Alabama’s Target-Rich Mackerel Waters
Kings of the Night
 Editor’s
Note: Anglers on the Gulf Coast will find a target-rich
environment there for hunting big kingfish. The State
of Alabama has the largest artificial reef-building
program in the nation, and many of these reefs have
big king mackerel swarming over them. The Department
of Conservation's Marine Resources Division has charted
hundreds of public reefs with Loran coordinates and
DGPS coordinates at www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/saltwater/tides-weather/.
You also can pull down maps of the area at this site.
For each public reef you pinpoint on the map, three
to 10 unmarked and unnamed reefs may exist within the
designated reef-building area. The state permits individuals
to carry reef material out to the reef-building zone
and deploy that material without having to tell anyone
the exact location. When you’re fishing for king
mackerel, keep your depth finder on, and search for
hidden reefs as you go back and forth to the reefs you
plan to fish. Artificial reefs attract baitfish that
will draw in big king mackerel. Generally the bigger
reefs will attract the larger mackerel. However, anglers
may locate big-king honey holes on the many small reefs
that most fishermen will overlook.
 We’d
fished hard all day for snapper, grouper and amberjacks,
and our captain had anchored us over a natural reef
that contained some big rocks. When he anchored the
boat down, he let enough line out so that the boat was
positioned right about the reef. There were 22 of us
fishing on a head boat (a multi-passenger boat that
could take out large parties of fishermen). After dinner,
everyone went to sleep in the bunks below. But I had
an old trick that I’d learned many years ago.
I drank as much water and iced tea as I could before
I went to sleep, so I would wake up in the middle of
the night and start to fish again. When I went out on
the deck, I met another fisherman who had started fishing
after dinner, and I noticed that when he brought his
bait up, there was a flash of silver right below his
bait. I let the fisherman get downstairs and then I
started scurrying around the deck, looking for what
I could rig up to possibly catch king mackerel. I found
some wire leader and two large hooks. I put the eye
of one hook through the point of the second hook, which
gave me a double-hook rig. Then, I found a barrel swivel,
tied the monofilament line from the deck rod to a barrel
swivel, used pliers to attach the wire leader and finally
attached the wire leader to the two hooks. I knew that
king mackerel liked live bait, but I didn’t have
any. However, I did have some frozen cigar minnows.
I took a box of the cigar minnows out, and after they
thawed in water, I hooked a cigar minnow through the
nose. Then with the second hook, I hooked it through
the belly. Using no lead, I began to free-line the cigar
minnow off the back of the boat. I’d let out only
about 50 to 60 yards of line when I felt a hard thump.
I engaged the reel, set the hook and the battle started.
 As
I began to play the fish down, I knew that if I brought
the mackerel straight to the deck and put him on the
deck, it would start slapping its tail against the bottom
of the boat and wake up everyone below. So, I played
the fish down. Then I got a gaff, which was right by
where I was fishing, gaffed the fish and carried it
straight to the icebox. The fish flopped around inside
the icebox but didn’t make enough noise to wake
anyone. For the next 3 hours, I caught king mackerel
almost every time I put my bait in the water. Each time,
I’d bring the fish to the boat, gaff it, put it
in the icebox and then start fishing again. The kings
weighed 15- to 25-pounds each. In those days, there
were no limits on king mackerel, and you could catch
as many as you wanted. About an hour before daylight,
I’d done all the king mackerel fishing I wanted.
I had 25 kings in the icebox, each with a tag on its
tail and my number – No. 5.
 When
you’re fishing on a head boat like this one, with
a lot of different people, and everyone wants to keep
what they’ve caught, you’re issued a number.
And, my number was No. 5. So, after I’d washed
my hands, cleaned up the deck and put the lid on the
icebox, I went below, crawled back in my bunk and went
to sleep. Two or 3 hours later, I smelled coffee brewing
and bacon frying, and I could hear the other fisherman
eating breakfast. I crawled out of my bunk and went
to breakfast. Everyone was talking about the icebox
full of king mackerel and wondering who’d caught
them. But I never said anything. Everyone kept asking,
“Who’s No. 5?” And, I was like the
Tar Baby in the old Uncle Remus story, “I just
didn’t say nothin’.” When we got in
that night, the fish were taken out of the icebox and
thrown out on the deck in lines by numbers. My king
mackerel were the last fish to hit the deck, and everyone
was standing around to see who was No. 5. I sheepishly
went up the dock and got a roll cart for all my fish.
When I started loading those king mackerel into the
roll cart, everyone really gave me a hard time about
all the king mackerel I’d caught. They all wanted
to know when and how I’d caught them. But just
like Tar Baby sitting on a log, I didn’t say anything
except, “I just got lucky.”
For more information on the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention
and Visitors Bureau, visit www.gulfshores.com,
or call 800-745-SAND.
To learn more about fishing the Gulf Coast, contact
the Orange Beach Fishing Association at 251-981-2300,
or visit www.gulffishing.net.
Tomorrow: Fish the Platforms
at Night
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