# Mahi and Kings



## Whitewater (Mar 25, 2013)

I kayak fish off Fort Pickens about once a month from April thru October. I have yet to catch either a king or Mahi. What are the secret lures, colors, depths to look for when fishing for both of these species? And when is the best seasons?


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## Chapman5011 (Mar 7, 2013)

Mahi will be good luck. You will have to wait for warm water to come in. I have never personally caught a mahi closer than around 10 miles from shore. 
Kings are easier to catch. Drift a cigar minnow or troll a duster or a stretch with your kayak. 
If you get on top of one of those close to shore wrecks they have over there, your chances are better. I'm referring to summer June July water temps. 

Live bait fish should always do the trick


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## Chapman5011 (Mar 7, 2013)

Also I catch the mahi and the kings on the same baits


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## TailRazor (Apr 25, 2011)

Mahi are pigs, they'll almost eat anything you throw at em.


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## KingCrab (Apr 29, 2012)

Wait till mid season (summer) Or later in fall, Say
September, October when the Ballywhoo start hitting the beach. Find Grass, Dolphin will be there Summer wise. Call the Beach piers to see if any has been caught Mahi wise.


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## JD7.62 (Feb 13, 2008)

Man you must have bad luck going at least seven times and not even catching a king. What are you dragging? Im pretty sure I could drag a piece of rope with a hook in it and catch a king.

The easiest and most effective way is to catch some live bait with a sabiki rig, size 8 white with green head is my favorite. Go ahead and splurge for the fluro ones too as they DO work better IMO.

A basic king rig with one size 1/0 live bait hook and one or two size 4 4x trebles on single strand or seven strand (seven strand takes more abuse but single strand is thinner). Grab some good ball bearing swivels too, the Walmart Tsunami brand work great actually.

Hook the J hook in the nose and the trebles in the back. Kind of hard not to catch something trolling around those public reefs out there.

Mahi are more rare but Ive caught around 40 in my kayak so its possible.

I pretty much do the same for mahi but water conditions are key, fish more east towards Navarre. The months of May, September and October are prime but if we get alot of live grass blown in the mahi will be there too.


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## Okieyak (Feb 4, 2014)

Chapman, you said drift a cigar minnow. Do you fish those live or is dead? I know it's probably a silly question to most but I'm fairly new to fishing Florida and its way different then the Texas waters I'm used to. Thanks.


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## GAjohn (May 23, 2012)

I have caught mahi and kings with your standard duster rig you can buy at pretty much every tackle shop. I have only used frozen cigs and had luck but live bait will work a lot better I'm sure. I recently started making my own leaders since I'm landlocked for another couple weeks with this guy's tutorial: 



I seem to have more luck the further I go out for some reason.


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## Okieyak (Feb 4, 2014)

I use the same leaders. In Texas we mainly use frozen ribbon fish on them and catch a lot of kings. When do the kings get in good around Navarre? Is Memorial Day to early?


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## iJabo (Jul 6, 2013)

Okieyak said:


> I use the same leaders. In Texas we mainly use frozen ribbon fish on them and catch a lot of kings. When do the kings get in good around Navarre? Is Memorial Day to early?


I'm sure Memorial Day will be nice for as far as the Kings go, we're looking for 70ish degree Gulf temperatures there. 
However, there is a Memorial Day Weekend, umm, tradition that goes on annually in the Pensacola Area that can effect your fishing schedule.


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## Whitewater (Mar 25, 2013)

I have also used the standard duster rig dragging frozen cigars. I have caught Spanish but not kings. I trolled rattle traps and got Spanish and Bonita . The other species have evaded me thus far.


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## Okieyak (Feb 4, 2014)

I was just using Memorial Day as a time reference. I have some time off mid May and some in June. I'm trying to plan a trip that will be most productive.


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## BlackJeep (Jun 13, 2010)

Do yourself a favor and buy a Yozuri deep diver. You will catch kings, spanish, and bonita. I've heard of a rare hit by a tuna, sail, or shark on them but mostly you'll get kings and bonita. Another option is to buy the Bomber rigs (pink seems to be the best) you see at West Marine and maybe walmart. Kings will hit them and Mahi Mahi seem to really like them too but they can really twist your line up if your bait isn't hooked up right. 

Duster rigs or naked king rigs will work for both too. I caught a wahoo last year on a king duster rig with a monster sardine attached to it.


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## Whitewater (Mar 25, 2013)

I have about a 8" long deep diver in red/white that I tie on to a 40# Penn rod and Penn Battle w/ 40# braid. I have trolled it but only for a short time. Even with mirage drives, it will work you


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## JD7.62 (Feb 13, 2008)

Do you have a GPS? If so look up the numbers for the reefs off of Pickens and you cant NOT catch a king trolling there.


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## yxlr8urlife (Sep 7, 2013)

Last season my brother in law caught a nice dolphin just east of the pcola fishing pier, about 100 yrds out, from our kayaks. We have also caught kings and red snappers inside the oass (ft pickens side).We go to ft pickens a lot but we like to make the turn into open watet passing the pass. We usually fish with live bait( shripm, cigar minnows, etc..good luck maybe we will see out there sometime this season.


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## BlackJeep (Jun 13, 2010)

Whitewater said:


> I have about a 8" long deep diver in red/white that I tie on to a 40# Penn rod and Penn Battle w/ 40# braid. I have trolled it but only for a short time. Even with mirage drives, it will work you


Man up :thumbsup:. You'll want to pull a diver and something else to up your odds. I pull a 5.25" yozuri 99% of the time on one rod and a Chrome jet, duster rig, or something else with a big bait on it on a second rod.


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