# Help with king mac fishin from peir



## auburnfan221 (Jun 20, 2006)

ok guys im super duper new to king fishing...could some1 tell me everything i need to know...??? thnx


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## eklutna (Mar 12, 2006)

Which Pier?


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## auburnfan221 (Jun 20, 2006)

*Well its the*

Bouge Inlet pier in Emrald Isle, North Carolina


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## auburnfan221 (Jun 20, 2006)

*Alsoooooooooo..*

I dont want to spend to much money on this because i dont even know if i like king fishing....thnx in advance


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## AtlantaKing (Jul 7, 2002)

You don't know if you'll like fishing for king macks only because you haven't caught one  After you hook your first smoker king...    

Luckily, I learned king fishing on the Florida Panhandle, where the only gear needed is live bait and a heavy spinning rod with lots of line  

Instead of rehashing all the info on this site, search "pin rigging", "king rigging", "king mackeral" and you'll have more info than you know what to do with. But, a quick rundown: you'll need an anchor rod (like a 8nbait heaver), a fighting rod (6' standup rod with lever drag reel & 400yds of 30lb mono) and some way to catch live bait for the pin rig.


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## Fishbreath (Nov 11, 2004)

Hey CT, 

Understand about the anchor rod to heave the weight and bait but does it have to be a 6' standup rod or can you use another heaver (aka - 1509) as the fighting rod?

FB


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## AtlantaKing (Jul 7, 2002)

Well, you can use anything for the fighting rod, just as long as the reel on it has a smooth drag and holds decent amounts of line. A shorter rod is easier to pass above, below, over, under and around all the other anchor lines on the pier. A heaver would just be slightly more difficult to manuever around all the other lines (but would make for good entertainment  ). My king mack rod (originally designed for live baiting kings from a boat) is 7' long, all glass with a very soft tip but a beefy mid and is mated with a Penn 555GS filled with 30lb mono, light drag.


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## cotton (Mar 22, 2005)

Atlantkings right; One other thing I would mention is recon the pier you intend to fish to see how they kingfish there; I've only fished two piers, Pensacola FL and Gulf Shores Al (destroyed by Ivan), and they were entirely different with regard to kingfishing. P'cola pier tactics are usually snobbling a dead cigar minnow, though some freeline (but tend to frown on floats); they would call the police if anyone tried to trolly fish; on the other hand I learned to trolly fish at GS pier (which was about 50/50) trolly to freeliners; but they all disliked snobblers. I think trolly fishing was invented on the East coast, so that's probably how you'll end up fishing...and yes, its highly addictive  
Enjoy!


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## eklutna (Mar 12, 2006)

My experience with King Mackerel comes from the Emerald coast where I use to fish the Navarre and Fort Walton Beach Piers.

Rod and reel

I would recommend you buy a Penn 65 long beach or a 3/0 senator and spool it with 30 pound test. Get a 7 foot rod that matches these reels. You can get this stuff at on line auctions cheep perhaps for less than 100 dollars. Mag the reel so you can cast the reel easily. You will only have to cast about fifty feet or less. 

Terminal rigs and bait

Buy a very cheep rod and reel in the six pound range. I use a zebbco 76 with an old eagle claw rod and put three # 6 treble hooks on the line and a one ounce sinker at the bottom. You should be able to locate a bait school and use the rig to snag the bait fish. For a terminal rig you will want to use a 2/0 Steel head hook on a 4 foot 40 pound nylon coated wire leader. You will hook this hook and leader to a snap swivel on the end of you main line. Hook the bait fish you caught through the eyes with the hook. If you are using larger bait fish than pin fish you should use a larger size steelhead hook. 

Presentation

Cast the live bait about 35 feet from the pier. Keep the bait at this distance. The small steel head hook will allow the fish to swim naturally. Steel Head hooks are a forged short shank canted hook. These hooks are very strong and don’t let the size fool you. I have never straightened a hook. You will catch a bunch of other stuff with this rig. I have caught Kings Mackerel, Cobia, Spanish mackerel, blues, hard tail, Bonita, Shark, and others.

Landing

You will need to get a 36” Hoop net to land you fish and a rope long enough for the pier. Put lead weight in the bottom of the net to help you land the fish. Make sure the net is strong enough to lift a 50+ pound fish. I know some people use two ropes so two people can haul up the catch. I would not recommend you use a Rope gaff. Some states have minimum and maximum for fish and if you gaff the fish you can’t really release a living fish could you.

Good luck.


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## AtlantaKing (Jul 7, 2002)

Ahh, yes, snobbling; brings back such fond memories. I, of a more lazy nature, prefer baits that snobble themselves, ie a big hardtail. Put one of those suckers on a #2 L774 treble and watch him go. In fact, the best king I caught was on a foot long hardtail that I caught with a gotcha...thought it was monster spanish  Anyhow, sent him back out with the king rig, and being the suicidal hardtail he was, he headed right for Cuba from the Pensacola Beach Pier. He didn't make it  because the smoker came along and saw the finny equivalent of a ribeye tooling along. Ironically, I was taking a nap on the pier at the time with the rod wedged at the rail and didn't hear it until someone woke me up telling me my rod was falling over. I walked over and saw that the reel was now devoid of line. I was like  because I was using a Tica Dolphin which holds 320yds of 20lb-test line. Luckily, the king was tired out from the 300 yard dash and I just cranked him in


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## Fishbreath (Nov 11, 2004)

AtlantaKing said:


> ... the smoker came along and saw the finny equivalent of a ribeye tooling along.


Good story CT....what's a hardtail??  And, I was thinking of using my pimped out ABU 7500 C3CT for the reel...


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## AtlantaKing (Jul 7, 2002)

A hardtail is a member of the jack family; usually under a foot long, bluish silver in color, with a row of hard scutes (tough scales) along each side of the tail (hence hardtail). They are fun to catch because they are good fighters and stay very lively on the hook. 

Oh, I forgot to mention, I got Atlantaking as my handle on P&S because at the time, I lived in Atlanta and I loved fishing for kings  

I think the pimped out Abu will work unless you're somewhere that doesn't allow snobbling...then you'd have to relegate that to a fighting rod role.


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## auburnfan221 (Jun 20, 2006)

*So......*

Only 30lb mono?...now i understand about the two diff rods...but what kind of reel should i git for the casting rod....also can i git a list of baits?


Thnx alot!!!


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## auburnfan221 (Jun 20, 2006)

eklutna said:


> Mag the reel so you can cast the reel easily. [QUOTE/]
> 
> 
> Mag??? huh


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## AtlantaKing (Jul 7, 2002)

30lb mono should suffice for most king fishing since most kings caught from the pier nowadays (sadly) are probably under 30lbs, not that you will be lifting it up or anything. Kings are mostly an open water fish, and when hooked, tend to run away from the pier at a high pace. If you are 100% certain that kings and spanish mackeral will be all that you catch, you can drop down to 20lb or even 15lb test; however, most of the time, there may be big blues, a stray cobia, tarpon or sharks that are more demanding on tackle so that's why 30lb is a good middle ground. 

Since you're fishing Bogue Inlet, I doubt you'll be snobbling, so you'll probably be pin rigging. 

For the anchor rod, a decent heaver setup will work: heaver rod, Penn 525Mag/Daiwa SLOSH/Abu Garcia, 17lb test line, 60lb test shock leader, 6-8oz anchor. 

For the fighting rod, a decent stand-up style rod with a soft tip and a good reel (Penn Senators, GS series, Daiwa SLX-30-SHAs, Avets, Shimano TLDs, etc) with 30lb line. Just make sure whatever reel you choose, it holds at least 300 yards of line and has a smooth drag. 

Baits: from what I hear for NC, small bluefish, live bunker, mullet or small spanish mackeral. Basically anything small, flashy and lively.


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## auburnfan221 (Jun 20, 2006)

*ugg*

I feel like an idiot   ...I get what your saying i just cant figure it out...could u send me links of examples of what i need...thnx


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## AtlantaKing (Jul 7, 2002)

OK, it goes like this: you need an anchor rod to throw out the anchor as far as you can. The anchor is usually a weight with wire prongs designed to snag bottom. After casting it out, you slowly retrieve it until it hooks on the bottom, and then you crank it tight and stick the rod in a vertical holder so that the line is running from the rod tip down to the water at an angle. You put a shower curtain ring on the anchor line and tie a clothespin to it. Then, taking your fighting rod with the live bait hooked on it, clip the clothespin to the swivel and slide it out to the water. Let out line from the fighting rod until the bait has slid out to the water and wait for a bite. 

This is basically how it works; there are a lot of details to it, though. I'd suggest that you take a trip down to the pier and look around the end and talk to a few people. The pin riggers are those guys on the end that have a heaver sticking straight up with the line going to the water 100 yards out, and a standup rod and reel leaning on the rail next to it. There's a certain finesse to pin rigging and the regulars frown on a newbie who just jumps in and tangles everyone up.


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## eklutna (Mar 12, 2006)

auburnfan221 said:


> eklutna said:
> 
> 
> > Mag the reel so you can cast the reel easily. [QUOTE/]
> ...


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## Lafayette_River (Apr 12, 2005)

auburnfan221 said:


> ok guys im super duper new to king fishing...could some1 tell me everything i need to know...??? thnx



this could take a while, i still don't know everyting i need to know about any kind of fishing


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## hsstie (Sep 8, 2005)

*here ya go*

Here ya go auburnfan. Here is a link to an old post where i explain the process with pictures to help you understand.

http://www.pierandsurf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=147623#post147623

understand better now?


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## French (Jun 18, 2005)

auburnfan

If you are looking for a "cheap" set up... here you go


for your "heaver" you want a 11-12 foot medium-heavy spinning rod and reel combo that holds around 200 yards of 17lb test line. Most of the guys here on P n S prefer a conventional reel, but for a beginner, a good spinning outfit is easier to use, I think (I use an 11 foot combo with a Outer Banks Outfitters 11ft spinning rod and a Diawa Black and Gold reel). You need to make a short shock leader out of 60lb mono line as well...tie it to the end of your 17lb test with a blood knot.

You can buy anchor weights at the Bogue Inlet Pier for about $2.50 each.

For your fighting rod, you want a 6 foot 20-50 pound rod with a conventional reel that holds around 350-500 yards of 25-30lb test line. Some cheaper models reels that I think work fine

Okuna Convector CV55 star drag
(around $80-100 bucks) (I hated this one, but my dad put a 40lb cobia on the deck a few weeks ago, so I can't knock it too bad)

a Penn 113H star drag (around $100)

or a Shimano TLD 15, 20, or 25 with a lever drag ($120-170) 


For how to fish, check out the pin rigging article here on P n S.


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## Jesse Lockowitz (Feb 13, 2006)

auburnfan221 said:


> I feel like an idiot   ...I get what your saying i just cant figure it out...could u send me links of examples of what i need...thnx



hey bro, i fish bogue pier kingfishing almost every day.

go out to the end on any given day, and ask for Jesse.

i should be there.

ill show u whatever you want to know in person.


Jesse


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