BACK TO TIPS | BACK TO ARCHIVE |  CONSERVATION NEWS

KINGFISH HOOK TO GAFF
by Terry Lacoss

After all the preparation and bait catching, the moment of truth comes when your kingfish team hooks into a speedy kingfish.

There are a lot of skilled kingfish teams, who compete on the Southern Kingfish Association's, tournament trail. Certainly the skill levels of SKA tournament teams have increased considerably during the past few kingfish seasons. Its even more noticeable at the tournament scales, where more and more 40 - 60 pound Kingfish are tipping the scales and taking home thousands of dollars in cash and tournament prizes.

I for one am really impressed with the skill levels of SKA tournament teams! And its certainly safe to say, that every SKA tournament team has the needed skill level to win any major kingfish event, in which they enter.

During the 2000 Nassau Sport Fishing Association's Wing mackerel tournament, I had the pleasure of watching the "Reel Hot" fishing team, play a 25 - 30 pound kingfish, hook to gaff. Fortunately, I was able to capture Jacksonville Florida's Joe "Bubba" Kite and Jamie Holland, with my 400 millimeter, zoom lens. Bubba Kite has been fishing the SKA trail since 1983 and certainly has the kingfish skills to win any SKA events, in which his Reel Hot fishing team enters. During the world's largest fishing tournament, the 1999 Bell South Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament, the "Reel Hot" fishing team weighed in a 42-pound kingfish, capturing 5th place honors in the big fish division. Actually Bubba Kite and his fishing team were real hot during the entire 1999 kingfish season, placing in the top ten in many of the tournaments in which they entered.

Here's Bubba's story on fishing techniques for catching winning kingfish, hook to gaff.

"There are no real secrets when it comes time for hooking up to winning kingfish," Bubba Kite said. "Basically everyone fishes the same way for kingfish and as everyone knows, there are no more secrets when it comes time to bait up a big king. What our "Reel Hot" fishing team has done to increase our Odds of winning kingfish dollars, is to simply refine our kingfish fighting tactics. When a real smoker is hooked up, we simply know how to handle the situation at hand. We expect to catch every kingfish that we hook and that's really important. Particularly in some kingfish tournaments when You may only receive one or two kingfish bites, during a full day of king mackerel fishing."

Oh yeah, there are often many fish tales at the kingfish Scales, giving a blow by blow description of the big one that got away. However, successful kingfish teams count on catching that kingfish, which quite frankly, had plans of breaking the kingfish wire or pulling the kingfish hooks.

"First of all, we adjust all of our kingfish drags at two Pounds," Bubba Said. "After the drags are set at two pounds, we never adjust the drags, including loosening or tightening the drag washers. A two Pound drag setting allows a kingfish to blast off on a long run without pulling the hooks and it is also enough drag so that anyone of our team members can reel in a loose fishing line when a kingfish is running at our tournament boat. When it comes time to crank down on a tiring kingfish, we simply apply thumb pressure to the spool. If the hooked kingfish decides to blast off on another speedy run, the angler simply removes his thumb from the spool. This allows the hooked kingfish to run on a light, two pound drag."

Fighting a kingfish with a light drag, is common place with many kingfish teams. However, some skilled king mackerel fishermen simply can not resist in tightening down the drag. Myself, I never tighten down the drag, unless a shark or jack is hooked up. But I have fished with skilled king mackerel fishermen that can tell by the run of a hooked kingfish, whether it's a big one or small one. If they think a small one is hooked, they tighten down the drag and start horsing in the fish. This is standard practice while fishing at offshore kingfish waters. Small kings normally make a speedy, short run, while giant kingfish make a missile like run, that seems to last for ever! Or until the kingfish spool begins to show, because of the lack of fishing line.

However watching a successful kingfish team, play a hooked kingfish, hook to gaff, is a lot like watching a Nascar racing team, fuel up their team's car and change the old worn tires for new ones. In less than a minute!

However it often takes over a few minutes to land a big kingfish. But watching the "Reel Hot" fishing team land a speedy kingfish, also reminded me of Dale Earnhart, driving his #3 race car. Some things appear to be running at full speed, but they know when having a little patience, may well win the race.

'The first order of business, when a kingfish takes one of our barbed baits, is grabbing the rod and making sure it clears all the other fishing lines and baits," Bubba said. 'The next order of business, is to reel up the down riggers. After this is accomplished, the angler moves up to the front of the boat and the boat is pointed at the kingfish. Next, we simply run the kingfish down with our boat!"

"In many cases, we will leave all of the flat lines out, particularly if they are not endangering our hooked kingfish. More importantly, baits left in the water can easily be gobbled up by a nearby, hungry king mackerel."

Kingfish baits, which are left out in the trolling pattern, can offer a bonus catch for a skilled kingfish team. However when a really huge kingfish is hooked up, most kingfish teams will reel in all of their baits and concentrate strictly on putting the winner in the kingfish bag. 'We try to stay right on top of a hooked kingfish," Bubba said. "This is particularly important, when fishing in a pack of kingfish boats. We really can't afford to allow a hooked kingfish to run up under a nearby kingfish boat and become cut off, while making contact with down rigger lines or any of the boat's running gear."

"Once the hooked kingfish becomes to tired, which is obvious because of the "Dead Man's Circle", it swims in, I ready my twelve-foot kingfish gaff. When the kingfish comes within reach, I simply reach over the kingfish with the point of the gaff, starting at the tail of the kingfish. I begin my sweep at the tail section of the kingfish for a very important reason, I want to make especially sure that I don't make contact with the kingfish leader. At this point, I will move the gaff up towards the shoulders of the kingfish. At the first opportunity, I will strike the hooked kingfish, high in the shoulders. This ensures a good gaff and more importantly, the gaff will miss most of the main arteries of the kingfish."

Once I feel as though I have gaffed the hooked kingfish, in a good secure spot, I will move my hands down the long shaft of the gaff, to within 3-4 feet of the kingfish. With a better grip on the gaff, I will lift the gaffed kingfish straight up into the boat".

Obviously the next step, is to stop the bleeding of a gaffed kingfish. This is accomplished by stuffing a tampon or piece of towel into the hole made by the gaff. Lost blood can cause, a lose of weight of several ounces. Which in many cases, can become the difference of winning a kingfish tournament, or taking home a smaller, 2nd place check.

"Once the bleeding is stopped, we put the kingfish into our kingfish bag," Bubba said. "We also have a slurry of malted ice already in the bag, which cools the kingfish off in a hurry and also stops any weight lose as well."

Obviously, the first point of interest that Bubba Kite made a point of, "There are no more secrets when it comes time for king fishing".

This statement is a true fact. However there are still kingfish teams, like the "Reel Hot" fishing team, that always seem to catch a money kingfish. Simply the reason for cashing a money check in most kingfish events today, is being able to perform better than your fellow kingfish team. Like most Nascar races, the race is often won in the pits. Competitive king mackerel fishing is also a matter of perfection. "Reel Hot" fishing perfection that is!

For more information on the twelve-foot sectional gaff, call Offshore Angler, 1-800-463-3746, or C&H lures,
(904) 992-9600.