by Cap't. Ralph F. Mariano rmariano@streport.com | Info on Florida Saltwater Fish - Rules & Fishing Tips
Black Drum | Black Grouper | Bluefish | Blue Marlin
Bonefish | Cobia | Dolphin | Flounder
Gag Grouper | Gray Snapper | King Mackerel | Mutton Snapper
Permit | Pompano | Redfish | Red Snapper
Sailfish | Snook | Spanish Mackerel | Tarpon
Trout | Wahoo | White Marlin | Yellowtail Snapper
Yellowfin Tuna | American Shad | Swordfish | Greater Amberjack

The fine art of King fishing One of offshore fishing's most sought after species the King Mackerel has left many a yelllowtail angler wondering what hit them. The first time you find yourself looking at an empty spool where 200 yards of 20lb. premium monofilament was tightly wound just a minute before, your hooked! When I set out to put together a how-to article for newcomers to the game I began my research by reading recent fishing reports from two of the westcoasts foremost authorities on the subject. I didn't have to look any further to find years of experience capsulated into a few well written paragraphs. Capt Dennis Royston and Capt. Charlie Walker have been battling kings for more years than either care to admit, read on to gain knowledge that took me several years to acquire using the trial and error method. The Bait:To catch all the bait you'll need, go to your tackle shop and buy some Sabiki rigs. They are pre-rigged tiny flies usually 5 or 6 to a line about 6" apart. They have a barrel swivel on the top and a snap swivel on the bottom. The barrel swivel is attached to the end of your 8 to 12 lb. Test line on a 61/2'or 7' medium heavy Spinning rod. On the snap swivel attach a 1oz. Or larger sinker or jig. Next simply lower the rig to the bottom and raise up about 1 foot and slowly move up and down. If you are in or around the bait it will only be seconds until your line is full. You can catch all the live bait you'll need for the day in just a few minutes. (Caution) the little gold hooks on the above rig will catch fingers, clothes or anything else that come into contact with them. The Rigging:Now that you have your bait the most common rig to use is a kingfish stinger rig. This consists of a single strand wire leader ( 27 to 45 lb.) I personally like the lighter wire. Using a Haywire twist ( shown on the back of most wire packages) Attach a barrel swivel at one end of a 12 to 18" length of wire leader. At the other end attach a 3/0 short shank bronze live bait hook. Here is where the stinger comes in. Take another short length of wire and place it through the eye of the hook and through the loop in the leader holding the hook. (This adds an extra safety margin for the stinger should the hook eye not be tight against the hook shank). At the end of this second wire (about 3 to 5" ) attach a size # 4 Bronze treble hook 4x strong. You now have a wire line with 2 hooks attached. I like to do one more thing to the rig. I cut a 3/8ths" piece of shrink tubing and slide it over the barrel swivel and down the wire and over the eye of the single hook. Place the tubing down to the curl of the hook and heat until it shrinks around the single hook and the wire leading to the treble. This keeps the stinger in line with the single hook. If you do not want do the above you can still catch kings, but you will loose a number of fish that strike short. Drifting Live Baits:Using rods and reels with 15 to 20 lb line having large line capacity is a must. Set the drags at about 4 lbs. When a king hits your bait it will make a long run - up to a hundred yards or more. Just let him go. He may make one or two shorter runs and come to the boat. Don't change the drag when the fish nears the boat as this is where most good fish are lost when they make this last run near the boat. The two most common methods used are to anchor near good bottom structure and put out 1 or 2 bags of chum. I prefer to drift over good bottom structure with flat lines behind the boat. I also like to put out a sea anchor to slow the drift speed. If you want to run a chum line behind the boat - so much the better. A suggestion - If you arrive at an area you want to fish and other boats are working the area, stay back and watch what they are doing . If they are at anchor - you anchor. If they are drifting - you drift. One or two boats anchored in the middle other boats that are drifting can become a delicate situation quickly. One more thing - a lot of big kings are cut in half by large Barracuda . Most of the time these Cuda hang around the structure that the bait was on. This is why I like drifting. When a king hits you can follow it with the boat and get away from the structure and other boats. This will reduce your chances of a Cuda cut off. Trolling for Kings:When mackerel and kingfishing, one of the most effective methods is to troll live baits. You hook the baits through the nose and pull them behind the boat as slow as you can, this is generally one and one half to three knots. Some boats even have to pull a bucket or sea anchor in order to troll slowly enough. Another method is to troll hardware, spoons and planers, as fast as you can go and still keep the spoons in the water, this is generally around five to seven knots. As you can see from the differences in speed, when both methods are being used in the same vicinity, it requires that the boat drivers focus all their attention to the job of running the boat. There is one thing that is important for either method of trolling and that is to avoid running right through the center of the bait school that you have found. You should troll around the outside edge of the school since as you turn around them your baits are pulled right through the school. If you cut through the center it causes the bait to sound and the school to split up. This means you lose sight of them and can't tell which way they are moving. The heart stopping first run of a large kingfish is the stuff memories are made of. Since kings are now plentiful again, and do not require long long grueling runs to reach blue water, they are a great way to initiate young anglers to the wonders of offshore sportfishing. Now that you have saved yourself years of trial and error get out there and don't forget to take a future angler along for the excitement!!
Variety Island by George Van Zant
Santa Barbara is a popular spot for anglers seeking white seabass, especially during the winter squid run.
It's a little known fact, but Santa Barbara was once completely overrun by rabbits. The creatures had been introduced to this remote island off the Southern California coast by a rancher as part of some hare-brained enterprise. The rancher eventually left, but the rabbits remained to proliferate as only rabbits can. By the late 1940s there were so many bunnies on the island that a visitor practically had to kick them aside in order to get around. In fact, overcrowding became such a problem that the rabbits were forced to take some rather extreme measures. Now, most anglers are familiar with the sight of a gull, pelican, or tern perched atop a floating kelp paddy. Indeed, these birds often lead the way to some fine fishing action. But try to imagine the surprise of the 1940's charter skipper who approached a kelp paddy one day to find a rabbit calmly hitching a ride on the mat of floating vegetation, a good ten miles from the nearest chunk of land. It gave a whole new meaning to the term "paddy hopping." The rabbits' reign on Santa Barbara ended when the National Park Service began restoring the island to its natural state, which obviously did not include furry, long-eared leverets. Today Santa Barbara is bunny-free, although its surrounding waters are home to an abundance of other creatures, most notably game fish. Santa Barbara lies 40 miles west of the Long Beach breakwater, and is the smallest of the Channel Islands group, measuring one square mile. Formed by volcanic activity, it appears as a twin-peaked mesa with steep, imposing cliffs. The only place to access the island is at Landing Cove on the northwest shore, where a pier has been built. Just off the island are two prominent rocks, Sutil and Shag, both of which serve as nesting sites for a variety of sea birds, as well as an ideal spot for throwing "iron" for calico bass. Big Game at the Osborn Billfishermen use Santa Barbara as a jump-off spot to reach the summer marlin and swordfish grounds. Trolling is mostly concentrated around the Osborn Bank, a well-known seamount located six miles south of the island. Currents roar up the steep slope of the bank, which rises from 560 fathoms to 19 fathoms, creating huge plankton-rich upwellings that attract both bait and game fish. In addition to marlin and swords, the Osborn is a major hot spot for bluefin, yellowfin and albacore tuna. Bottom fishermen will find many species of rockfish dwelling on the underwater slopes of Santa Barbara. Vermilion rockfish, also known as "red snapper," are abundant at the island, which supplies most of the restaurants in the Los Angeles area with these fish. Both reds and cowcod, another popular rockfish, can be taken on various baits and jigs fished at depths of 1,000 feet or more. And you never know when a giant tuna will suddenly grab your bait on the way down and make off with all your line. It's happened before. Calicos in the Kelp Santa Barbara is surrounded by vast kelp beds that serve as home to large schools of sheephead, yellowtail, white seabass and calico bass. The local calicos are reknown for their size and abundance, and are probably the top inshore sport fish among visiting anglers. Calicos can be caught by trolling large plugs along the edge of the kelp, casting metal spoons, and jigging leadheads adorned with soft-plastic bait tails. The most popular method, though, is to throw live baits directly into, or onto, the kelp. The trick here is to use large baits that can wriggle through the thick layer of kelp fronds after touch-down. Sometimes the calicos can't wait that long, and can be seen pushing against the fronds as they try to get at the bait! To be successful, you have to keep your reel in gear so the fish can't run off any line and tangle it in the kelp once it grabs the bait. This practice calls for heavy line (30-pound test is preferred) and a hammered-down drag. A six-pound calico can inhale a ten-inch mackerel before you can blink, so set the hook as soon as you feel a strike and start pulling. Pull hard and steady and the fish will eventually slide out of the kelp. You'll miss many smaller fish with this technique, but the large ones almost always get the hook. Making Bait With the nearest bait barge miles away, Santa Barbara anglers should be prepared to catch their own on-site. Bring some three-gallon plastic containers of frozen, ground sardines, anchovies or mackerel, which can be purchased at any mainland bait shop. When you're ready to fish, cut two or three triangular holes about one inch wide in the top of the bucket and hang it over the side. Many types of baitfish will follow the chum slick to the boat, but Spanish mackerel are the most desirable. They often gather just behind the transom to pick away at the bits of chum that filter out of the bucket. To catch them, use a Sabiki rig or bait-catcher gangion with hooks in the No. 10 range (Spaniards like smaller hooks than Pacific mackerel). Sometimes the plain silver hooks work better than those with beads and flashy material. To keep the Spaniards in prime shape, crush the barbs on the bait hooks and shake the baits off with an icepick or a small dehooker. This prevents the removal of scales and slime. Spanish mackerel can also be gathered around kelp paddies. If you find a paddy floating in open water, back the boat up to it and drop over the bait-catcher rigs. If you can't see fish under the paddy, try working different levels of the water column until you start getting hits. Fish the area thoroughly, because the mackerel can be 100 feet below the surface. You can also find Spaniards along the 100-foot curve near the island. Cruise slowly along the curve until the schools appear on your depthsounder. They can be anywhere from 10 to 150 feet, even deeper. Don't Forget the Squid! Squid, whether it's live, fresh-dead or frozen, is an absolute must for the island. If you time it right, you might be able to catch your own, since Santa Barbara is famous for its spawning aggregations of squid, especially in early winter. Catching squid is done mostly at night, in 80 feet of water or more. It's best to have powerful lights to draw the squid to the surface, although normal boat lights will often work. Squid near the surface can be netted; otherwise you'll have to use squid jigs. The best thing about finding a concentration of squid is that white seabass will always be nearby. In fact, you would be extremely remiss if you didn't have a squid bait on the bottom at the crack of dawn. If you can't catch your own squid, frozen squid can be purchased at most tackle stores. However, the freshest squid comes from the oriental markets in the area. The bottom line? Don't leave the dock without at least five pounds of frozen squid! Home of the Rockcod If you like fried rockcod fillets, you've come to the right place! Santa Barbara is home to a variety of these tasty bottom fish, which can be caught by simply dropping heavy jigs, 16 ounces or more, to the bottom and "yo-yoing" them up and down. Remember that rockfish often grab the jig as it's being free-spooled to the bottom, so stay alert. Another way to take rockfish is to send down a multi-hook gangion weighted with a 16-ounce sinker and baited with squid. And if you want some real action, rig five live mackerel on a five-hook gangion and drop it to at least 500 feet, then hold on tight. You might find yourself slugging it out with five 20-pound-plus cowcod on the same rig. The real skill in rockcodding is locating the schools, which is why a quality depthsounder is a must. Start your search in at least 150 feet of water. Rockcod are highly gregarious, and a school of them will appear as a massive cloud on your sounder screen. Once you find such a cloud, drop your rigs quickly. If you hook up, toss over a buoy to mark the spot. Rockcodding requires heavy gear, for obvious reasons. In depths of 500 feet or more, I recommend a 9/0 reel filled with at least 80-pound-test Dacron (monofilament is undesirable because of its stretch). Before making a trip to Santa Barbara, run a safety check of your boat and equipment, because help can be a long way off. Also, carry two or three anchors with sufficient line in case of a breakdown. If you have a small boat, be sure to carry enough spare fuel to reach the Isthmus at Catalina Island from Santa Barbara. The Isthmus is the closest fuel dock to Santa Barbara, and it's 20 to 25 miles away. Of course, there's always the possibility of being stranded on Santa Barbara, but you'd better have plenty to eat. After all, you can't count on chasing down some rabbits. |
Area overview. Detail image.
Santa Barbara Hot Spots The following are loran coordinates for various fishing spots around Santa Barbara. When checking out the deep-water rockcod spots, look for clouds of fish or pinnacles on the depthsounder before dropping your baits; you don't want to waste time and energy reeling up lines from great depths with nothing on the hook.
Name | Loran TDs | Depth
--- | --- | ---
Santa Barbara Island | 28068.00/41172.10
Osborn Bank | 28062.80/41153.50 | 42 fathoms
Rockcod spot | 28068.60/41169.60 | 41 fathoms
Rockcod spot | 28068.00/41173.00 | 25 fathoms
Rockcod spot | 28069.40/41169.10 | 41 fathoms
Cowcod spot | 28074.48/41165.671 | 30 fathoms
Arch Reef (surface fish) | 28061.70/41188.85 | 3 fathoms
"40-Foot spot" (surface fish) | 28062.70/41187.40 | 7 fathoms
Hidden Reef (surface fish) | 28059.87/41197.73 | 8 fathoms
Red rockfish spot | 28063.30/41189.50 | 15 fathoms
Kidney Bank(cow cod) | 28070.60/41194.80 | 116 fathoms
Visiting Santa Barbara Island Santa Barbara is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. The only place to gain access to the interior is at Landing Cove on the island's northeast side, where you'll find a pier leading to a walkway that ascends a steep cliff. Federal law prohibits visitors from disturbing the harbor seals, sea lions and elephant seals that raise their young on virtually every available space of real estate. For more information on visiting the island, call the Channel Island National Park Service at (805) 658-5730, or visit its website at http://www.nps.gov/chis/. Boaters should note that Santa Barbara offers some protection from the prevailing westerlies. When the fierce Santa Ana winds kick up, however, there is no place to hide, and most captains beat it for Catalina Island, 20 miles away. Santa Barbara separates the Outer Santa Barbara Channel from San Pedro Channel. The former is almost always wild and windy, while the San Pedro Channel is much calmer. The junction of these two channels and the small size of the island cause unbelievable ocean currents to sweep around the island. These currents are constantly changing, making overnight anchoring dangerous. Use extreme caution. Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Division of Marine Fisheries NEWS RELEASE July 13, 1999 CONTACT: Henry Cabbage (850) 488-4676 Lee Schlesinger (850) 487-0554 CONSERVATION COMMISSION DEFINES ITSELF; BEGINS WORK The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) picked its new executive director, chairman, and vice-chairman and began work on the task of conserving Florida's fish and wildlife when the one-week-old agency hosted its first meeting. During the July 7-9 meeting at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport Sheraton, the 11-member Commission selected Allan L. Egbert, Ph.D. -- former executive director of the Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission (GFC) -- to serve as the agency's executive director. Commissioner Julie Morris will serve as chairman, at least until January, and Commissioner Jamie Adams will be vice-chairman. The new fish and wildlife commission, reflecting a combination of the GFC and the Marine Fisheries Commission mandated by voters last November, instructed designers to continue efforts to create an agency logo and then waded into the issues involved in managing Florida's fish and wildlife resources. Division of Administrative Services director, Sandra Porter, delivered a report concerning the agency's financial status and projections. Office of Environmental Services director, Brad Hartman, presented staff recommendations concerning proposed acquisitions of additions or inholdings to areas managed by the FWC. Commissioners approved recommendations to purchase a 262-acre addition to the Platt Branch Mitigation Park, a 904-acre addition to the Bull Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA), a 3,593-acre addition to the Triple N Ranch WMA, a 1,000-acre addition to the Tenoroc Fish Management Area (FMA) and a 130-acre addition to the Lake Tohopekaliga FMA. Commissioners also approved addition of three land tracts to the list of property it intends to purchase eventually to become part of the Chassahowitzka WMA. Division of Wildlife director, Frank Montalbano, delivered a status report concerning 1999 water levels and deer hunting opportunities in south Florida wildlife management areas. Advisory Council on Environmental Education (ACEE) director, Madeline Strong, delivered a status report on that program, which awards grants for environmental education projects. Commissioners approved appointment of Rep. Paula Dockery, (R) Polk County, and Duane De Freese, Ph.D. to serve on ACEE. In addressing various marine fisheries management issues, the FWC approved an emergency rule that will allow the Gulf of Mexico recreational red snapper fishery to remain open in Florida waters through Oct. 31 (the National Marine Fisheries Service has announced it will close this fishery in Gulf federal waters on Aug. 29). From Aug. 30 through Oct. 31, fishermen will be limited to a daily bag limit of two red snapper, no less than 16 inches in total length, harvested from state waters. All recreational harvest of this species in state waters will then be prohibited Nov. 1 - Jan. 1. The Commission also intends to reconsider future management of the red snapper fishery during its October meeting. The FWC directed staff to schedule a public workshop to receive comment on proposed changes to shrimp harvesting regulations, primarily for Biscayne Bay waters in Dade County. These proposed rules would eliminate the count law (minimum size limit) for food shrimp harvested in Dade County, establish an Oct. 15 - May 15 harvest season for food shrimp in Biscayne Bay (with a 6 a.m. Saturday - to 6 a.m. Sunday closed period to food shrimp harvest each week during this open season), and prohibit the use of frame nets by recreational fishermen to harvest shrimp in Dade County. These proposed rules would also designate shrimp as a "restricted species" statewide. The FWC intends to hold a final public hearing on these proposed shrimp rules during its October meeting. In order to conform with recent federal rule changes, the FWC voted to establish a minimum size limit of 99 inches LJFL (lower jaw fork length -- measured from the tip of the lower jaw to the middle of the tail) for Atlantic blue marlin, 66 inches LJFL for Atlantic white marlin, and 63 inches LJFL for west Atlantic sailfish, and to prohibit retention of longbill, Mediterranean, and roundscale spearfish from Florida waters. The effective date of these rules will be announced in the near future, pending a 21-day legal notification period to allow persons to request an additional hearing on these rule changes. The FWC also expressed its desire that all agencies involved act responsibly to manage pelagic species, and particularly to address the problem of high bycatch mortality of pelagic species in drift longline gear operations. The FWC also directed staff to schedule a final public hearing in October on proposed rule amendments that would merge amberjack rules into the current reef fish rule chapter, conform amberjack commercial licensing requirements to those of reef fish (with a clarification that the appropriate federal commercial permit is a condition of sale for all species in the rule), eliminate the five-day commercial season closure extension in the reef fish rule, restore the documentation requirement for reef fish species possessed during a closure period, include the one-fish daily vessel limit for speckled hind and warsaw grouper within the five-fish grouper aggregate bag limit, and increase the maximum size limit for banded rudderfish and lesser amberjack from 20 to 22 inches in length. In other action, the FWC directed staff to schedule final public hearings in October on proposed rules that would allow the landing in Florida of finfish and shellfish harvested legally in the Bahamas by recreational fishermen under certain conditions, and specify that cast nets have a circumference of no more than 79 feet 3 inches. The FWC also directed staff to schedule public workshops to receive comment on the management of pompano, and to explore ways to improve enforcement strategies and document illegal activities regarding this fishery. In addition, the Commission received a report on recent federal actions regarding sharks, directed staff to begin development of a statewide management plan for horseshoe crabs, and approved its marine fisheries work plan for the 1999/2000 fiscal year. The next FWC meeting is set for Oct. 6-8 in St. Petersburg.

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