Fishing the Pier for Kings

I went out on the Redington Long Pier this week looking for some land-based fishing. My primary target was kingfish.

 There wasn't much bait around the pier, so catching a legal sized mackerel for bait proved challenging early on. I did manage to catch a few mackerel and put them out off the end of the pier using the zip line technique.

 The zip line, or outrodder, technique gets your bait out away from the pier and holds it in one position just below the surface. When the fish strikes your line is pulled loose from a clip on the zip line and you are now direct to the fish.

   Myself and a few others king fishing did not have a strike that afternoon, but the mackerel did move in and we had fun catching them on # 15 and 16 Sabikis.

  Earlier in the week Greg LaChance caught a 35.6 pound big king using the zip line/mackerel technique.

   Al Trice has been really catching the flounder bouncing a jig with a motor oil gold flake shrimp tail around the pilings. I saw Trice catch a couple while waiting for a kingfish.

   Anglers about halfway out the pier were catching speckled trout and pompano by floating a live shrimp under a cork. Black drum to 40 pounds were also being caught using shrimp on the bottom near the pilings.

   Capt. Billy Miller guided Alex Varner, Michael and Marty Ryan  to big triple tail to 10 pounds using DOA shrimp around the crab buoys. Later in the day they moved inside and caught lots of keeper trout and a few pompano over the grass flats around Ft. DeSoto.

   Capt Van Hubbard reports good fishing down in Lemon Bay and Charlotte Harbor. Hubbard says bait is easy to find and trout, reds and snook are biting inside. The close in reefs have some hungry mackerel and a few kings on them.

Join us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FishingWithBillMiller

Watch our web casts at https://new.livestream.com/fishingBMTV/events/1663901