# king mackeral fishing



## salt-life (Feb 20, 2012)

do king mackeral show up at about the same time cobia do on the okaloosa island pier(middle of march). Also when does bait start to show up around the okaloosa island pier? thx.


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## chris a (May 21, 2008)

Cobia show up mid March. Spanish show up a couple of weeks later, then kings show up around mid April. It has been a warm winter so maybe a little sooner this year.


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## salt-life (Feb 20, 2012)

thanks for the update


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## Texas9 (Feb 1, 2012)

chris a said:


> Cobia show up mid March. Spanish show up a couple of weeks later, then kings show up around mid April. It has been a warm winter so maybe a little sooner this year.


Just as he said. My predictions for first fish caught(taken with a grain of salt): 

Cobia: march 12 

King: march 26 

Bait starts to show up when the water temp gets to about 68


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## Texas9 (Feb 1, 2012)

Oh and it may be earlier this year. Spanish are being caught right now. Interesting.


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## salt-life (Feb 20, 2012)

thx again and do the king stay till november?


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## keperry1182 (Oct 6, 2010)

I caught kings last year all the way through December. Can't wait till they come back, but I'm going after those cobes first thing this year.


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## Texas9 (Feb 1, 2012)

salt-life said:


> thx again and do the king stay till november?


It's all about the water temperature....fish don't have calendars.


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## tjwareusmc (Jul 10, 2008)

Interestingly, I was catching spanish and bluefish over the rock pile inshore reef a few days ago. I didn't know spanish came that far inshore.


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## Trophyhusband (Nov 30, 2011)

Texas9 said:


> It's all about the water temperature....fish don't have calendars.


They don't have calendars, but some animals migration/breeding insticts are triggered factor such as length of day and moon phase. I don't know if length of day effects fish, but it's something to consider. If a fish prefers a certain range of water temps, its unlikely that you will find them outside of that range, but within their comfort zone the other factors kick in.

Take cobia for example. I don't know much about them, so hopefully some of the experienced people here will tell me where I'm right and wrong. I've read more than one post here where people have said that earlier warm water spreads out the cobia migration but when the water warms up later in the year the migration is shorter and more intense. My hypothesis is that maybe the fish need to be to a certain place along their migration path by a certain date. As the days get longer they are more "anxious" (for lack of abetter word) to move along in their migration cycle, but they stop when they get to water that is too cold. When the water stays cold late into the year, my thinking is that they start to get stacked up at the break between the warm and cold water. 

Again, I welcome thoughts on this. This is my first year fishing here, so please don't flame me. I'm just thinking "out loud" here.


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## Texas9 (Feb 1, 2012)

Trophyhusband said:


> They don't have calendars, but some animals migration/breeding insticts are triggered factor such as length of day and moon phase. I don't know if length of day effects fish, but it's something to consider. If a fish prefers a certain range of water temps, its unlikely that you will find them outside of that range, but within their comfort zone the other factors kick in.
> 
> Take cobia for example. I don't know much about them, so hopefully some of the experienced people here will tell me where I'm right and wrong. I've read more than one post here where people have said that earlier warm water spreads out the cobia migration but when the water warms up later in the year the migration is shorter and more intense. My hypothesis is that maybe the fish need to be to a certain place along their migration path by a certain date. As the days get longer they are more "anxious" (for lack of abetter word) to move along in their migration cycle, but they stop when they get to water that is too cold. When the water stays cold late into the year, my thinking is that they start to get stacked up at the break between the warm and cold water.
> 
> Again, I welcome thoughts on this. This is my first year fishing here, so please don't flame me. I'm just thinking "out loud" here.


When the weather gets warmer earlier, the fish come earlier but they are more spread out throughout the season. If its a cold winter the majority of the fish will be stacked up mid april. If its a warm winter like this year they will show up around mid march but be thinner throughout the season. 

Regardless of moon phase, length of day, etc my opinion is that even if they are moving, they wont eat anything untill the water temp gets to about 66-68 degrees. I saw a several cobes last year early, but they wouldnt eat because the water temp was too cold (about 64 degrees). 

68 degrees is the lucky number for cobia, and 72 degrees is the lucky number for kings. Fish wont eat much when they're too cold.


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## reelthrill (Oct 3, 2007)

Texas9 said:


> When the weather gets warmer earlier, the fish come earlier but they are more spread out throughout the season. If its a cold winter the majority of the fish will be stacked up mid april. If its a warm winter like this year they will show up around mid march but be thinner throughout the season.
> 
> Regardless of moon phase, length of day, etc my opinion is that even if they are moving, they wont eat anything untill the water temp gets to about 66-68 degrees. I saw a several cobes last year early, but they wouldnt eat because the water temp was too cold (about 64 degrees).
> 
> 68 degrees is the lucky number for cobia, and 72 degrees is the lucky number for kings. Fish wont eat much when they're too cold.


I have been cobia fishing for nearly forty years and both these posts are very accurate. At 64 degrees, most cobia will continue to migrate and feed very little. When the water temp hits 68-70, cobia will temperarily stop their migration and hang around structure for a day or two. I have also learned that there is no way to predict when the first cobia is going to be caught. We have had a mild winter, but one cold week in March can set the cobia back significantly. One year, around 1975, we had a great run of cobia during the third week in March. A cold front came in and we did not see another cobia until April 4th.


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## Texas9 (Feb 1, 2012)

reelthrill said:


> I have been cobia fishing for nearly forty years and both these posts are very accurate. At 64 degrees, most cobia will continue to migrate and feed very little. When the water temp hits 68-70, cobia will temperarily stop their migration and hang around structure for a day or two. I have also learned that there is no way to predict when the first cobia is going to be caught. We have had a mild winter, but one cold week in March can set the cobia back significantly. One year, around 1975, we had a great run of cobia during the third week in March. A cold front came in and we did not see another cobia until April 4th.


I agree completely. I havent been cobia fishing quite that long, I'm only 18, but I have been at it for about 8 years and have noticed pretty much the same thing.


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## GruBZ (Sep 13, 2009)

I caught. My limit of Spanish today @ PkolaPier


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## Texas9 (Feb 1, 2012)

GruBZ said:


> I caught. My limit of Spanish today @ PkolaPier


That might be a sign of things to come. 

What did you catch them on? Bait or lures?


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## shootnstarz (May 4, 2011)

Man I used to love snalving up big smoker kings, My old Fenwick 1386 could sling a cig to the dark water (old pier). Had many a king skyrocket on the bait while the wind was bowing the line causing it to skip across the water.

There was once a time when the kings were nearly wiped out, from about mid 70s to mid 80s you rarely saw one. They finally stopped the roller net boats in south Florida from killing entire schools of juveniles for cat food. Shortly afterward they came back in force. What a beautiful fish !!!!

Rick


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## seachaser (Jan 8, 2009)

What is temp of water now?


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

seachaser said:


> What is temp of water now?


Go to www.floridaoffshore.com and go to the Bluewater Supermap. You'll be able to get the water temp for where ever you want to fish.


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## feelin' wright (Oct 7, 2007)

MrFish said:


> Go to www.floridaoffshore.com and go to the Bluewater Supermap. You'll be able to get the water temp for where ever you want to fish.


 
I have been to this site several times and do not see the Bluewater Super map. It is just a bunch of advertisements and charter boats. How do you get to the map on this site?


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

feelin' wright said:


> I have been to this site several times and do not see the Bluewater Super map. It is just a bunch of advertisements and charter boats. How do you get to the map on this site?


My bad. www.florida-offshore.com


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