5 Tips for Catching More King Mackerel

King mackerel are awesome predators, awesome fighters, and awesome on the grill. You want to catch more of them? Of course you do! Put these five king-catching tips into play, to boost your catch rate.

1. Stick with structure. Although king mackerel are open water swimmers, they’re just about always orienting around some form of structure. It may be an underwater shoal or hump, it could be a wreck, or it could be a temperature break. But whatever the case may be, expect to find them right at or above some form of structure.
2. When slow-trolling is in the plans, bring along a few blocks of chum. Notice we say “blocks,” not “buckets.” For chum to be effective while on the troll it has to be frozen. Drop a block into a net bag, tie it off to a stern cleat, and tow it along right behind the boat as you troll. As it melts it’ll disburse a kingfish-attracting cloud of fish bits and oil, which the fish can use to home in on your position – and hopefully, find your baits.
3. Use slow action rods. Kingfish are notorious for ripping free of the hook, and a slow action rod that can absorb some of the shock when they suddenly try to dart off can help prevent this phenomenon.
4. If you’re trolling planers, rig them for quick-release. There are a few ways to do this (YouTube has plenty of videos on the subject), but most anglers will add small loops just above and below the planer so it can be clipped off when the angler reels the planer up near the rod tip. This allows you to ditch the planer and continue fighting the fish with the rod, rather than hand-lining in a long leader – which often leads to the hook ripping free if the fish decides to make a last minute dash for freedom.
5. Get a gaff with a very small gap in the hook. Large-gap gaffs used for tuna make it really difficult to strike the long, skinny fish accurately, and you’ll miss the shot a lot less often if you’re using the right tool for the job.

Bonus Tip: Marinade kingfish steaks for half an hour in a mix of olive oil, crushed garlic, salt, and pepper, with a dash of lemon juice, before throwing them on the grill – you won’t be disappointed!