Well not much to post about our trip Thursday. We hit the rocks about 8 am and put lines in the water right out of rocks. Waves were little bigger than I thought but not bad. We trolled for couple of hours and only had two bites on downriggers and BOTH missed the stinger hooks. I tried leaving the stinger loose instead of hooking it to the fish and wonder if that was the problem.
Did see a couple of big kings jump but nothing else other than a turtle and spinner sharks behind the shrimp boat.
Came to jetties for a little while but SOMEBODY forgot the BEER, started to make him swim back to IOP. We only had 3 in the cooler and since I was the “Captian” I pulled rank and got the 3rd.
I guess that is it for this week, will be back in a few weeks I hope if work will let me.
By the way I have never seen so much bait in the ICW, couple of times threw the net and almost got pulled overboard. We even stopped to fish a couple of docks and you could see pogies swarmming around the docks as well
Hey, tprice; sorry about the short strikes, if you remember my posts about the king club, i posted I NEVER use a stinger hook. I took some heat for that remark also, I took some heat for never putting the lines out until I find bait and/or fish also, most posters have said start at the second set of buoys for your next trip those may be helpful hints, hope so…
I had the stinger hooks but we just let them dangle instead of hooking them to the pogies, I can see it can make a difference
I do normally catch most of my fish around the second bouys but it was a little rougher than I thought it would be yesterday, for me anyway.
The kings we saw jumping were between 2nd bouys and first when we were coming back towards the rocks, there was a shrimp boat up close and lot of times I pick up kings behind the shrimpers or at least a spinner shark
Loading the boat up this evening to head back to freshwater:frowning_face:, hope to get back down in a couple of weeks for a long weekend
ya’ll keep me posted on how they are doing, really enjoy reading this part of CF
live baiting for kings ALWAYS use a stinger hook. there is some disagrement whither to stick the bait with the stinger or not. i always let it dangle. the bait seems to swim longer and better with the hook dangleing to me. i haven’t noticed missing a large percentage of stikes either.i can’t imagine anyone NOT useing a stinger hook. mack daddy why would you not use one? are you trolling ballyhoo?
green grass and high tides forever
jhp----- Murrells Inlet
I consider the stinger hook to be a third hook dangling, after the second hook. I assume no king rig has one hook, never seen one, but a lot of kinf fishermen use a third hook, and call that the stinger hook, if the second hook is dangling, then it is a stinger too, thus the term stinger to me means dangling to "snag hook’ or “sting” the fish; therefore I NEVER use a stinger by that definition. I have on many occasions when I was a beginning king fisherman used both rigs in the same spread, and found a significant difference in the strikes and hookups. I had many many more short strikes on stingers, so I quit that practice over 20 years ago, never regretted it. My beginning hookup ratio was about 25%, now about 90%, also due to other modifications made in tackle, where I place the hook in the bait, how I place the wire against the side of the bait’s body, using 2 trebles, instead of a nose hook, which makes the nose hook act as a stinger also, usually in the top of the head. You are right the dangling hook does give the bait longer life, but I only use a bait for 15-20 min. max anyway, constantly changing baits, unless hooked up with a fish, than still the people not hooked up are changing baits, unless it’s a large fish and need to clear the lines. Yes, I don’t clear lines except for a fish over 15-20 lb., just steer him away from the boat and lines, and clear one side when he comes near the boat if necessary. Final answer, I NEVER troll hoo for kings, prefer frozen cigars, have tried both in the same spread many times years ago also, if beyond 20 miles wouldn’t be too concerned about using hoo.
I have a nose hook and then a single treble placed in the side, back near the tail. That single treble is what I am calling the stinger. I do have rigs with two and three trebles but they are for bigger baits like mullet, blues or ribbon fish. I have let the treble hang free and not put in the bait, but I absolutely catch more with it in the body.
Agreed ECU, the only difference, I always put the treble in the anal hole as far as possible to hide the hook, it also looks like a natural fin in that position. Before inserting the rig, I always hold the first treble only between my fingers, and let the second one dangle to swing free, no binding, which also lets the wire between the hooks bow in the downwrd spiral, not the upper spiral, so as to better hook the fish with the wire when he misses the hook on the short strike. I cannot tell you how much that little secret has improved my hookup ratio. I examine my baits even after bringing in a fish, if there is any left; to see how he struck and how he was hooked up, for future reference. Basically, now the only short strikes I miss are strikes at the top of the bait, which I believe are definitely sharks, not kings. Kings typically always pick what I call the “prime rib”, just the stomach, no fins, no tail, typically; ofcourse exceptions to every rule also is norm. Good to hear from you again, ECU.
kings have teeth. they bite a bait to disable it. usually where ever they can. if its a large fish he’ll engulf the whole thing if its a bait like a pogie 5-6 inches long. i don’t think they have the brains to pick out the “prime” sections. usually a fish comes by, swipes at a fish to disables it, if it hits and doesn’t get hooked, paying out line usually results in a repeat strike. they choke down that first bite spin around to get the other half, if your slow trolling and don’t feed out line after a missed strike he swallows the first half and you have pulled the bait out of the strike zone. poor fish is wondering “hey where’s the rest of my lunch?”
green grass and high tides forever
jhp----- Murrells Inlet
I have fed the line back numerous times and never got a second strike, maybe I’m doing that wrong. I can’t remember losing the head of a bait very often, always right behind the nose hook and before the second hook if imbedded, sometimes I get the tail back also, that’s what I based my opinion on. When I had hookup problems, I analyzed my return baits a little too much maybe, but my corrections did take care of the problem. I hear so many reports like tprice’s here of lost fish on the strike, I’m just trying to help with what I found works on short strikes, which is probably the most frustrating part of king fishing. I still believe the major cause of short strikes is hardware exposed too much for the fish to see and avoid, esdpecially the stinger hook, just my opinion. I also believe the major reason for not getting strikes is exposed hardware, AND too much spedd trolling, causing the bait to look unnatural, also just my opinion. I’m still searching for more answers, never learn it all; everyone’s answers are welcome, I need them, even if we don’t agree, they are welcome…
i like those red hooks. the reason being they look a lot like those parasites that live on pogies. if you miss a fish strip live off at least as fast as the boat is going forward, you want that bait to apear dead in the water. at least 30-40 % of the time he’ll pick it up. don’t freespool! that will make a mess and burn your thumb when he hits.lol just strip the line off the reel.
green grass and high tides forever
jhp----- Murrells Inlet
You have a good point about the red hooks, also the pearls on bottom rigs {red}, draw more fish because of the blood look I believe. I proved that in Fla. on a half day bottom trip for blue runners {blues}, the boat furnished rigs without pearls, I used my own carolina rigs with the pearls and caught 3-5 times more fish than the local rigs, comparing to people fishing around me. Thanks for that idea tideline two, also your name implies you like the tide line, how’s your success been around tide lines? Mine has not been good, but others do well there I hear. I have fished both sides of the line several times, any secrets on fishing the tide lines?
, hope to get back down in a couple of weeks for a long weekend