King(fish) Me

King of the Beach is a Kingfish and Spanish Mackerel tournament that has been held every fall and spring for the past 22 years. The top king has a prize of $20,000 with many divisions from Spanish Mac to youth, single engine and ladies there are lots of other prizes and money available to be won. The tournament is put on by the Old Salt Fishing Foundation, all proceeds are donated to charity and the weighed fish are donated to science. All these things make KOTB a fun and exciting tournament to be a part of.

I had the opportunity to once again fish KOTB with Captain Tom Kiernan. Tom is an experienced and accomplished fisherman whose numbers always produce fish. King of the Beach is notorious for bad weather and Saturday was no exception. Rough seas stirred up by strong winds from a cold front made getting bait a challenge so we trolled plugs instead. We managed four kingfish, but none that we would take to the weigh in.

Kingfish caught on a plug

 

Pictured above is one of the kings we caught last year. He weighed in the 20 pound range and was just outside the money.

We also got into some bonitas and amberjacks. I took home an AJ that was pushing 35 pounds, he joined my family and friends for dinner that night. He was delicious.

Amberjacks are also called reef donkeys for their hard fighting and stubborn nature.

If you ever have a chance to fish King of the Beach, I would highly recommended it. It’s a great experience and benefits charity.

To learn more about offshore fishing, check out my post, “Into the Blue”.

Until next time, Tight Lines

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