january 24th - offshore report

[fishnfool73]

Nice report Ricky. As far as the kingfish ''spitting'' the hook. I have found that esp. when using trebles keep steady but not overpowering pressure on kings. A kingfish has a thin skin around its mouth and hooks pull when you put to much pressure on the fish. Another factor with kings is a lot of them esp when trolling tend to be foul hooked in the body or top of the head and not solid in the mouth. Less pressure for them, just enough to keep the line tight and play them for alittle longer esp. with trebles.Trebles just don't provide as solid a hookup as a single hook. You could look into replacing the hooks on the plug with either doubles or bigger single hooks as well.

[PhishingPhanatic]

Great report Ricky, thats a nice mutton for up this way and picking a spot by the depthfinder

[WhoDey]

I just poked my head outside the inlet for about 2 hours doing some light scouting trying to mark some good bottom structure, I don't think I went beyond 120' deep on the sonar, probably just about 2 miles out max. The trip was slated just to be a ICW run, but when I looked out the inlet and saw 2' or less slow rollers, we said what the heck. We were only packing shrimp, so we just bottom fished. At about the 100' ledge we got hooked into something that we had no hopes of slowing down, ultimately my braid failed just above the knot, must have had a fray or something in it, but whatever was on the other end was freight training to the north. After that we came back shallow and fished in about 30' where I hooked into one AJ, but that was about it. For an impromptu trip in the new ride (which I am still getting used to) it wasn't to bad. I didn't want to press our luck with the winter weather, and once the breeze starting kicking up, I called the day and went back in.

[Local66]

I use 12lb mono for kings, the smaller trebles typically used for stingers/plugs tear out pretty easy. Because of the way a king usually hits a bait, alot of times they're hooked in the face/throat. Use lighter line, let them take that first run and don't start fighting until they turn. Big spoons with 4/0 spinnerbait trailer hooks catch the hell out of kingfish.

[bolo]

Last Kingfish I caught it didn't get to run. Work him back to the pier and flipped him. That baby weigh 8lbs. He was hooked by the stinger under the throat. Next time I won't have the drag set so tight.