kingfish nearshore

We had yet another awesome week of fishing. 2019 sure turned itself around after a dismal summer and inconsistent start. Since about mid-October, the fishing has been on fire just about every week, but this was the better than recent weeks.

The kingfish have remained ridiculously thick offshore, but the word got out before I was going to say anything. Just stay clear of commercial guys doing their circles, and keep a cool head with other boats. Even with 40 boats on the spot, the action was like every 5 minutes or faster. Most fish have been the typical size of around 10lbs with some bigger kings up to 30lbs. Fish light to medium tackle, but make sure you have at least 200 yards of line. 15-30lb mainline is ideal. Use stinger rigs with dead sardines or any live whitebait you can find. They are not picky, but I would recommend adding a duster to dead baits.

The trout slowed, then bounced back, then tapered off a little this week. Most fish in deeper holes have been super aggressive and 8-14 inches. I found some larger 15-25 inch trout on the flats around midday. They were spooky, but they took a Rapala subwalk with some persistence. The small black drum around the docks and mangroves disappeared this week, but that means we are getting close to their spawn. Once the water temperature falls a little more, it is possible to find schools of 20-40lb black drum tailing. I ran into a small group two weeks ago where I got one, but it has not really started. Small redfish up to 24 inches also showed up near the mangroves this week. They were picky and spooky, but a light leader and dead or Gulp shrimp sitting on the bottom should do the trick.

Lastly, water levels really dropped in many portions of the lagoon, so be aware of that while navigating. The clarity remains good almost everywhere, but there is no seagrass, unfortunately.