Whiting for kings

Saltwater King Mackerel
1

Anybody ever trolled whiting for kings.
i know some people eat em but i was wondering as to their
bait value ?
How about live bottom baits they any good for that.
i only ask as there has been alot of them around GT marina as of late.

2

I hear what you are saying but I’d feel a lot better about using a pinfish than a good eating fish like a whiting.

3

I think Whiting would be better than Pinfish or mullet because they are ‘softer’ or fresher feeling/tasting etc., but I’m not a fish.

I do believe Menhaden are so good because they are an oily [smelly] fish, so soft Whiting makes sense; try and let us know. Another requirement is ‘action’, how active are Whiting on the hook?

I personally believe ‘size’ means a lot, “bigger bait, bigger fish”.
“The big one’s still swimming, let’s go.”

4

The biggest king I ever caught was on a Pinfish.
Some people use scissors and trim the spikey fins before trolling them. I have caught a bunch on old hard head jumping mullets also.

Rick

5

i’ve fished for a pretty good while, about 40 years. i have yet to see a pinfish with trimmed fins in the wild.i doubt it makes much difference to a kingfish if the fins are cut off or not. i’ve caught a few kings on whiting’s but i’ve caught more on pinfish. (cobia love a whiting btw) pinfish troll better than whitings. here is my top 5 list of slow trolling baits for kingfish in preferance order:
#1 live cigar minnow
#2 blue runner (hard tail) they will swim deep and all day long
#3 pogie (menhaden)
#4 greenie
#5 bluefish
pinfish or whitings don’t make the list but they beat hanging your hooks for lack of bait.

green grass and high tides forever
jhp----- Murrells Inlet

6

I don’t trim the pinfish fins and the kings still eat. I think trimming makes them swim more eratically, if anything, and may entice a wary (or not starving) king to bite.

T2 - great info. I’ve only caught 2 blue runners in my whole life and that was at Hatteras. Can you get them in SC? Funny story - I kept the 2 I caught and ate them at a fish fry. They ate very good! Afterward I looked them up and it was about the same time I joined my first message board back in 2003…sooooooo, that became my screen name. :smiley:

7

thanks guys i was just wondering cause the whiting were all over the place at GT marina the other day. my son netted some but we were going deep for mahi not kings. We did put one in with some mahi around the boat they wouldn’t touch it live but once we cut it up game on. The other thing was i didn’t know whiting was good eating.
could have netted alot of grub if thats even legal?

“Destiny” 35ft
Contender and “Scintilla” 20ft Keywest, Manning SC

8

later in the season the blue runners will be hanging around artifical reefs especialy around the bouy’s. another over looked bait is a lizzardfish. kings love em! t

green grass and high tides forever
jhp----- Murrells Inlet

9

Ah lizard fish! BSB’s love em too! Shhhhhhhhhhh! :sunglasses:

10
quote:
Originally posted by hdgb

thanks guys i was just wondering cause the whiting were all over the place at GT marina the other day. my son netted some but we were going deep for mahi not kings. We did put one in with some mahi around the boat they wouldn’t touch it live but once we cut it up game on. The other thing was i didn’t know whiting was good eating.
could have netted alot of grub if thats even legal?

“Destiny” 35ft
Contender and “Scintilla” 20ft Keywest, Manning SC

I’m guessing your confusing Mullet with Whiting. Not sure how you could be netting a bunch of Whiting at the Marina, not a known Whiting hang out. Whiting would be hard to spot in that area as the water clarity is nill and they are bottom hugging fish.

11

Ive seen several kings taken on Whitings from fishing piers. Ive never tried to troll one.

“Mahi-Fever”
Key West 225
Suzuki 225

12

Guess i need a class on these little creatures guess they are mullet
got little sucker mouths under there face. looked it up they looked more like whiting than mullet but hey i really don’t know. maybe somebody on here can explain the difference. they were defanitely on the surface of the water.

quote:
Originally posted by pawayne
quote:
Originally posted by hdgb

thanks guys i was just wondering cause the whiting were all over the place at GT marina the other day. my son netted some but we were going deep for mahi not kings. We did put one in with some mahi around the boat they wouldn’t touch it live but once we cut it up game on. The other thing was i didn’t know whiting was good eating.
could have netted alot of grub if thats even legal?

“Destiny” 35ft
Contender and “Scintilla” 20ft Keywest, Manning SC

I’m guessing your confusing Mullet with Whiting. Not sure how you could be netting a bunch of Whiting at the Marina, not a known Whiting hang out. Whiting would be hard to spot in that area as the water clarity is nill and they are bottom hugging fish.

“Destiny” 35ft
Contender and “Scintilla” 20ft Keywest, Manning SC

13

Ok went over to the Georgetown thread and got the skinny.
they were southern kingfish aka whiting and they were in fact at
the GT marina and on the surface. Maybe they were spawning or simply
confused i don’t know. just satisfied this is what they were and i didn’t catch a king with one :slight_smile:

“Destiny” 35ft
Contender and “Scintilla” 20ft Keywest, Manning SC