What's hot: The fall kingfish migration has arrived on schedule. Kingfish are being caught up and down our beaches. Clearwater hard bottom, Redington hard bottom, the Egmont Channel and Blind Pass all have lots of bait schools and good-sized kings. We fished Sunday off the Don CeSar after getting live pilchards and threadfins by the Pass-a-Grille tripod. We were in for a great day of kingfishing.
Tips: We prefer live bait slow-trolled with light tackle, using 15- to 20-pound test. Nos. 1 and 2 live bait hooks attached to 30-pound wire are required to prevent your leaders from being cut off. Kings and Spanish mackerel have sharp teeth and make quick work of monofilament line. The rule of thumb: The bigger the baits, the bigger the kingfish. Along with retired Army Capt. Chris Bischoff, we witnessed one of the biggest feeding frenzies I have seen. Kingfish were busting bait schools from Don CeSar to Blind Pass. Live bait were constantly being pushed to the surface as the gulf waters were boiling with action.
Make plans: You can count on kingfish and Spanish mackerel action to be excellent through the end of November. Besides our beaches, good places to find kings are the Rube Alyn, South County Reef, 10 Fathom Wreck and any structure that may be holding large bait schools.
Larry "Huffy'' Hoffman charters out of John's Pass, Treasure Island. Call (727) 709-9396 or e-mail him at huffyl@tampabay.rr.com.
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