Any tips on kings from kayak?

95meangreen

I know the king run is a while away... But I would like to get my gear ready! I've fished around the St. Andrews pass for them in the kayak with no luck except for an Atlantic sharp nose. When trolling, how far past the second sand bar should I be? If I can't sabiki live bait will frozen cig minnows be ok? I read somewhere that clipping the fins off of the cig minnow will prevent it from spinning. Has anyone done this? Do I need weight on my stinger rig? Any advice would be MUCH appreciated! Thanks guys!



Also my kayak is a tarpon 140, not a peddle drive.

Red Fish

Got about 3 months, looking forward to it myself.

I don't like fishing near the pass but it is usually good for kings. As far as distance from the bar, I always troll baits perpendicular to the beach. I have caught them in shallow as 8'. However I tend to have the best luck in 40'+. Frozen cigs will definitely work. I like to keep things very simple when trolling baits in the yak. Cutting the tail off will help keeping them from spinning but honestly at kayak trolling speed(2.5mph) this is never a problem. I have never tried to weight a stinger rig. In fact I don't even use true stinger rigs when king fishing in the kayak. I use 32# seven strand to a single 2/0 4x treble hook. If the water is real clear they can get shy of excessive terminal tackle.

Shoot me a pm if you ever want to get up and hit some fish from the yaks.

95meangreen

Red Fish wrote: »

Got about 3 months, looking forward to it myself.

I don't like fishing near the pass but it is usually good for kings. As far as distance from the bar, I always troll baits perpendicular to the beach. I have caught them in shallow as 8'. However I tend to have the best luck in 40'+. Frozen cigs will definitely work. I like to keep things very simple when trolling baits in the yak. Cutting the tail off will help keeping them from spinning but honestly at kayak trolling speed(2.5mph) this is never a problem. I have never tried to weight a stinger rig. In fact I don't even use true stinger rigs when king fishing in the kayak. I use 32# seven strand to a single 2/0 4x treble hook. If the water is real clear they can get shy of excessive terminal tackle.

Shoot me a pm if you ever want to get up and hit some fish from the yaks.

Thanks for the advice! I have some I that seven strand as well. Do you use a crimp or just haywire twist? I've read your not supposed to do the haywire twist with it but I tried it and seemed to hold strong.

Red Fish

Actually, all I do with seven strand is a single overhand knot. It has never failed me or any of the other folks I know that use it. I have had a double overhand knot fail me several times. So keep it simple and just do a single overhand knot.

Panhandler80

Frozen will be fine... especially in the spring as they'll be hungry. I don't do any kayak fishing nor do I know how far you are comfortable paddling, but if you can get your hands on some near shore natural bottom spots or any kind of public structure then you should be able to flat naturally slay them. One thing to consider tying is just flipping a dead one out there and drifting with it letting it sink naturally. If you do this near ANYTHING that will hold bait, you'll hook up.

Good luck.