Kings love live bait, but Trolling and Jigging for Kings can be seriously productive.

King Mackerel love flash. They love movement. They will almost never eat a ballyhoo for some reason, but they will eat our Ballyhoo Jig like it's candy! The rigs off of Grand Isle, LA, the beaches off of Destin and Northern Florida, and the Carolinas, the reefs off of South Florida, and in the Bahamas can all be great places to troll or jig for Kings.

Please see below some great lures that will almost guarantee strikes when in and around Kings. Click on the links to be directed to the pages that will show you specs, color choices, and pricing on each lure model.

                                
            Steel Head                                    Smoker Jr                                         Cone Head
Troll by itself or infront of a Cigar          Troll by itself or in front of your Favorite            Troll by itself or in front of your Favorite
Minnow (on the Gulf), a Strip Bait          Local Kinfish natural bait. This lure will              Local Kingfish natural bait. This lure will
in the Carolinas or S. FL, or even           plenty of Flash while keeping the bait               provide bright color while keeping the bait
a Ballyhoo (small). Use also as a           Below the surface and providing a smoke           below the surface.
weight & flash for Live Bait sliding         trail at the same time.
it down to the hook. The bait can
still breathe while the weight holds
it at a proper depth for the Kings
and provides plenty of FLASH!

                                           
            Minnow                                     Anchovy                                       Ballyhoo
Use this lure while chumming                 Use this lure while chumming                Use this lure in the same way as the
on the Reef. Tip it with a small             on the Reef. Tip it with a small              Minnow and Anchovy, but you can also
Squid or Bonita or Fish belly                    Squid or Bonita or Fish belly                Find the fish by either trolling or under
strip. Cast into your chum line               strip. Cast into your chum line               birds, on a wreck, or on your fish finder,
and work it back to the boat                  and work it back to the boat                 and drop it down past the school of fish
Jigging gently.                                                Jigging gently.                          and retreive it quickly, with or without
                                                                                                                       jigging. See videos of this jig in action
                                                                                                                       at our Jigging For Kingfish page.

Kingfish Caught on Ballyhoo Jig


                                  
         Chubby, Chubby Jr, & Chubby Mini                                             Ribbonfish

Use these models in the same way as you would use the Ballyhoo but remember to rig them with our Cable Rigged Jigging hooks so as not to get cut off.

Click here to go to our JIGGING FOR KINGFISH Instructional page with VIDEOS

Preparing Kingfish for your table

Most experienced anglers will agree that Kingfish is not the best table fare, but you need to know that it can be excellent and up there with Swordfish, Wahoo, and Dolphin. "No way" you say? I used to say the same thing, but back in 1979, I learned that prepared properly (not much trouble) King Mackerel can please your taste buds.

Step 1. ICE down your Kingfish and keep it iced.

Step 2. BEFORE filleting your Kingfish, use the back of your fillet knife and water to remove the SLIME from the skin of the fish. This is ULTRA important as the slime will infect your fillet with fishiness.

Step 3. Fillet your Kingfish as yoiu would normally do.

Step 4. Skin the Kingfish fillet by turning it skin side down on the table and using a sharp knife cut away from you while holding the tail end. Cut just above the skin to remove it. This skin is thin and not very tough, so do your best to angle the knife so as not to cut down through the skin. In the case of large (wide) fillets that curve up on the edges, split these fillets down the center to make two seperate pieces before skinning them.

Step 5. Cut out all bones and ALL blood line.

Step 6. Cut into pieces that will be what you want for grilling or frying.

Step 7. Cook the day you catch it. If you will cook the following day, squeeze a generous amount of lemon or lime on the fillets and store overnight in a plastic bag and squeeze the air out of the bag.

Any Kingfish that will not be cooked in the first day, plan to smoke it or give it to friends for immediate consumption. Frozen Kingfish is not horrible if frozen immediately, but it is not near as good as if cooked the first day. Do not keep or freeze any King Mackerel with skin, bloodline, or bone attached!!!

Click here to be directed to our Fantastic Fish Recipes Page.