Warm Up to Kings

June is when the king mackerel bite cranks up off Southport, and anglers don’t have to travel far to find these fish.

It was early June, but there was just enough nip in the pre-dawn air to require pulling on a pair of sweat pants for a ride through the Cape Fear River inlet at Southport. In the half-light before sunrise, the dormitories of the North Carolina Baptist Assembly at Fort Caswell seemed to rise from the water in an eerie jumble of shapes as we slid by on the glassy water and headed west toward Oak Island’s beaches.

After running for several more minutes, a pocket of warmer air engulfed us as we passed the “Hot Hole” where heated water from Progress Energy’s nuclear-powered electric plant near Southport is dumped into the ocean. The combination of swirling currents and warm water often hold bait.

Easing to a stop, we shut off the boat’s motors and began to listen for the watery slap of popping pogies (menhaden). Even when straining and concentrating, vision was only good for the few feet, illuminated by our running lights. Listening for splashes was a better idea to locate the pogies, and before too long several within cast-net range flipped loudly enough to locate them.

Once their movements revealed their location, one deft toss of the Betts Super Pro net secured enough baits for a day’s fishing. The sun was yet to rise.

Once an edge of the red orb broke the horizon, it quickly swelled into a full ball and began its ascent into the morning sky. As this happened, we skipped along the almost waveless ocean, headed for 15-Mile Rock. The ride was short, but the sun had risen enough to break the chill and let us remove sweat pants. Then we began baiting up and dropping frisky pogies into trolling position.

The second rod hadn’t yet made it to the rod-holder when the first reel began wailing the “somebody-ate-my-bait” song. Looking up, the swirl hadn’t yet dissipated from the king’s powerful tail as it swooped in to crush the bait.

The run only lasted a few seconds as the king tired and slowed.

“Well, it looks like somebody was here and hungry,” Jim Capps said. “It didn’t sound too big, but it sure was ready to eat.”

About that time, the other reel picked up a second verse of the same song as a king walloped the remaining bait and headed away in the opposite direction. My wife, donna Mooneyham, pulled that deeply-bowed rod from its holder and turned to face the fleeing fish, and I saw broad smiles beaming almost as brightly as the rising sun.

“They went opposite directions, so I’m shifting into neutral and y’all can figure it out,” I said. “Let me know when one turns and heads back toward the boat.”

After just a couple of minutes of the stalemate, Capps broke the silence when he said, “Mine’s coming in; it’s either a small king or it doesn’t yet realize it’s hooked.”

Sure enough the 20-pound high-visibility line swung across the bow and turned slightly forward. It wasn’t moving particularly quickly any longer, which is usually a sign of a small or tired fish.

Ten feet beneath the surface a flash of silver removed any doubt this might not be a king. Capps slowly worked him to the surface and ready to release or gaff.

As Capps’ tired king neared the surface, we estimated the weight to be nearly 10 pounds and decided to keep it. It would make a good dinner, and we belong to the group of fishermen who consider it bad luck to release the first legal fish of the day.

With a quick yank of the gaff, the king was stuck and hoisted into the boat. We cut the rig from the line and deposited the small mackerel into the fish box, rig and all.

“Why didn’t you take the hooks out before you dropped him in the ice?” Capps said. “We can use that rig again, can’t we?”

As I said, I preferred to let a squirming fish expire in the ice chest before trying to remove tiny treble hooks as Mooneyham’s king neared the boat.

Her fish was below the boat and circling as she worked it toward the surface. As she coaxed the fish from the depths, we could see it was roughly the same size as the first one and made the decision to release it unless it was hooked deeply.

I slipped on a cotton glove and wet it so I wouldn’t remove much slime if I had to handle the fish. When she maneuvered the tired fish next to the boat, we could see it was lightly hooked, just behind the mouth and under the eye, with just a single barb of the stinger hook. I quickly wrapped the leader around my gloved hand a couple of times and gave a short firm jerk. Just as I had hoped, the hook pulled free and the little king sprinted away to freedom.

Many times that morning we repeated this scenario. There was definitely a concentration of hungry fish in the area.

The radio crackled all morning with the taunts and encouragements of fishermen catching fish and having fun. Several times there were reports of larger or smaller fish, but most were ranging from 8 to 12 pounds. These fish were a good size to play quickly and release and also just about the perfect size for those seeking some king steaks for the grill.

We added a few more that were hooked deep to the fish box and released several dozen. It was indeed a banner day for late spring/early summer kings off the Cape Fear River’s mouth. Even a light chop from a southerly breeze didn’t build enough to slop up the ride home.

A pair of charter captains who regularly ply their trade in these waters said this was a good but not unusual fishing day for this time of year.

Capt. John “QB“ Quattlebaum of Get Fresh Charters (910-278-9097, www.GetfreshCharters.com) and Capt. Michael Wells, Intimidator Sportfishing Charters (919-422-5280, www.bigkings.net) agreed the late spring/early summer king fishing off Brunswick County can be as good as it gets anywhere.

“When those juvenile fish move in, they start feeding really hard,” Quattlebaum said. “Many times I have been dropping a bait back into the spread and have seen two or three or more fish rising to it and charging it to be the one who eats it. When you get action like that, you create new memories of the good ol’ days.”

Quattlebaum said the mild winter was already shaping this to be a banner year for kings.

“The kings never left this winter and have already spawned at least once,” he said. “We already have lots of bait, and if the water keeps warming, the fish will be here and feeding.”

Quattlebaum suggested checking the Cabbage Patch, Shark Hole and even as close in as Lighthouse Rocks and the rocks off Ocean Crest Pier for kings in June. He said finding pods of bait and staying with them would be the keys to finding feeding fish.

“One thing a lot of people don’t do well is track the movement of the bait,” Quattlebaum said. “If you will use your mark or man-overboard button on your GPS, you can track how the bait moves during the day and stay with it.”

Quattlebaum also noted artificial or dead natural baits will sometimes catch early fish better than live baits. He said the big schools are competitive about food and many times a bait moving faster attracts more attention. He likes to use Yo-Zuri diving plugs in 6-inch and 8-inch lengths. Blue-back lures are his favorites, with white or silver sides.

Wells prefers to use live baits but agreed dead natural baits often work well for juvenile kings. He also usually carries a box of frozen cigar minnows and some small or medium ballyhoo.

“If I had to rank my bait preferences, I would begin with pogies at the top of the list, then live cigar minnows, frozen cigar minnows and frozen ballyhoo,” Wells said. “The positive side of fishing with dead baits is you can troll them a little faster than live baits and cover more ground.”

Wells said his favorite areas for the June kings would begin at the 15-Mile Rock, 18-Mile Rock and Shark Hole areas, then he moves to the west to the 65-Foot Hole, Christina Ledge and the Jungle.

Wells agreed with Quattlebaum that locating pods of bait was a big key to finding these fish.

“They’re feeding heavily, and if you aren’t around something they can feed on, you aren’t around them,” he said. “Once I reach my intended fishing area, I circle at a little faster speed until I mark bait. Then I slow down and start fishing.”

Wells said anglers may encounter these kings anywhere in the water column, so they should try to cover as many depths as possible. He fishes two down-riggers, one deep and the other about the middle of the water column, plus four surface lines staggered from about 120 feet behind the boat to one just behind the motors in the prop wash.

Wells laughed and said he’d never caught a bait with a skirt on it, but sometimes the addition of a little color seems to grab a fish’s attention.

“I like the king skirts made by Cape Lookout Lures,” Wells said. “I pull a mixture of plain and skirted baits and move them around in my spread to see if something is particularly hot in a certain position.

“I don’t remember the exact numbers, but the colors I like are chartreuse, chartreuse and green, blue and white, pink and white and some of the ‘glow’ combinations.”

Wells and Quattlebaum said the combination of a mild winter and early arrival of baitfish could combine to make the late spring/early summer king mackerel fishing off the Brunswick County beaches as good as it has ever been. They are predicting excellent fishing as long as the weather holds.

Perhaps you should find the time to make the trip and use their tips to create some of your own fishing memories of the “new” good old days.