Terry Lacoss
Present steps are being taken to ensure future generations will have the same king mackerel fishery that we enjoy today and for many kingfish seasons to come!
Without the proper conservation efforts, our king mackerel fishery would pass right through our fishing rod guides and disappear for several kingfish seasons to come. However because of the many saltwater king mackerel fishermen who have fallen in love with king fishing, conservation efforts from both government and recreational fishermen have built today’s kingfish stocks to a solid and healthy fishery. Still there are some portions of our king mackerel fishery that are not quite up to par where continued conservation efforts are needed to insure strong king mackerel stocks throughout the king mackerel’s migratory range.
While many king mackerel fishermen are constantly practicing healthy fishing tactics, there are still a lot of fishermen that are not properly educated on the many facets of saving our king mackerel fishery for future generations to enjoy.
Jack Wood lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife Robin, and son, Chris and is a prime example of how saltwater king mackerel fishermen should take the proper conservation steps to preserve our king mackerel fishing for years to come. Jack Wood was inducted into the SKA Hall of Fame in February 2008 and is a two-time SKA National Champion.
“Although many experts are saying that our kingfish stocks are in excellent shape, in some areas we don’t have the numbers of kingfish that we used to have, particularly along the beaches of North Carolina,”Jack Wood said. “We used to catch from 15 to 20 kings per day while fishing from the Surf City fishing pier. Today fishermen are lucky if they catch 20 kingfish per year from the very same pier. While in many instances, saltwater fishermen are not handling king mackerel properly when releasing their catch.”
“It’s extremely important to keep your hooked king mackerel in the water while releasing your catch. When fishermen grab the hooked king by the tail with one hand and in the belly with the other hand to release their catch, they are depositing oils from their hands on the fish and at the same time, removing the protective film from the skin of the mackerel. Once the protective film is removed from the mackerel, the skin is exposed to a number of viruses which will ultimately kill the king mackerel.”
Jack Wood recommends keeping the hooked kingfish in the water and removing the hooks with an “ARC” de-hooker when possible. If the hooks are barbed deep in the mouth, or even stomach of the king mackerel, cut the wire and leave the hooks in the king mackerel, they will soon rust and dissolve.
“A big mistake that some king mackerel fishermen
make, is reaching down alongside the kingfish’s head to remove the hooks,”Jack Wood said. “In many cases you can actually see the eye of the king mackerel roll and look straight at your hand. Next thing that happens, the king slashes at your hand with a mouth loaded with razor sharp teeth! Instead, approach the king in the water right in front of its head, which is a lot safer de-hooking tactic. If you have to take the king out of the water, wet your hands first and, after the hooks are removed, shoot the kingfish back into the water head first.”
Jack Wood also is a huge opponent of taking pictures at the dock of multiple dead kingfish.
“When pictures are taken of several dead kings at the dock, people look at these photos and the first thing that comes to mind, is why did they kill all of these fish,”Jack Wood said. “This certainly does not have good conservation efforts in mind.”
While Jack Wood has won several king mackerel tournaments, including the 1990 and 1992 US Open kingfish tournaments, the one tournament victory Wood cherishes most, is the one his son Chris won as a junior angler.
“Chris was seven years old when he won the 1994 Greater Jacksonville Junior Angler Kingfish Tournament, Jack Wood remembers. “Chris was simply wore out after catching a 30-pound barracuda and a 35-pound cobia. Right after catching those two big fish, a 35-pound kingfish was hooked up, giving Chris only a few seconds of breathing time. As tired as Chris was, I made him fight that king right up to the boat without any help. I still remember all of those big barracuda swimming around our boat and stuck the gaff deep into the water past my elbow and gaffed that big king before the barracuda had a chance to eat Chris’s kingfish.”
“Obviously I was extremely proud of Chris winning the Junior Angler tournament. While at the same time, I also thought how important it is to practice sound conservation efforts so future generations of fishermen can also enjoy king fishing for years to come!”
Jack Wood’s first fishing boat was a bass boat that he targeted kingfish along the beaches of North Carolina. Jack later purchased a 17-foot center console fishing boat that had a 17-gallon fuel tank. It wasn’t unusual for Jack to fish some 26 miles offshore for kingfish from his small boat, which he called the Ridge Runner.
Today, Jack Wood competes in SKA sanctioned kingfish tournaments aboard Dan Upton’s 32-foot, Mercury powered Donzi, along with team members, Ann Upton, Steve Shook and David Heavenridge.
Brunswick, Georgia’s Spud Woodward also has a great story to tell when talking about kingfish conservation. Spud currently lives in Brunswick Georgia with his wife Cris, who is the Senior Writer for “Sport Fishing” magazine. Spud and Chris also have a daughter Sally, who is now 17 years old.
I remember Spud Woodward first during the early days of the Southern Kingfish Association’s tournament series when Spud teamed up with Gordon Rogers. Their boat was
called the Constant Threat and literally was a constant threat in SKA tournaments held both from the East and Gulf Coasts.
“My first SKA membership number was #12,”Spud Woodward said. “I really enjoyed competing on the SKA tournament trail because I was able to travel to kingfish destinations that I may have never been able to visit. There were always new challenges that both Gordon and me faced with catching tournament winning king mackerel in different waters. While at first we thought we would adapt easily to these new kingfish challenges, after learning how to catch kingfish from our own waters that had five-foot tides, we found that we still had a lot to learn about new kingfish waters.”
Like many kingfish teams, team Constant Threat soon traveled to Cocodrie, Louisiana to fish the famed oilrigs.
“During two days of king fishing, Gordon and me caught some 75 kingfish that weighed up to 54 pounds,” Spud said. “I kept looking at these kingfish in the water that weighed 30 to 40 pounds and thought, we could have
won last week’s SKA tournament in Georgia with anyone of these kings! Obviously we were extremely careful in releasing the hooked kings while they were still in the water.”
The Constant Threat kingfish team went on to take 2nd place in the SKA sanctioned kingfish tournament with a two-day aggregate weight of 99 pounds!
“During the entire kingfish tournament, I couldn’t help but think how well recent conservation efforts have worked in building the stocks of Gulf Coast king mackerel,”Spud Woodward said.
Spud Woodward attended the University of Tennessee from1981 to 1984 while majoring in Fishery Science and Marine Biology. Today, Spud Woodward heads up Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources and is very active in kingfish conservation.
“I believe the kingfish stocks are in most part in good shape,” Spud Woodward said. “Some areas of the migratory stocks, including the Atlantic, South Atlantic,
East Gulf and west Gulf, are in better shape than others obviously. The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council depends on angler surveys to show where kingfish stocks are healthy, or weak. 1.5 million pounds of king mackerel were harvested by recreational, tournament and commercial fishermen during the year 2007. A 27% mortality rate was recorded, which is the percent of king mackerel that perish after being released.”
Spud Woodward is a board member for the Golden Isles Kingfish Tournament and is proud that all of the Georgia kingfish tournaments have cut back to weighing in one kingfish per day.
“The “Fish Bowls” were really bad for kingfish tournaments, particularly looking at the conservation side of tournament fishing,”Spud Woodward said. “Here, kingfish teams would receive a ticket for each king mackerel they weighed in. Half of the ticket was put into a bowl where tickets were later drawn for prizes during the end of the tournament. Today these same kingfish are being released, instead of being killed for a chance at a prize.”
While the key to good kingfish management and conservation efforts produces healthy kingfish stocks, which in turn helps support recreational and tournament fishing activities throughout the king mackerel’s migratory range.
“It is very important to have a sustainable king mackerel fishery where fishermen will spend money to kingfish, makes good economic sense,”Spud Woodward said. “To make this happen, we need data to keep our king mackerel stocks healthy. Here we will need to receive better telephone surveys from licensed saltwater fishermen. We hope in the future that all Georgia recreational saltwater fishermen and charter boats will have to call in their saltwater catches, particularly, king mackerel that are harvested. We must remember that king mackerel are the common saltwater fisherman’s, “Big Game Fish”!
“However what some fishermen don’t realize, we also need to maintain healthy stocks of baitfish including menhaden, Spanish sardines, and Spanish mackerel to maintain healthy stocks of king mackerel. While what happens to the water quality of the St. John’s River, ultimately effects baitfish and pelagic species of saltwater game fish, particularly king mackerel.”
The Southern Kingfish Association’s Managing Partner, Jack Holmes was also highly instrumental in the “Fish Smart” project. Group representatives from every facet of the fishing industry also participated in presenting a plan to the Southeast Atlantic Fishery Council. The plan was the result of several meetings and efforts to mirror our present king mackerel fishery to what it should look like in 15 years.
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