It's officially Spring when the Spanish Macs hit the area....which was awhile ago.
And now it's officially Summer, when the 1st King Macs are caught off the end of Jax Beach Pier.
Along with this one there was another and even a large Cuda, taken.
I mentioned a technique, if ya want to call it that, on Facebook, that worked for me one time. And by doing it I saved alot of run time, fuel and sanity, during a J.O.S.F.C. tournament.
The Kings were supposed to be on the beach. They had already caught a few off the end of the "old" and longer Jax Beach Pier.
So myself and my tournament partner decided to stay close and keep lines in the water as long as we could.
I bought a gallon of Pogie oil, not sure if this was really necessary or not. But it was insurance. I ran down to the pier and set up shop 1000 yards off the end. I tied the gallon jug of Pogie oil to a sash weight, and sent to the bottom. With holes punched in the jug, and a tiny float on the surface tethered to the jug of oil.
I trolled 3 live Pogies. From in the prop wash, to far out behind the boat. As we did the "put-put" just barely trolling along with baits out. I said we'd cut up 3 Pogies into pieces and chum them over the side every 5 minutes or so.
Doing a figure 8, from where my little float was, to where the oil rose to the surface making a nice long slick.
As usual, beach fishing for King Mackerel isn't full of action. But rather a waiting game. A few small pesky Sharks is all we had for the longest while.
It's been said that beach fishing and especially live bait fishing, while going NO where fast is the longest day you'll ever spend on a boat fishing, for only 10 minutes of excitement.
That's why back in the day of $1.50 fuel (I'm guessing) I was a Cigar Minnow troller. Instead, I'd rather do 3.5 kts at 1500 RPM's was I think, the key speed and rotations for me, on my old Sitex/Koden LORAN-C. And 200 Evinrude, smoker engine.
Okay, back to oil slick trolling outside the Pier...
We got to talking and eatin' lunch or whatever. And finally the prop wash pogie got ate by something with a forked tail. The drag ripped on my ole Daiwa 50H reel.
It was a Kingfish. And as it was gaffed and dropped on the deck.
Out of it's mouth flew 2 pounds of perfectly cut square Pogie pieces.
Yep, my chum chunks.
That fish was following along behind us. Having itself some snacks for who knows how long!!
And when we stopped chunkin' Pogies to eat lunch ourselves. There was no more "snack paks" coming from the stern of my boat.....obviously.
And that goes to show ya. These fish are just plain lazy. Because it took a bit of effort to eat that live swimming Pogie in the prop wash. Why do all that when chunks of breakfast and lunch are just falling out of the sky?
The fish was just 19 pounds. But good enough for 3rd place. With the 1st place fish only being something like 23 or 26 pounds. But did come from nearly St. Augustine.
It was just a club tournament. I'm sitting here writing this story and have the 3rd place plaque on the wall in front of my desk.
Yes that was a long time ago......1993 as a matter of fact. But, when it's right. Why couldn't that same thing work all over again. There's no reason why not.
Only thing I will and would do different is less chum chunkin. That's about it.
I get the right day, the right crew, I may try it out again soon. Jus' for the good ole times...
Sorry. I have no idea where the photo of our fish is. But I know I was younger and thinner.
It's a good way to attract a Cobia, Tarpon, Cuda, Spanish Macs, and a Kingfish.
No long boat rides, I like that!
But be prepared to be very patient and HOT.
