inches. Some anglers will make them twelve inches long or more. Wired to the eye of this treble hook is another piece of leader about four inches long. To this sort piece of leader is another treble hook. This “stinger” hook is a major part of the terminal tackle.
