Article by Sue Foster
“If you catch a small gray fish with whiskers in the surf, don’t throw it back. It’s delicious to eat!” I heard one of my employees telling a new surf angler this and realized this was a pretty good description of a kingfish aka whiting!
Yes, we’ve had a very good summer in the surf on these tasty fish. As Mark Sampson mentioned in a previous article that some fish have many names, this is certainly true of these fish. They are called kingfish, whiting, round heads and sea mullet. There are two varieties as well, Southern and Northern Kingfish. The Northern variety is small and has distinct black bars across its body. It has a higher dorsal fin as well. The Southern variety tends to run slightly larger, is more grayish, and does not have the high fin. Both have barbels on their chins that look like whiskers.
Regardless of the variety, they have delicious white meat and though they are not large (a pound is a big one), they are long and slender and the yield of meat for its size is good.
“I’ve surf fished all week, and I haven’t caught any of these fish!! What are you talking about!!!?”
Kingfish have small turned down mouths, so if you are out there fishing with a big #4/0 hook and a big chunk of cut bait, you may never catch a kingfish, unless it is an accident. To fish specifically for kingfish, you want to fish with a size #6 or #8 hook baited with bloodworm, artificial Fishbite bloodworm, or little pieces of cut bait such as fresh bunker, spot, clam or box squid. Worms are the most effective and popular bait. Combination baits are the key to kingfish success.
Go to a tackle store and buy a pre-made kingfish/spot rig for the surf. Sea Striker makes several different varieties of these rigs made with either a Pacific Bass straight shank hook or the Kahle wide gap type hook. I personally like the wide gap variety of rig. I think it helps the fish hook themselves in the surf. They come in several colors and all of them work fine. Slip on a pyramid or hurricane-type sinker in the 2 to 4-ounce range. You don’t want to use more sinker than it takes to barely hold the bottom. It’s OK if it slowly comes back to shore, as long as you are holding the rod and reeling in any slack line as it bounces back in.
OK, bait up the hooks with either the real bloodworm or a quarter to half inch piece of Fishbite bloodworm. Thread a piece of the real bloodworm on the hook. Then add a small strip of fresh cut bait such as bunker or spot. If you don’t have fresh bait use frozen bait. Box squid is good (better than the cleaned stuff). Cut a small triangle of the bait and put it on the hook next to the bloodworm. There’s spot in the surf as well. You can catch a spot with bloodworm or Fishbites. Fillet and strip it up with a sharp knife, and you have the perfect cut bait! Finger mullet makes good cut bait too. Simply fillet a side of it off with a sharp knife, and put it on the hook with the worm bait. Fresh bluefish also works wonders. Cut-up clam in little pieces is a favorite bait for kingfish, though it doesn’t stay on the hook as well as cut fish.
Some serious anglers believe in real bloodworm tipped with Fishbite bloodworm. Some like shrimp, especially for the southern kingfish. Some anglers like peeler crab. Southern kingfish seem to take more of a variety of baits, while the Northern kingfish like the bloodworm and Fishbites bloodworm. Yes, so many Fishbite bloodworms have been bought and sold this summer for surf fishing that the companies were running out last week. Distributers were scrambling to get it back in stock (which they have…).
The technique… Cast out with a 7 to 9 foot medium weight surf rod with a reel lined with 12 to 15 pound test. You don’t need overkill to catch a ½ to 1 pound fish! Cast out as far as you can, then ever so slowly bump the rig back in towards the beach. When you get a hit, set the hook and reel. Sometimes the kings will head straight to the beach, and you can get slack in your line if you stop reeling. There’s no size limit on kingfish, so just eyeball your catch and decide if you want to fillet it or not. Some of them are on the small side, so it just depends on how good you are with a fillet knife and how hungry you are for a fish sandwich!
If you start catching skates and dogfish, you are casting out too far. Sometimes the kings are in real close in the “suds.” Other times, they are out a little further, just beyond the crest of the waves. Cast here and there, trying to find where the strikes are happening. When you find the fish, cast to that place again. Where there’s one, there’s usually more.
Other fish… With the kingfish rig you can catch Norfolk spot (which are also great to eat), croaker, sand perch, blowfish and snapper blues. It’s lots of fun for kids on light tackle, though if you are out there with non-surf fishing equipment, it is very important not to let your reel get in the sand. Please use a sand spike and don’t wash your reel in the ocean.
Time of Day… is of utmost importance. Early, early in the morning (daybreak) is your best chance of having a good kingfish catch. In the heat of the summer, the fish can shut right off as soon as the sun gets overhead. On cloudy, overcast days the fish can bite all day, but hot sunny days, it can be slow right up till dusk. Then the action can start again! (Fish from 5:30 till dark and sometimes they will bite after dark.)
Tide… Incoming is usually best, but it doesn’t really matter. Kings do like a little rough water, thus if you have a flat calm surf and a west wind, the action can be slow. But if you have a light east wind that churns the water up just a little, you can have a really good catch. Like any surf fishing, look for a rip, drop off, slough, back wash, change in the beach in front of you…. Rock jetty…. If one spot isn’t working, move down the beach even a few yards, and your luck can change!
Good fishing….
Sue Foster is an outdoor writer and co-owner of Oyster Bay Tackle in Ocean City, MD and Fenwick Tackle in Fenwick, DE.
