Fall fishing for mackerel on the piers within the Emerald Coast will be very hit and miss, particularly the later into the autumn you get. So this yr I knew I used to be going to go all the way down to fish for a number of days, I used to be making an attempt to select one of the best days doable to go. Checking the climate to see what the temp and wind forecasts had been in addition to projected climate fronts. So with a few weeks of excellent king mackerel studies and good king mackerel climate being forecasted I went down for 3 days of pier fishing proper at the start of November. Whereas after I was in faculty leaving the home at 1 or 2 am to drive all the way down to the Gulf was no downside in any respect for me, this let me get to the pier proper at dawn on the primary day of fishing, giving me essentially the most fishing time doable. However I’ve to say I’ve slowed down now, I left fairly late this journey at 4:30 – 5 am and acquired to the County Pier car parking zone round 10 am.
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After getting the pier cart loaded up and all my rods unpacked and arrange, I paid my charge to fish the pier and began heading towards the top. The shallows had been truthfully horrible, simply mud, which truthfully has been the theme of the yr for the fishing on the pier. Soiled water usually sucks for mackerel fishing and there was a ton of it this yr. This additionally double sucked for this journey as a result of there was a month-long King mackerel event that I hoped to weigh a fish in, however I did no less than see some cleaner water in direction of the top. So seeing the shallows had been shot I simply saved strolling the 1/4 mile to the top of the pier and acquired to the primary essential step of “making bait”. On a rod that will usually be used for bass, I tied on a inexperienced #6 sabiki rig with a 1oz weight and began hopping it on the underside. As an alternative of working the sabiki extra aggressively, I used to be letting the wave motion do a lot of the work. I let the burden sit on the sand whereas I used to be working the rod to get simply get tight to the burden whereas not lifting it out of the sand. This was the ticket I acquired a number of hits on the primary forged, which I noticed was 3 cigar minnows as I used to be reeling them in. However I misplaced two of them making an attempt to elevate them as much as the pier, which occurs typically with smaller sabiki rigs, the hooks are small and skinny. However I had a pleasant high quality cigar minnow for dwell bait, I acquired that hooked onto my Cavitt Customs king rod w/ PENN Spinfisher VII 6500 Bailess, and pitched it out on a flatline to attempt for king mackerel.
Hooked within the tail, cigar minnows will swim out away from you, getting additional away from the pier. So I saved the road off the road curler because the cigar minnow saved swimming out, conserving rigidity with my index finger to really feel the minnow swim. Finally, I felt a faucet on the road, in addition to noticed a flash within the water as my bait acquired slashed by a mackerel. Pondering it was a king, I dropped the road off my finger and let the fish simply take slack out to ensure the mackerel swallowed the bait down. After letting it take some extra line for a number of extra seconds I flipped the road on the curler to set the hook, hoping to get a screaming run from the fish. After which a humorous factor occurred, I didn’t get a screaming king mackerel run. As an alternative, I acquired a brief pull from a bigger Spanish mackerel. Which sucks that it wasn’t a king I can’t complain about having meat within the kill bag inside 20 minutes of strolling out onto the pier.
So utilizing the one king bait I had, I needed to decide up the sabiki rig once more. However now I used to be struggling to search out extra baits. When the bait is plentiful and simple to catch I’ll simply fish them as I catch them giving any extras to pals or throwing them again. However with it being a battle at the present time I pulled out a brand new livewell I acquired from Frabill, a collapsible bait bucket with an built-in aerator. After getting the livewell stuffed with some contemporary seawater, I began fishing the sabiki once more the identical means. After going across the finish of the pier to a couple completely different spots I did lastly discover the bait once more.
This little livewell did surprisingly nicely even with some greater turbo cigs in it, the rounded corners of it made positive extra fragile baits like LYs and sardines wouldn’t choke in corners. With 6 baits within the livewell it was time to get again to fishing for kings.
So it was the identical, deal take a cigar minnow from out of the livewell, hook it behind the scutes of the tail, and sling that bait out to swim away from the pier. Which then acquired promptly grabbed by flipper, which no less than this time missed the hook in contrast to in Tampa. So after a swearing at a marine mammal for a second, I rebaited and slung one other bait out. Identical deal letting it swim out and conserving the road on my index finger. After letting this bait swim off the west aspect of the pier for 10 minutes I felt it begin to panic, making an attempt to swim off from no matter was spooking it. Then I felt a faucet, and let the road go so no matter had it might swallow it down.
I used to be then rewarded with one other Spanish mackerel, which once more are nice to eat. It’s simply they’re not my goal species. This was simply how this primary day went until virtually sundown. With everybody making an attempt for kings, however none to be discovered. Then possibly half-hour earlier than sundown, lastly a king confirmed up, developing off the underside proper subsequent to the pier. It slashed and ate a cigar minnow subsequent to the pier, however pulled off with seconds of beginning its first run. You may really feel the wave of disappointment undergo each one in all us out on the finish when this occurred. I imply it wasn’t an enormous king however any king was higher than none at this level.
I saved fishing until sundown however beside a number of Spanish mackerel coming over the aspect on spoons pulled behind bubbles that was it for the day. Even with out catching a king, I no less than acquired to spend a day on the pier with some pals, so higher day than being up in Georgia.
