Most of us anglers do not own fancy boats, much less even a kayak to rowboat, just a pair of God given legs, so we are prawn to learn to fish from the shore, adapt our skills and fish on a budget. With the right skills, equipment and patience, kingfish in the 20- and 30-pound class are being caught within 200 yards of the beaches here in the Venice area and up through the Inlets, northward, southward of the pier, on the pier and beyond. Spanish Mackerel at the VENICE CITY PIER, at Sharky’s on the Pier in Venice Florida are yielding those in the 24 to 28 inch class, with a number of kingfish landed on the boards in the 40 inch plus class this last couple of week by locals, including myself. There has been a lot of bait on the beaches due to the wind direction and with this latest cold front passing and water temperatures dropping, the smoking bigger kings should be making a showing. Maybe as early as Sunday or Monday, to which I will be out Trollying on the pier in ambush for my prey.

With Schoolie Kings and Bonito running the beaches along with their cousins the Spanish and Cero Mackerels, bait is of a plenty and the big kings are not far behind; called “Smokers.” Mixed together with all this inshore Florida action like a big cocktail are the soon to be departing schools of tarpon and sharks in a feasting Entourage from all the species in route. Topping off all this fast to furious action has been the acrobatically feats of the pods of feeding to playful dolphin to porpoises. Do not believe in that ole wives tale of they will ruin your fishing spot, oh’ Contraire, they are usually herding up the Macks or Ladies just before a smashing dash for dinner and a cast just in front of them will produce reds, trout, ladies and mackerels, not to mention a variety of bait fishes. About the only fishing trip that is ruined when a porpoise is around is that in shark fishing; might as well go home if Flipper is present because sharks do not like to share the same area and generally leave.

Baits this week have been live baby Jacks, Blue Runners, mullet, ladyfish and Greenbacks, with the best bets going to large Threadfins and Cigar Minnows free lined or under a trolley if at the Venice pier for Kingfish. If angling for Spanish or Cero, Diamond Jigs, Clark Spoons, Down East Chrome Fish, Gotcha’s and Straws behind a bubble.

Lured Kings to Trollied Spanish

Not knowing the Difference between a King and a Spanish can put you in jail.

BY GARY ANDERSON

A Kingfish by any other name is a summons or even jail time it your that stupid. The first king mackerel have appeared with most of them falling within the 10 to 20 pound class, and a few smokers at 48 inches today, peeling twenty-pound class lines off Avet to Penn’s attached to Down-East Rod Holders. Contestants lined up in a bout to feast on presented spoons to trolleys with live suspended baits, just off the boards of the pier at Sharky’s located in Venice, Florida. Ladies, Jack mackerels, Jack Crevalles and large Threadfins were the choice live baits of the T head, with Threads taking in monster twenty inch plus Spanish and the Jacks as prime for the Kings, both schoolies and smokers. Rolling Tarpon a plenty but no hook ups today. The schoolies were living up to their names as they were congregated in schools of 50 to 100 or more as they boiled the pods of baits about and around the boards of the Venice Pier at Sharky’s in Florida. The inshore waters were black with bait and the pier loaded with anglers catching plenty a fish and not a clue as to what it was they were catching other than it was a fish or maybe a mackerel; think God it did not have wings or they might have thought it was a bird. I even heard one Father tell his son it was to small to be a Kingfish. Ehhh? The simple difference between a Spanish and a King is one has a slanted “L” on its lateral line and the other does not! In addition, generally one is of different spots, color and sometimes size but remember you cannot always judge something just by its spots alone.  Also boxed or keeper Kings to other mackerels must be of a regulatory size limit or called “slot.” Measured from the tip of the nose to the bottom fork of the tail or beginning of the V. We use a “FISH STIX” because they are virtually unbreakable, bendable plastic, have a picture of all Florida’s game fishes printed on it for easy I.D., gives limits, bags, seasons and is fold up at 36 inches long giving all of us no excuse to be stupid when fishing. Also if the fish bounces on the deck and says Ola, it must be a Spanish, compared to the King who may just sing out a tune of “the Jail House Rock’ if too small but I would not count on that!

On my son, Edwin’s, last cast, with a silver cast master, jigging along at a medium retrieve using a Pflueger loaded with Big Game Trilene Blue 12 pound test, he hung on to a fish which seemed to pull in an odd fashion. This fish was a drag pulling mamma, as it was at twenty-one inches at the fork, once landed this Cero Mackerel was not caught on his lure but on another in its gill plate; a brand spanking new Clark Reflector-Spoon. Somehow, his hook had slid through the eye of the barrel swivel attached to a leader, half-ounce weight and Clark Spoon with fish attached. What are the odds? I took that same Clark Spoon, attached to my line and casted out this Clark, ripping it in across the surface of the lapping northwestern waves, as in a split second, a monster of a fish slammed the spoon and peeled out about 150 yards of my twelve-pound test fluorocarbon. My Pflueger reel and Ugly Stik bowed in agony as the line sang a tune in the wind. Twenty minutes later Edwin, my son, dropped the bridge net, and we brought up a 26 inch at the fork Schoolie kingfish. The person standing next to me said wow nice Spanish Mackerel, I did not think they got that big.  You know folks if a Game Warden had been present today Edwin and I would have been the only people left on the pier, just about, with the exception of a couple of friends I know who also know what their doing, like Barry Garmen. The rest would be in county, waiting bail on Monday, maybe reading the rules and regulations on Florida Saltwater Fishing Laws. Especially the picture pages on the differences between the different mackerels and yes the do come small!

The really odd thing today was it was a backwards day. The people casting spoons on the pier were up to their necks in all types of mackerels. I watched as one gentleman casting a Down-East Demon Bait caught a king that had to be at least forty pounds but on such light tackle, no wire leader and the fish wrapping his ten pound test line around a pillion; ping, ding, good-bye.  Then the ones angling with the trolleys for Kings were catching monster Spanish, with the exception of Captain Erik who placed a great hook set in a 48-inch smoker. If you had been in a boat with either planers and spoons out or skipping baits under a Kahula kite behind tour motor craft, you would have been on some fish…Oh well, there is all ways tomorrow and the next up until the water gets too cold.

Fish Tails 101

It is all in the tails folks, from the dorsal to the tail and you too can tell the difference. Some of you experts say it is in the color or spots and sometimes that works but sometimes all mackerel look similar and it can be confusing even to an expert just by judging it spots. All fish have a lateral line on them. Some are colored in scale others in an actual line, like the Mackerels. By looking at this line, you can save yourself the embarrassment of a ticket and be an expert too. King Mackerels have a break or sudden drop in their lateral line in the shape of a slanted “L”. Spanish and all the other mackerels have either a wavy or dropping lateral line with no slanted “L” shape. In addition, Kingfish minimal slot is 24 inches at the fork to keep with a possession limit of two per person.  All other mackerels are minimal slot 12” at the fork, with 15 fish in possession per person.  Stupid is not looking for that slanted “L”.                         “FISH ON!”

GRILLED MACKEREL
 

 

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