In maybe a week or or two i might go down to Panama City Beach and do some pier fishing and surf fishing. But the thing i really want to catch is a king fish off of a pier. Anyone have any tips?
Kingfish
- Thread starter likestofish
- Start date
Went king fishing off of Navarre beach pier a bit today.
Youll need a reel with lots of line capacity, they are a FAST fish. I use 17lb Suffix on my king set up. Actually the set up I use is my general purpose SW set up with a Penn 550 (really too small of a reel).
Obviously youll need a wire leader, they will be sold at the pier. They consist of about two feet of wire and a single treble hook. Live bait is best but they will hit dead bait. Bring a smaller rod/reel and a sabiki rig to catch bait but if you cant, frozen cigs can work. A live hardtail is hard to beat. Hook the fish in the lips or for a larger bait in the "shoulders." Fish at the the end of the pier, be careful as "pier rats" aint too friendly to noobs, be prepared to have thick skin.
Fish your bait near the top, youll have to cast far and keep reeling it in to keep it at the top. If you keep it on the bottom, youll catch nothing but sharks. Spinners are THICK right now. Its best to fish with the bail open and your finger on the line. You should watch your bait at all times and when the fish hits, let go the line. What will usually happen is the king will come from the bottom and hit the bait in the back and slice it in half then go back for the rest and your hook. When he bites the hook give him a second or two and then jack him up and hold on! Hopefully some one will be there with a pier gaff.
Personally I dont mess with kings much on the pier. Navarre Beach pier is about an hour and a half west of PCB and is the longest pier in the Gulf of Mexico and probably the best King pier, even so an average day only a few kings hit the deck. Id rather throw on a gotcha on light tackle and play with the spanish, they taste better too!
Anyhow, hope that helps and if you head down to Navarre or even Okaloosa Island Pier, hit me up.
Youll need a reel with lots of line capacity, they are a FAST fish. I use 17lb Suffix on my king set up. Actually the set up I use is my general purpose SW set up with a Penn 550 (really too small of a reel).
Obviously youll need a wire leader, they will be sold at the pier. They consist of about two feet of wire and a single treble hook. Live bait is best but they will hit dead bait. Bring a smaller rod/reel and a sabiki rig to catch bait but if you cant, frozen cigs can work. A live hardtail is hard to beat. Hook the fish in the lips or for a larger bait in the "shoulders." Fish at the the end of the pier, be careful as "pier rats" aint too friendly to noobs, be prepared to have thick skin.
Fish your bait near the top, youll have to cast far and keep reeling it in to keep it at the top. If you keep it on the bottom, youll catch nothing but sharks. Spinners are THICK right now. Its best to fish with the bail open and your finger on the line. You should watch your bait at all times and when the fish hits, let go the line. What will usually happen is the king will come from the bottom and hit the bait in the back and slice it in half then go back for the rest and your hook. When he bites the hook give him a second or two and then jack him up and hold on! Hopefully some one will be there with a pier gaff.
Personally I dont mess with kings much on the pier. Navarre Beach pier is about an hour and a half west of PCB and is the longest pier in the Gulf of Mexico and probably the best King pier, even so an average day only a few kings hit the deck. Id rather throw on a gotcha on light tackle and play with the spanish, they taste better too!
Anyhow, hope that helps and if you head down to Navarre or even Okaloosa Island Pier, hit me up.
Ive been going to to the PCB pier for a long ime now but first time im actually targeting kings. I plan on using a 6/0 penn ambassador reel spooled with about 450 yards of 50 pound mono.
Youre going to have problems casting your bait with that rig.
Here is a pic I just took literally 3 minutes ago with my laptop from the 13th flood looking at Navarre Beach pier, its huge!
Here is a pic I just took literally 3 minutes ago with my laptop from the 13th flood looking at Navarre Beach pier, its huge!
EricIvins;4257598; said:
using another rod like a surf rod or something that can cast well with a good sized pyramid weight as an anchor line and then clipping the line you plan to fight the fish on to it with a cloths pin. In sort of a down rigger fashion
Its called a trolley rig, most piers have banned them so be sure to check the rules. Again though, kings wont hit on the bottom, you need your bait near the surface.
JD7.62;4257943; said:
Really i did not know that. Ive never seen anything mention of that at the Russel-Fields pier. Also i wasnt planning on bottom fishing for them. I was only going to slide the bait down and let it rest on the surface.
Also if that doesnt work ill just use my biggest surf setup, Do you think 300 yards of braid in 30 will do? Im not expecting or wanting for that matter anything big. The average king ive seen there was about 15-20 pounds. But i did see a 40 pounder get caught.