Capt. Chris Lemieux had been fishing for about a minute when a kingfish grabbed one of the two bonito strips that he was trolling behind his boat.
That was followed by another kingfish and, as soon as Lemieux put out the next bait, another one.
That’s how good trolling for kingfish can be off South Florida during the month of June.
“Generally, we get the spring run right now and catch a lot of kingfish,” Lemieux said. “June and July are good, then it’ll kind of slow down and pick back up in August or September.”
Fishing on a sunny afternoon in 90 to 110 feet of greenish water just south of Boynton Beach Inlet, Lemieux saw the first kingfish get off and then so did the second one, but the next king, about an 8-pounder, made it into the boat. That was followed by a kingfish double-header of a 10-pounder and a 13-pounder for Lemieux’s customers.
His anglers also caught four bonitos, which are members of the tuna family that don’t taste anywhere near as good as their relatives. The hard-fighting fish are a challenge to land, and as one angler labored to reel in his third bonito, Lemieux joked, “Are you trying to let that fish get bigger?”
Lemieux kept those bonitos to fashion future strips, which consist of a thin layer of meat on the fish’s shiny skin cut into the streamlined shape of a baitfish. Fished in combination with a flashy, feathery lure known as a Sea Witch, bonito strips are especially effective this time of year.
He fished the strips behind planers on heavy, two-speed conventional outfits spooled with an 80-pound braided line that were trolled from rod-holders on each side of the stern.
“You catch them this time of year on the planer, the smaller ones,” said Lemieux, a Boynton Beach firefighter who, on his days off, runs trips on his Conch 27 center console for everything from snapper, tuna, and dolphin to sailfish, sharks, and swordfish (www.lemieuxfishingcharters.com). “I’ve caught kingfish on planers everywhere.”
Lemieux rigs a bonito strip on an 8/0 long-shank J hook. He slides a Sea Witch down the leader so it rests atop the strip, giving it the appearance of a flying fish or other baitfish. This day, he used a blue-and-white Sea Witch and a pink one. Both colors were effective.
He trolls with planers to get the strips well below the surface. Essentially a weighted, rectangular piece of metal, a planer dives to a range of depths, depending on how much line is let out. Lemieux fished a No. 4 planer on the long line, which he let out for 40 seconds, and a larger No. 6 planer on the short line, which he let out for 20 seconds, so both strips were down 30 to 40 feet. Staggering the strips prevents tangles.
One end of a planer is attached to the mainline and the other is attached to the leader. Lemieux used 80 feet of a 60-pound fluorocarbon leader, which he pulled in by hand after the planers were reeled to the rod tip.
“Some guys use a lighter leader, some guys use heavier, it just depends on your preference,” he said. “When the fish are biting good, I try to get a little heavier on them. When it’s a real slow, picky bite, you can go down to even a 40-pound leader if you want to.”
Another proven kingfish tactic is to fish live baits from a fishing kite. The kite flies behind the boat and baited lines are attached to clips on the line attached to the kite. That gets the baits away from the boat and allows them to splash on the surface to attract attention from kingfish as well as sailfish and tunas.
Lemieux put up a fishing kite with three lines baited with live goggle-eyes on Fin-Nor Marquesa Pelagic 40 conventional reels with a 20-pound monofilament mainline, a 40-pound leader, and a three-foot piece of wire leader attached to a 6/0 hook. Lemieux also put out three flat-line live baits on spinning outfits.
Things got interesting when the kite bait closest to the boat got whacked by what turned out to be a 43-pound kingfish. Moments later, a huge bonito took off with a flat-line bait. Fortunately, the two fish did not tangle the lines.
The big king dumped a bunch of line, but Lemieux chased it down, gaffed it, and lifted it into the boat. After that kingfish, and the bonito, his exhausted anglers called it quits.
“There’s always a few smaller kingfish around like we caught trolling, and there’s always a few big spawners around,” Lemieux said. “If you have access to live bait, you’re going to catch bigger fish on the live bait.”