I’ve never fished for Kings on my own… went with my brother a couple of times, dragging a big Cisco Kid while trolling for Spanish, with no success (although he used to spank kings a little further out while live-lining cigar minnows, but I was never with him)
The best I can hope for is to fish the tip of the jetties on a glass-calm day… figuring on anchoring and fishing big live pogies under floats or live lined back behind the boat… maybe kite fishing if I can work out the logistics. My question… what time of year is best for kings at the jetties?
BTW, back in the early '80s, I was fishing for flounder on the groin in front of Ft Moultrie when a BIG king rocketed out of the water over the rocks, hitting a school of bait. Impressive…
2002 Duracraft 1548 - Mercury 25 2-stroke - and a paddle
Kings like 69 plus degree water. When the waters that temp there should be bait. Where theres bait you will typically find kings. Try using a Bluefish for bait as well.
All de blues I caught out there last year were like 3-5 pounds lol - THAT would have to be the Mother of All Kings to eat that… 
Thanks for the info, though!
2002 Duracraft 1548 - Mercury 25 2-stroke - and a paddle
Big bait=Big fish. I would love to have a 3# blue fish in a kingfish tournament.
Exactly Blue, thats what they feed on. I’d rather use a big blue any day over menhaden.
we have caught a #15 king on a 6lb bonita… more than once…
not always, i’ve learned that the bigger kings are lazy and i have caught plenty of big kings on smaller baits…they go for they easy meal, they have to work harder to catch the bigger baits…
quote:
Originally posted by Blue Runner
Big bait=Big fish. I would love to have a 3# blue fish in a kingfish tournament.
Big Kings are lazy and don’t like to chase around little tikes when there’s a big blue hanging around. The key here is these bait fish are hooked and much slower than in normal circumstances. The big lazy king is much more likely to go for a big fish than a little one. More worth it for them consumption wise.
Keep a pair of scissors in your tackle box and if the big live bait is swimming to quickly for your liking, clip a little of the tail off. Then not only will he slow down, but he will possibly swim erratically which makes it even better.