Kingfish Chronicles
While offshore in the Gulf of Mexico kingfishing recently with Bud and Alan Reynolds, we had a good day—-releasing six fish that exceeded 30 pounds. The biggest was estimated at 42 pounds. Plop! Back in the water. It’s a little tough, grabbing them by their bony tail as they pass alongside the boat, and timing is critical. The fish has to be right on the surface, yet the the angler has to drop the head by slacking off, as it coasts by the grabber. The angler must also lead the fish forcefully by the grabber, making circles of about 8-10 feet. These fish are so powerful, they can easily shake off a strong hand and glove on the first two tries. It’s the third solid grab, when the king usually gives up.
(The 50-plus pound kingfish below was tailed by Pete Churton in Beaumont, Texas aboard his small boat, and quickly released several years ago That fish, with luck, has grown into the 60-pound range by now..).
He’s then hoisted aboard on the side of the boat, or laid on deck, and the hook(s) quickly removed with strong needlenose pliers. A quick picture and back he goes, dropped straight down, forcing water over his gills. With 90 or more feet of water below, that fish has time to wake up before he hits bottom. We know this technique works—-because we’ve tagged and released several hundred kings and had recaptures years later in faraway lands.
That’s a process that can be repeated over and over by anglers who have no real need to keep a kingfish of this size, without a very good reason, such as a high-stakes tournament. There are government warnings against eating kings bigger than about 16 pounds, because of possible mercury in the tissue. As a “coastal pelagic” fish that migrates along the coast, or at least along the continental shelf, they accumulate mercury by eating a variety of fish species.
I’ve fished the king tournaments before, even won a few, on days when a big kingfish was desperately needed. It always irked us to see a much-needed 30 pound or bigger kingfish, brought in by someone just to show it on the dock, give it away, even toss it in a dumpster. In the excitement of fighting these fish, the urge to stick a gaff in them is sometimes great. Charterboats love to show a big fish back at the dock, and use it as advertising for the next day’s potential trip. And many of these captains seem very hesitant to preach conservation, at risk of offending their clients. Other anglers are afraid of anything with sharp teeth, so they gaff and club these big fish like they’re sharks. Or water-borne rattlesnakes.
It takes a minimum of 10 years to grow a 30-pound kingfish, whose migrations may take it right back where it was the previous year. We once tagged and released a 36-pounder at a rock far offshore of Galveston, and my friends caught it the same month the following year, in a tournament, and won second place. (Talk about karma). Doing so impresses on you that the Gulf or Atlantic is not some vast hole, where the same fish never passes that same way again. Another odd happening—-One of the first Texas kings I ever tagged, in 1985, was recaptured by the only angler I knew living in Mobile, Alabama. What were the chances of that? Apparently, not that big.
These high-flying king, big or small, are capable of tremendous leaps when striking a surface bait. A fine fish.
Anyway, next time you see a big kingfish about to be gaffed, outside a tournament, or even in a tournament when a bigger king is in the box, try to coax the angler (and especially, the captain or mate with a gaff) to tail the fish aboard instead, and release it quickly. A king that big is a female, the spawning stock, from 10 to 15 years old…It takes a long time to replace such a fish.
On another note, and speaking of big kings, I’m still trying to find the angler in Puerto Rico who caught the world record 94-pounder back in 1999. The IGFA sent me his last-known mailing address, and the letter is going out today. I’m hoping for a good photo, and some testimony on catching that huge fish. Not many anglers shot digital photos back then, but perhaps someone took slides or film that day. That huge fish will be featured in my book coming out this autumn, The Kingfish Bible Part Part II, with many new stories. The book this time will feature all color photography. Biggest kingfish photo in there so far is 74 pounds, which is a whopper, caught by one of the Delph family captains out of Key West. One wonders how much luck, or how many breaks this kingfish received, before growing this huge.
